Kweza was started through a Kickstarter campaign in 2016 by Fina Uwineza, a Rwandan entrepreneur, and Steve Beauchesne, CEO of Beau’s Brewery, with the vision to create a women-owned and women-led craft brewery.
Thanks to this first kickstarter, Kweza was able to fund the purchase of a bottling line. In 2018, Kweza was reinvigorated with the addition of Jessi Flynn as Co-founder and Managing Director.
Today, Kweza continues to honor the tradition of beer. In Rwanda, and most cultures around the world, women have traditionally made beer but not been able to benefit from that creation and lineage at the commercial level. Kweza aims to have women running all aspects of the business and to enable African women to share in the profit of the product they’ve historically always made - as investors, staff, or leadership - and ultimately build generational wealth on that history.
We source locally, sustainably, and practice a business model that supports women and the local economy.Kweza means “harvest” and “purity” in Kinyarwanda. We believe this name fits with Kweza’s mission to celebrate Rwanda’s flora and ingredients through Kweza beer.