Aside from eating all my favorite foods (re: cheese), indulging in everything Christmas, and reconnecting with friends at 10,000 feet, my most recent trip home included time in TWB’s Denver office with my badass colleague, Heather, TWB’s Director of Education and Advocacy. With the goal of getting our Rwandan bakeries to profitability in 2018, Heather designed and composed a 75-hour, Bakery Operations Manager Training Program and a Bakery Operations Manager Manual.
See what I mean? She’s a beast.
I had the opportunity to sit down with her for three intensive days to learn the methodology behind this robust curriculum and discuss a timeline for implementation. One of the coolest parts of my job is working with our Bakery Operations Managers or BOMs.
They are, literally, the bread and (healthy) butter of TWB’s bakeries. They are the leaders responsible for day-to-day operations, on-the-ground problem solving and record keeping. But they aren’t just managers. They serve as leaders, counselors and mentors to the employees in the bakery. They have the ability to listen and moderate social, economical and health issues that many of the women we work with face. They also collaborate with TWB management to report monthly bakery statistics such as sales, loss and profit. They really do it all.
The BOM Training Program will equip our current and future BOMs to sharpen their management skills, master the ins and outs of a TWB bakery, analyze conflict resolution strategies and learn how to lead- with passion, grit and humility. With a mix of theoretical and practical lessons, BOMs will learn every aspect of managing a bakery, including baking, inventory, production, sales, marketing, human resources and tools for accounting. This training program has the ability to take TWB bakeries to the next level- profitability. That’s #breadpower.
