Clementine Nyirambarubucyeye, a mother of four wonderful children joined BBOXX Rwanda on the in May 2016, on the 21st to be precise. She joined the company as a sales agent in Nyamata, Bugesera District of Eastern Province.
Before joining BBOXX Rwanda; she hardly put bread on table for her family. She was doing some small business around the town, but things weren’t going well. “I didn’t have anything,” she says.
“When I joined BBOXX Rwanda, I was trained in sales and then was allocated an area of operation. I received my first salary on time.” “Knowing my struggles,” she says, “I started saving immediately.”
Seven months later, she bought a motorbike and hired it. “I continued saving until February this year when I bought my own house.”
“I don’t rent anymore. I partinioned the house, and I now rent one side of the house. My children are going to school and I am financially stable,” I could not have achieved all this in a short period of time without BBOXX Rwanda,” Nyirambarubucyeye says.
Nyirambarubucyeye is not alone.
According to BBOXX Rwanda management, Kenneth Kamanzi “is one of our successful employees.”
Kamanzi, an electronic engineer specializing in IT from Asia Pacific University (APU) in Malaysia, is Repair and Logistics Manager of the firm.
Here is his story.
“After graduation, I come back to Rwanda in July 2014 and I immediately started applying for Jobs. I was called for interviews in 3 out of ten, I couldn’t get a good offer and I kept on searching. BBOXX Rwanda had just started with only three employees in Kigali, but with a great vision of providing solar energy to the off-grid population. I applied for an internship with the company just to find an occupation as I searched for a job because BBOXX Rwanda had just started, and there was no much hope of getting a permanent Job. I didn’t have the required experience. Meanwhile, at BBOXX I was in charge of testing new products on the field for five months and was lucky I got hired as a logistics officer based in Musanze. I later became in charge of BBOXX Rwanda stock in the whole country, clearing containers and arranging deliveries to all the shops. After one year, I was given a promotion to become the Repair and Logistics Manager based in Kigali untill now. I have seen the company grow from four shops to 26 shops in the past two years but most importantly I have grown much as an employee. I have been blessed to have worked for a startup company that did not mind much on my experience but rather observed my potential and gave me a chance to prove myself. I wish to work with BBOXX for many more years as I feel valued. The company has more room for growth. I wouldn’t know what I know today if it wasn’t for the trust, help and encouragement from the Management. I would like to take this opportunity to thank BBOXX Rwanda and encourage fresh graduates to seek for internships instead of hoping for a job while seated at home. “An idle mind is a workshop of the devil” get yourself something to do, and if you do it well you will definitely archive success.
What is BBOXX?
Over 1.2 billion people in the world have no access to electricty. And in Rwanda, the number is about 70% of the population.
BBOXX Rwanda, an afiliate of the BBOXX UK firm, designs, manufactures, distributes and finances innovative plug and play solar systems to improve access to energy across Africa and the developing world.
More than 85,000 BBOXX products have been sold in more than 35 countries, improving the lives of more than 425,000 people. In Rwanda, the company provides lighting, charging systems, radio and TV for information and entertainment to rural households.
“We are trying to provide a solution to the energy problem. We normally work in rural country sides where there is no on-grid power for whatever reasons,” says Monica Keza Katumwine, the Managing Director of BBOXX Rwanda.
“We provide lightings. It could be up to four lights; it could be three lights and an appliance of your choice. We provide the charging system for two phones and we give a radio or a TV set,” she says. “We provide an on-grid experience for off-grid customers…they can have everything that everyone else in an on-grid environment has got.”
Customers can pay only Rwf5, 700 per month for 36 months for an installation that powers four lights, one in the bedroom, one in the living room, one in the kitchen and a security light. A radio, a TV set or a torch can be added to the package as well.
BBOXX Rwanda has so far served 30,000 households in 25 districts out of the 30 districts in Rwanda through 26 shops all over the country.
“We appreciate about 205 of our permanent staff and over almost 200 contractual staff who have led to the success of BBOXX Rwanda,” Monica Keza Katumwine. “Without this staff, we would not be able to serve the 30,000 customers.”
“Today as BBOXX Rwanda, we would like to say “Thank you’’ to our staff remembering that we just celebrated the International Labour Day.”
Customers can pay only Rwf5,700 per month for 36 months for an installation that powers three lights, one in the bedroom, one in the living room and the security lights. A radio and a torch comes with the package as well a TV set separately.
BBox has so far served 30,000 households in all the 30 districts through 26 shops all over the country.
“We appreciate about 200 of aour permanent staff and over almost 200 contractual staff who have led to the success of Bbox,” Monica Keza Katumwine.“Without this staff, we would not be able to serve the 30,000 customers.”
“Today as BBOXX Rwanda we would like to say “Thank you’’ to our staff remembering that today is the International Labour Day.”
BBOXX Rwanda Head of Retail Operation , Justus Mucyo, speaking to RBA
