Women Help Bring Madagascar Into Mainstream, Revitalize Sagging Economy

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — Women like Monique Railimandy and Vero Rasendratsirofo are leading this Indian Ocean nation off Africa out of its isolation and into the economic mainstream.

Railimandy, trained as an electronics engineer, lost her job in 1974 when President Didier Ratsiraka embarked on a socialist revolution and closed a U.S. satellite tracking station.

“There were no jobs after it closed so I started making dolls,” said Railimandy.

She has since branched out from dolls and now has a workshop that employs 300 and produces nearly 1,000 dresses a week for sale in France. In April she started a second shift.

“When I started banks wouldn’t help me,” she said. “Now I have a banker as a financial adviser.”

Operating in a couple of sheds surrounded by frangipani and oleander, Vero Rasendratsirofo is producing ceramic pots, dishes, vases, piggy banks and ornamental items.

She employs 11 young men and two women at her establishment, called Atelier Vero, and has a hard time keeping up with demand. Last year she won the “Oscar,” the island’s top award for handicrafts.

Finance Minister Pascal Rakotomavo said the success of these and other female entrepreneurs “is a very encouraging sign.”

U.S. Ambassador Patricia Gates Lynch said: “I have been impressed by the initiative and ability of Malagasy women to organize and run a business. There are still many poor people. It will take several years before some of the new enterprises will benefit everyone, but there is a spirit of hope in the air.”

Madagascar, formerly the Malagasy Republic, is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an annual per capita income of $163.

Why are women taking the lead in setting up small industries?

“That’s the big question,” said Rasendratsirofo’s mother, Elyett. “Maybe it’s cultural. Girls learn to be in charge very early, taking care of their brothers and sisters. They fight harder. But you know, I am a woman.”

Monique Ralimandy quickly moved from making and selling dolls in 1978 to decorating homes and offices.

In 1986 she took a collection of dolls and baskets to France to test export opportunities. She sold out and got help from French and Canadian agencies to set up workshops.

“I didn’t know the technique, only the design,” she said. Because she couldn’t produce on a large scale, she looked for a niche and found a good market for “elaborately designed, not cheap, but affordable clothes for young girls.”

Most Malagasy women learn to sew as small children so labor was no problem, but the competition from other countries made quality control essential.

“They have to get it into their heads that quality comes first,” Ralimandy said.

Ralimandy’s brother, a doctor, visits daily to provide free medical examinations. Some of the women earn 70,000 Malagasy francs monthly ($45), twice the minimum wage, depending on their output. They are not required to work every day.

Workers at Atelier Vero also work as they please to a degree.

“Our people are farmers at heart and some leave during the harvest season,” said Vero Rasendratsirofo.

She hopes to expand and sell her ceramic ware to other Indian Ocean islands.

Monique Ralimandy is optimistic about Madagascar’s future.

“There is great potential in Madagascar for the export of confections,” she said. “Two years ago we thought there was no future for textiles.”