
Photo: ANA’s travel editor, Niels Bartels (right) pictured with Dr Martin Luther Mawa, (left) Director of Sales & Marketing, and Alain Kabeja, (middle) CEO of Rwanda Mountain Tea/Photo Credit: AfricaNewsAnalysis/AM
Egide Gatera is a Rwandan businessman and serial investor. Besides that he is an academic and human rights activist. Gatera is known for his work promoting human rights, democracy and good governance in Africa. He has been involved in various human rights organizations, including the National Commission for Human Rights in Rwanda. Gatera is involved in many initiatives aimed at promoting reconciliation and healing. He has received numerous awards and honours for his work, including the Human Rights Award from the International Federation of Human Rights in 2001. Among others, Gatera is the chairman of Rwanda Mountain Tea. Since Gatera was out of the country while ANA’s travel editor Niels Bartels was in Kigali, Niels spoke with Dr. Martin Luther Mawo who is the director of Sales & Marketing at Rwanda Mountain Tea.
Niels: Can you please at the beginning present to us your company Rwanda Mountain Tea?
Martin: We are Rwanda Mountain Tea, a leading quality tea in Africa (ref: 5th African tea convention 2022). We are known for quality. Furthermore we are in construction, mining, hydropower and Real Estate
Niels: One of your upcoming projects are “Tea Plantation Tours“. What can you tell us about these tours?
Martin: We will organize guided tours to tea plantations where visitors can learn about the tea cultivation process, from planting and harvesting to processing and packaging. We will offer interactive experiences, such as tea plucking sessions or tea tasting workshops.


Photos: Niels/Rwanda Mountain Tea
Niels: What is important to know about tea from Rwanda? What are the most interesting facts?
Martin: One of the most important things to know, especially for Rwandan tea is the fact that Rwandan tea is cultivated in a high elevation. not less than 2500 meters height. The other part is it is made of volcanic soil in a very high altitude that makes the quality of the tea because most of the time the buyers are taking Rwandan tea because of the concentration of the litter that makes it special. We make two types of tea in our factory: the orthodox tea and the CTC. The CTC comes in tea bags. We have black and green CTC. Moreover we have the orthodox tea: the loose tea leaves.
Niels: Let’s also talk about your country Rwanda. Why should potential tourists spend their holidays in Rwanda?
Martin: Rwanda is an outstanding country. The security is among the best you can get in Africa and on top of it you have time to enjoy nature. We own around 8 tea plantations. The landscape is amazing there and you will have a chance to taste it directly. One of the major points that we always say to our guests is:
Come and visit our factory and if you want to experience tea from nature then just look in our website and book your trip and visit Rwanda Mountain tea !
Niels: Why is it attractive for investors from other countries to invest in Rwanda?
Martin: It is very attractive for investors to look at Rwanda. We are still producing tea in a raw material (kind of). We sell it in bulk whereby there is a huge opportunity: tea boxes, flavour tea. We also have different types of products that are coming from tea, especially in cosmetics and even other industries. So investors are welcome to Rwanda, especially in the tea industry to develop all those lines. Besides that we have a very supporting government in Rwanda that helps investors to come in and do business here like in their country. We also have a very young labour force that is available.
Niels: What can your company do for the society in Rwanda?
Martin: Providing jobs for local communities, health insurance, basic education for their kids, improving the local environmental condition by planting trees.