SPUD TO SPIRIT

ENTREPRENEUR KAREN SHERMAN IS TRANSFORMING POTATOES INTO PREMIUM VODKA ALREADY EARNING GLOBAL ACCLAIM.

- by Chanel Retief

Almost three hours away from the nation's capital lies Musanze, Rwanda's most mountainous district and home to much of the Volcanoes National Park. Known as a hassle-free yet vibrant town, Musanze offers a wide selection of restaurants, reliable access to ATMs, lively nightlife, bustling markets and artisanal trades. It is here that Karen Sherman founded Kari Vodka, a premium craft potato vodka made of “unloved potatoes” sourced from local farmer cooperatives.

In 2013, after working for Women for Women International, she moved back to the United States, the land of her birth. Women for Women is an organization that enables women survivors of war to restart their lives. Soon after, she returned to Rwanda to join the country’s first and only women’s college, the Akilah Institute. She was inspired by the institution’s hospitality graduates working across Rwanda’s hotels, lodges, and restaurants, all striving to build better lives for themselves and their families.

“I always thought of them as the proverbial daughters of the Women for Women cohort—the women who sacrificed everything so their daughters could have an education and a better life. That was incredibly compelling to me,” Sherman says. “And it’s so fascinating to see the businesses they have.”

Motivated by this experience, Sherman knew she wanted to move from development to business.