Advocate for Change
Building bakeries and women's work centers in rural sub-Saharan Africa.
WHO WE ARE
Carolina Fernandez co-founded flourFLOWER with her husband, Ernie, to elevate the human experience and give food and work to the people of rural Rwanda. flourFLOWER is a women-centered social enterprise which creates beautifully handcrafted, happy, floral-inspired accessories. Carolina believes in finding beauty everywhere, and teaches people how to create more beautiful, meaningful lives through making things with their hands. She believes that the art of the handmade brings joy to both maker and receiver.
The mission is simple and powerful: to create dignified, sustainable work for women who have had little to no economic opportunities, and uplift entire communities through food security by building large-scale bakeries.
The focus is clear: to develop opportunities for artisanal work and commerce amongst rural African women, and to help them become financially sustainable in the process.
WHAT WE DO
We do not partner with aid organizations, nor do we entangle ourselves with complex networks over which we have no knowledge or control of expenses or output.
We do it differently: we build things.
Specifically, we build village bakeries that feed and employ people. They serve as nutritional lifelines for communities facing food insecurity.
- Our bakeries currently feed over 40,000 people every week, the majority of them children.
- Each bakery provides fortified bread to families who would otherwise go hungry.
- We are now beginning construction on our fourth bakery, expanding our reach even further. Plans for 2026 include expanding outside Rwanda.
We build work centers that teach valuable, marketable skills. We believe that by giving a hand up, rather than a hand-out, we instill hope and provide opportunity for people to live well-crafted lives.
- Many of our artisans previously survived only through subsistence farming.
- Every product provides direct employment, consistent wages, and long-term economic hope.
- Profits are reinvested to buy materials, supplies and equipment, and expand work opportunities to more women.
We do not believe in complicated giving formulas or non-transparent disclosures. Our model is simple and straight-forward: after a bakery is up and running, and workers – whether in the bakeries or the work centers – are trained and self-reliant, we move on to the next geographic area of need.
Build. Feed. Train. Repeat. It's what we do.
Pieces of bread produced per bakery annually
People fed weekly per bakery
People fed per flour bag sold
Bakeries built since 2014
The Model
Build
Constructing bakeries in Rwanda that serve as hubs for food production and employment. Each facility becomes a cornerstone for community transformation.
Feed
Producing over one million servings of bread per year per bakery, nourishing approximately 39,000 people every week including 5,000 children.
Train
Teaching food handling, baking, packaging, and delivery skills. Workers also learn to create artisanal products—hand-sculpted clay beads, woven bracelets, and recycled flour tote bags.
Repeat
Once a bakery is operational and workers are self-reliant, the focus shifts to the next community in need. A sustainable model for lasting change.
Carolina's Advocacy
After personal visits to Rwanda exposed food inequities, Carolina and her husband Ernie responded to an invitation in 2012 to build a bakery for those lacking stable food access. By 2014, that first bakery was operational. Today, the organization has grown to four bakeries.
She teaches people how to create more beautiful, meaningful lives through making things with their hands—from baked goods to hand-sculpted clay beads to artisan bags made from recycled flour sacks.
Artisan Products with Purpose
Every purchase directly impacts lives in Rwanda. From recycled flour tote bags to hand-sculpted clay jewelry, each item is crafted with care and carries a story of transformation.
Flour Totes & Bags
Recycled flour sacks transformed into beautiful, functional totes. Each bag sold feeds 700 people.
Handcrafted Jewelry
Hand-sculpted clay beads and Krobo beads strung into bracelets and necklaces by skilled artisan women.
Fabric Handbags
Colorful women's handbags made with fabric sourced in Rwanda, decorated with hand-woven pompoms.