Abraham Kong'a, Entrepreneur

Abraham Kong'a is an amazing person. He owns a craft store specializing in crafts made in East Africa in downtown Kigali. Originally an IT major trained in Kenya, he soon realized that he was an extrovert and not someone who should be sitting behind a computer all day. He has been doing this for a little more than three years, driven by seeing beautiful crafts that were not selling, he goes directly to the crafters, pays them on the spot and collects an assortment of jewelry, baskets, sculptures, wooden bowls and other small objects. He started by selling from a small stall with other entrepreneurs. Abraham doesn't bargain with customers as is the custom here. His prices are fair and there is no need. Tourists would find him and they walk past all the other booths to go directly to his booth. The management of the booths became angry with him and now he has opened a windowed shop, triple the size. He welcomes visitors as they browse and engages them in conversation. If you return a second time, he greets you as an old friend with a sincere hug. His English is astoundingly fluent, complete with the latest slang. We asked him how he learned and he says "school and watching a lot of movies". He also used to talk to himself in the mirror, so much so that his mother would have someone in the room with him! Abraham is married to Alice and the have 5 children, ages 2-19. The older two are adopted.
One major motivator of Abraham's is that he now indirectly supports 1500 people just from his basket business alone. Rwandan women make incredible baskets and Abraham goes to his village, Gitarama and purchases the colorful baskets directly, supporting 25 women. Ten more women make jewelry binging his support to 35 women and their families. He and his wife realize that by becoming successful in their business, they raise their livelihoods and that of many others. Abraham is a avid Facebooker! You can follow him on Facebook and bring Kigali a little closer to you!

The first photo is of Abraham and the woman who is the head of the basket weavers, the second is Abraham, his wife, Alice and Jane and Sam Joseph. Note the beautiful baskets in the background.