VANKLEEK HILL, ON – Beau’s All Natural Brewing has announced that the fundraising project launched in September to assist the development of a new craft brewery in Rwanda has surpassed its target goal.
The Kickstarter campaign for the Rwanda Craft Brewery Project wrapped up this weekend with a total of $110,400 pledged by 1,138 backers, well above the original target of $95,000.
Brewery entrepreneur Josephine “Fina” Uwineza (pictured left, with Beau’s CFO Tanya Beimers) thanked all of those who donated, noting that “we are definitely connected, we are definitely similar, even miles and miles from each other.”
Beau’s co-founder Steve Beauchesne added that he is happy with the fundraising result, but that it is just the beginning of a long process to get the brewery in Rwanda up and running. “There is still more equipment, as well as shipping and installing it, and training, as well as the initial operations,” he says in a statement. “But there’s no doubt this will greatly help the project move forward.”
While full plans for the new brewery are still to be finalized, Uwineza is intending on it being a brewpub in downtown Kigali that will also sell packaged product to take away, with beers made using as many local ingredients as possible.
For more details, see the Rwanda Craft Brewery Project page on the Beau’s website.
[Photo of Josephine “Fina” Uwineza and Tanya Beimers by Brendan Coutts]