Kate Bashabe
Behind every celebrity there is always a humble beginning.
Celebrated young entrepreneur and socialite Catherine Bashabe aka Kate Bashabe confessed that she would carry small products in her bag and vend them door to door during high school holidays.
The experience of hawking goods sent to her by family and friends from abroad gave her an idea of starting her online buying and selling products as well as opening her own mega chain of boutiques Kabash House.
The fashionista turned philanthropy shared her journey live at KT Radio late last week.
“I used to buy small products from abroad through family, friends and hawk them during holidays to my friends. Later on, after saving money I opened my own boutique that deals in selling and buying clothes online,” says CEO Kabash House, Kate Bashabe.
Kate started this hawking in 2009, because she had a passion to do business since childhood so as to be self-reliant.
In the middle of this adventure, Kate Bashabe joined modeling in 2010, and quickly attracted telcom companies.
During holidays, she could go for part time jobs at several companies in Kigali.
In 2010, MTN Rwanda cell organized a beauty pageant and she emerged the winner as Miss MTN and this meant big advertising contracts.
She took the earnings in these deals and added the small savings from hawking to start a clothing boutique, Kabash.
The boutique has two options whereby you can order online or just reach out to the boutique outlets in Kigali downtown.
The boutique dresses up celebrities who go for expensive and classy attires which fetches a lot of income to Kate monthly.
Kate gives back to the community through her charity projects where she helps vulnerable children, the sick and elderly to improve their wellbeing.
In 2017, Kate distributed school kits to students from Huye district. Last year, she focused on the elderly Genocide survivors in the same district where she collected some money for their medication.
Recently she teamed up with local musicians like The Ben, Mani Martin to release a song dubbed You and I which is a special dedication to people she helps out through her charity.
In this song, she believes that to help the needy, you don’t need the surplus, you just need the heart.
