Spotlight: Maryse Mbonyumutwa is building production capacity in Rwanda

African fashion is brimming with talent. Where the value chain is often broken is in terms of production capacity. And that is why it is necessary that we shine our spotlight on Maryse Mbonyumutwa who is building much needed production capacity on the continent.

Maryse is a Rwandan entrepreneur based in Kigali. She studied in Brussels and then spent more than two decades in the global garment business, building experience across Europe, China and Southeast Asia. So before she became known as a founder, she already understood sourcing, production and scale.

In 2011, she founded Pink Mango in Belgium. It began as a trading company, and later expanded and moved into a garment manufacturing business with operations in Rwanda.

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But let’s not skip too far ahead of ourselves. After years working internationally, Maryse shifted her focus to Rwanda, where she saw the potential to build serious manufacturing capacity on the continent.  

Today, Pink Mango’s Rwanda operations include two factories: one focused on export outerwear and another on premium production. Pink Mango is the business-to-business side of Maryse’s work: the sourcing, manufacturing and production backbone. And she has been deliberate about the kind of workplace she is building too, publicly highlighting worker support measures including free lunch, a nursery and free sanitary products.

Then in 2022, she launched Asantii. Asantii is the consumer-facing side: a pan-African contemporary womenswear label produced in Kigali. If Pink Mango is the engine, Asantii is the brand the customer sees. It was created to show that African fashion does not have to stop at inspiration. It can be beautifully designed and properly made on the continent.

Asantii describes itself as an ethically made brand supporting African designers, artists and artisans, while Pink Mango’s wider model has focused strongly on women’s employment and industrial growth.

So the story of Maryse is bigger than one label. She started in Belgium, built deep global supply-chain experience, and then brought that knowledge into Rwanda to help strengthen African fashion from the production side out. Through Pink Mango and Asantii, she is helping move African fashion from creativity alone to creativity with capacity.

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