Julienne Mukakaruta has a business selling and renting wedding dresses and suits and providing decorations such as marquees, chairs, seat covers and other items for traditional Rwandan weddings. She works in the Rubavu District of Western Rwanda.
She can clothe a whole family from the materials in her shop, including wedding dresses, suits, and accessories. It typically costs around 60,000 RWF (£50.85) to clothe a bride and bridesmaids. There's no one particular colour dress for a bride and popular dresses can be white, red, pink, blue or any colour the bride chooses.
She has requested loans to buy more stock and materials for her business. This has enabled her to improve her income and she has now built a house for her family and pays her son's university fees.
Rwandan weddings are big affairs and can be very expensive. She recently provided clothes and decorations for a family who invited 600 guests. When she provides services for a large wedding, she hires a manager and staff to help her. It can take two days to set up the marquees, chairs tables and other decorations for a wedding.
At the moment Julienne hires the chairs and marquees for large weddings and feels she would be more successful if she could buy these to hire out. There is a lot of competition for this side of her business but she has been able to grow her business through recommendation.