SOPAD has established a business model involving three organizations with a common goal, a memorandum of understanding between the COPAD Cooperative, a Cooperative Society specializing in agricultural development and operation, the SOPATRAM Agricultural Production and Modern Transformation Company, a company specializing in the transformation of food products, including juices and derivatives, cereal-based products, and the TWINAGURE Training Center, a center with the objective of entrepreneurial mentoring for youth and women.
SOPAD stems from the evolution of an association that began its activities in 1996 and was established between three organizations with different missions but sharing a common vision and defending the same interests.
SOPAD supports women and youth groups engaged in agribusiness through the COPAD cooperative to promote sustainable agriculture. One of its missions is to strengthen the capacities of these groups in agricultural techniques to increase agricultural production, making agriculture the main source of income for the women and youth involved. To have a significant impact in the community and surroundings, SOPAD raises awareness among women and youth groups to apply the acquired techniques in their respective households. It also promotes the mentality of job creation for young people and women, encouraging them to start where they are with the resources available and accessible. As the COPAD Cooperative aims to increase production, SOPAD plans a system to manage post-harvest losses incurred by farmers.
SOPAD supports the processing unit initiated by the Agricultural Production and Modern Transformation Company - SOPATRAM to create a market for the products produced by agricultural groups supervised by the COPAD cooperative. With the support of SOPAD, SOPATRAM creates jobs for young people and women passionate about agri-food processing techniques. This processing unit organizes training sessions for young people aspiring to pursue a career in the processing sector. It also provides internships for students in industrial and agri-food sections, whether they are school, academic, or professional internships. It also mentors youth groups engaged in the processing of agri-food products.
SOPAD works in collaboration with the TWINAGURE Training Center, a center that mentors women's and youth groups in the initiation of income-generating activities (IGA). Among these activities, some groups focus on commercial activities. In this context, a common shop was created with the idea of marketing products from SOPATRAM and fresh agricultural products produced by COPAD groups. In addition to the shop, the TWINAGURE center mentors young people and women in small trades such as sewing and embroidery, business computing including secretarial work, basic software and solutions, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Accounting, and Business Management.
SOPAD was established to implement a value chain based on the activities promoted by the structures affiliated with the organization.
is a woman who has been actively involved in the social development of communities since 1996. She focuses more on the social reintegration of single mothers and on promoting entrepreneurship and female leadership. Her concern is to assist single mothers and other women in need by initiating income-generating activities and providing training in small trades to achieve financial independence.
Nduwayezu Claudette was born in Ndengo, Kiganda Commune, Muramvya Province. She is married and a mother. After her studies in Administration and Secretarial work, she dedicated her skills to serving the nation and the world since the early 1990s. At a young age, she worked in the insurance sector in Burundi as a corporate executive before leveraging her skills in service to the world, working for the United Nations Development Programme. Her professional life is characterized by personal qualities, determination, and a strong will to succeed. She possesses an entrepreneurial spirit, which led her to establish a vocational training center in Burundi in 1994. Her leadership has consistently made her a pioneer in the world of entrepreneurship combined with social assistance, where she aimed to assist vulnerable individuals, especially orphans and single mothers. With her dynamism and open-mindedness, she married the vocational training center with the entrepreneurship of young people and women to establish a non-profit association in 1996. The mission was to enhance the capacities of young single mothers who dropped out of school along the way and encourage them to engage in small trades such as sewing, embroidery, small commerce, and agriculture. She has been active both in Burundi and elsewhere, sharing her expertise in the community and multicultural domains. She founded the Women Centre for Education and Empowerment - WCEE, a framework for gender empowerment, before creating a placement business, home support, and elderly care, which evolved into the establishment of a social support house where she served as a community facilitator (2000-2019).
Although a global citizen, Claudette Nduwayezu has always kept an eye on her homeland.
Since its creation in 1996, her association has consistently evolved towards an entrepreneurial trend, organizing training and capacity-building in agri-food processing techniques. This eventually led to the establishment of an Agricultural Production and Modern Transformation Company - SOPATRAM in 2020, with the primary mission of promoting youth employment. This association has taken the name SOPAD - Solidarity for the Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture.
The Burundian economic context has always promoted agriculture as the pillar of rural community life. In line with these ideas, Claudette Nduwayezu organized groups of women and youth engaged in agribusiness into an agricultural cooperative called COPAD.
The multiple training programs, including Professional Specialization and Business Creation (2009), Introduction to International Cooperation (2018), Women Entrepreneurs Program (2021), Taxation for SMEs, Leasing, Credit Optimization, Debt Collection, Business Planning, Contract Compliance (2022), which she has received throughout her professional and entrepreneurial journey, remain and will remain a tool for the development of Burundian women and youth until achieving financial independence, her top dream.
Claudette Nduwayezu speaks and writes fluently in French, English, Swahili, and Kirundi. She enjoys walking and swimming more than other sports. She eats a little bit of everything, but her favorite dish is (...).
SOPAD legally represents its members to various government, quasi-governmental, and private entities, as well as to technical and financial partners.
Consortium members can undertake common projects or individual projects. SOPAD participates in the management of common projects undertaken by its members.
The SOPAD Consortium supports the various activities of its members. To do so, it fundraises to ensure the sustainability of projects for the COPAD Cooperative, the SOPATRAM Company, and the TWINAGURE Association.
