Rwandan progress

Yesterday in WaPo, I read a story whose outlook was unexpected - good news from Africa. Because of the genocide, many Rwandan women were left without husbands, fathers & brothers, and had to fend for themselves and their children. Coffee plantations which had been owned by their male relatives passed to them. The article tells of how a new female entrepreneurship has grown out of the need to survive: women started running these plantations and improving the quality of the coffee they grew. Now, some of these businesses are so successful, that they export their coffee around the world. The article also goes into how microcredit factors into this commercial evolution (which reinforces my belief that microcredit is the doorway out of poverty). Interestingly, these female business owners are more likely to cycle their profits back into the business for development, but also improve their family's wellbeing (housing, sustenance, education, etc.). What's more, their new economic power is strengthening their political power as well. Read the whole story here.