Imigongo and entrepreneurship

I met Paul a few weeks ago, he works in a giftshop in the centre of Kigali. We started chatting, and he told me how he wants to make something of himself, he has the familiar and sad background of orphanhood, and was a street kid until a guy called Alan took him to World Vision who paid his schoolfees. At present he doesn't receive a salary or even commission for working, but some money when the owner decides to give it to him. Fearing a request for "patronage" but interested anyway, we carried on talking and he showed me the jewelry he was making, and one of the pieces of art that he makes.

In the end we brainstormed a bit, about ways he could make something different to sell to tourists, and we came up with the idea of imigongo cards. Imigongo is a Rwandan handicraft which uses cow dung and is painted. It is typically Rwandan, unlike a lot of the crafts which are regional.

Below are some snaps (better photos are needed) of some imigongo. I really like the strong graphic geometric designs, and think that a lot of tourists do too, its just that they are unlikely to buy a bunch of them to take home - but cards are always possible. So far we have printed some photos and Paul is in the process of making some prototypes... I'm hoping that they work out and we'll make a small business plan to work out how to take this forward.