The Circle starts with hope and grows with investment.
Twitezimbere (“Let’s Improve Ourselves”) is a Village Savings and Loans Association( VSLA) out of the 2024-2025 Kula Fellowship. 16 farmer households, each starting with an idea and growing at least one additional business since graduating.
Children are going to school. Families are accessing healthcare. A community is being transformed, one business at a time.
In their first year, Twitezimbere repaid their first loan installment to Kula, funded entirely by interest, preserving the full principal to keep rotating among members. As repayments return to Kula, the capital ripples toward new Fellows.
“My members have self esteem, they look nice, and they all have thriving businesses. Even when they are walking on the roadside, everyone can tell they are working and doing well.” Delphine, President of Twitezimbere VSLA
One idea becomes a business.
Each business funds the next.
This is The Circle in motion.
Join The Circle today
Link in bio.
Investment spurs ignition.
For most rural coffee farmers, traditional finance is out of reach. The barriers are too high; the terms are too steep. But for Kula Fellows, access to capital is the bridge between an idea and an enterprise.
Through the Kula Fellowship, we provide flexible, no-interest loans. This month, we’ll be distributing over $45,000 to help start 500 new businesses.
Capital flows in.
Businesses launch.
Loans are repaid.
Capital moves to the next cohort.
We plan to disburse $1M in no-interest loans and reach 100% capital rotation by 2031- loan repayments from past Fellows fully funding the next cohorts’ ventures.
This is the power of a regenerative ecosystem. We’re building toward it, and we need you with us.
Join The Circle today with a monthly donation or annual commitment.
Great things start small. An idea, a hope, a spark.
For the coffee farmers we partner with in Rwanda, the path to prosperity is one of not only increasing harvest, but also growing new opportunities.
Over-reliance on coffee farming often leaves families exposed to climate shocks, market swings, and seasonal gaps. Through the Kula Fellowship, Fellows don’t just tend their farms- they launch new microenterprises. They join Village Savings & Loans Associations — small, self-governed groups where members save regularly, borrow affordably, and invest in ventures planned with their communities in mind.
One business leads to countless others. Profits repay loans. Capital builds. Local economies rise.
This is The Circle, and our community of committed donors makes it possible, funding new businesses and building a regenerative ecosystem that empowers countless more.
Join The Circle and make a difference. Link in bio.
We have big plans.
Across Rwanda, we see our Fellowship Program working — within one year of graduating, households on average triple their income and double their coffee harvest.
This is incredibly significant, and yet the need remains large, with an estimated 250k coffee farmers in Rwanda still living in extreme poverty.
With that in mind, we are preparing to pilot a new Fellowship approach in July 2026, centering frontline, ultra-proximate community leaders who will directly train and coach Fellows, significantly reducing facilitation costs while deepening local ownership.
Through this approach, we will be able to grow our reach to 24,000 Fellows, impacting 70,000 people over the next five years, while cutting program costs in half and tripling our ROI — with only a nominal increase in our annual budgets.
There is much work to be done, but we are so excited. To begin this expansion, we’re raising $100,000 before December 31st. As you consider your year-end giving, we would be honored to have your support.
Our vision is big, and we know that together we can achieve it. Donate at the link in our bio.
Happy Giving Tuesday!
Our work is only possible through the belief, generosity, and support of this incredible community of donors. Our shared impact is evident: coffee farming families in Rwanda are building pathways out of poverty and into lives of opportunity, resilience, and hope.
Because of that, we are eager to grow our reach in the coming years — partnering with 24,000 farmers, impacting over 70,000 people through 2031.
This is a big goal, and we need your support to achieve it. So, in this season of generosity, we ask you to join us.
Donate today at the link in our bio.
We have planted 1 million trees in Rwanda- and next month we will plant 240,000 more.
As part of our regenerative agriculture approach, planting coffee and agroforestry trees is a key dimension of ensuring that both farms and farmers are thriving. It’s about soil health, biodiversity, climate adaptation, and the long-term prosperity of women in farming communities.
Learn more at Of Land and Women in our bio.
“We are no longer afraid of doing business because we’ve started one and it’s working. Now we know we are capable.” - Denise Musabyimana
With a passion and acumen for business developed through Kula’s Household Entrepreneurship curriculum, Denise and Gilbert have created a thriving egg business. They’ve developed a strong list of local clients, make their own chicken feed to reduce costs, and use the chicken manure to produce quality fertilizer for their coffee farm – creating tangible profit and synergistic growth.
Their vision is to build upon these businesses to drive even more sources of income, ultimately enabling them
to send all five of their children through university so that they can “become entrepreneurs themselves, creating their own lives and futures”.
These stories of impact go far beyond the numbers- see it all in our 2024 Annual Report, at the link in our bio.
“Now we can be the evidence to everyone that coffee can take you from one stage to another.” - Agnes Nakabonye
Before joining the Fellowship, “life was so hard” for Agnes and Jacque. Their coffee farm was underproducing, and affording school fees for their children was a constant struggle.
Through Kula’s Coffee Agronomy curriculum, they learned the value of investing in their coffee farm and expanded from 800 trees to 4,000.
Agnes and Jacque’s dream was to send their kids to school and build a better home for their family. Today, through the success of their coffee farm, both of their sons are on track to graduate from university and they have built an incredible new house (in the second and third pictures, right next to their previous one), all as a result of their economic transformation.
These stories of impact go far beyond the numbers- see it all in our 2024 Annual Report, at the link in our bio.
Annual Report Impact Highlights:
203% increase in household income
96% increase in coffee harvest
2.4 revenue streams per household
For Rwandan coffee farmers to experience significant income increase, there are two key drivers of impact: increase in coffee harvest & increase in income diversification.
Our approach aims to sustainably increase household incomes to elevate coffee farmers and their families out of extreme poverty through an increase in coffee yield and growth in household revenue streams.
We’re happy to report it’s working- see the full details at the link in bio!
"While the global coffee market rapidly grows, 6 million of the world’s smallholding coffee farmers remain in poverty. In Rwanda, that number is 250,000. We believe this challenge can be solved, and everyday we work to be more focused, targeted, and impactful to fulfill our mission: ending poverty for Rwanda’s coffee farmers. 2024 was pivotal for Kula in the streamlining of our approach."
- Nic Lauten, Executive Director
Read more about our refining process and impact in the 2024 Annual Report, at the link in bio!
Our 2024 Annual Report is Here!
"In 2024, we’ve expanded our reach, strengthened our programs, and deepened our relationships with the communities we serve. The transformative stories of women gaining confidence as leaders, families achieving financial stability, and communities rallying together for shared progress, remind me why this work matters."
- Jackie Mutesi, Executive Program Director
We're thrilled to share our highlights from the year- view the full report at the link in our bio!
