Janet Nkubana

Janet Nkubana is a basket weaver from Rwanda. She is known for her work coordinating the efforts of women in Rwanda to make baskets that are sold in the United States.

Early life Nkubana grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda because of the Rwandan genocide. She was first exposed to basket weaving in the refugee camp, watching her mother and other women make baskets. As she grew older, Nkubana and her sister Joy Ndungutse ran a restaurant in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala.

Career Janet Nkubana is the creator of a company called "Gahaya Links" along with her sister Joy Ndungutse. She began selling these baskets at flea markets and began exporting them to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and the United States. Gahaya Links partnered with EDImports to create baskets for the U.S.A. market. The first shipment of product sold out in less than a month in Macy's stores. Some call the baskets made by Nkubana's company 'peace baskets' because the women making the baskets come from tribes that were at war in the 1994 genocide.

Awards and honors In 2008, Nkubana shared the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger with Faiza Jama Mohamed. She was the 2008 Africa Prize laureate.