Herve Tuyishime, CEO of Paniel Meat Processing
Herve Tuyishime started his business with a “dream to become something” and to support his family and community. But a few years after launching his pork sausage-making venture, Paniel Meat Processing (PMP), that dream came at a heavy cost: his family’s home was repossessed by the bank.
Tuyishime launched the company with a bank loan of about $22,000, which he received after participating in a Rwandan government-backed entrepreneurship programme. But the loan soon became a burden.
He had no prior experience in meat processing, and in the first five years, the business faced a lot of difficulties. Tuyishime and his team made several mistakes that hindered growth and made it difficult to repay the bank loan.
Eventually, the bank seized the collateral Tuyishime had put up – his family home, where he also lived. “It was almost the only asset we had in the country,” he says. His mother and siblings were upset, but they continued to support him. From 2016, the family had to rent a home, only managing to buy another in 2022.
Despite the setback, Tuyishime pressed on. Once the loan was off the books – albeit at the cost of losing the house – the business began to stabilise and slowly grow.
Today, PMP is Rwanda’s second-largest chicken processor and third-largest beef distributor, with exports to markets across the continent. At the end of 2024, the company went public on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius.
Tuyishime says that if he had the opportunity to start the business again, he wouldn’t do it with the stress of having to repay a bank loan immediately. He believes it is better to take on debt only once the business has reached a certain level of stability.
Watch our full interview with Herve Tuyishime: Building an African meat empire from Rwanda
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