Concept of Standardisation
Senior 1 · Entrepreneurship
Concept of Standardisation
Lesson 2 of 5
25 min
Look closely at the small bottle of Akabanga chilli oil in the photo below, taken on a hotel table in Kigali in 2021. Besides the brand name, its label carries a letter S marked as RSB's standardisation mark (the S-Mark), a "Rwanda FDA approved" box with a QR code, the volume (20 ml) and the instruction "Store in a cool dry place". Each of these tells the buyer something that has been checked against a standard or a rule.
Meanwhile Uwineza, the porridge-flour maker from Lesson 1, asks RSB for help through its Zamukana Ubuziranenge programme, which gives small businesses technical help to meet standards. Within a year her flour is certified and on supermarket shelves in Kigali. (Uwineza's case is illustrative.)
Think about it: who gains when a product meets a standard: the buyer, the maker, or the country?
Definition
Certification: an independent check (by a third party, not the maker or the buyer) that a product, service, system or person meets the requirements of a standard, followed by a certificate.
Example: RSB testing Uwineza's flour and inspecting her workshop before allowing her to use the S-Mark.
Definition
Quality mark (certification mark): a symbol that a certified business is allowed to put on its product or documents, to show that it meets a particular standard.
Example: the S-Mark on a bottle of chilli oil.
Definition
S-Mark: the Standardization Mark given by the Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) to products it has certified as meeting the standards for them. RSB states that the S-Mark is registered at the EAC Secretariat and recognised in all EAC partner states.
Example: a certified maize flour, juice or mattress may carry the S-Mark.
Definition
Market surveillance: checking products that are already on sale, in shops and markets, to make sure they still meet the standard.
Example: RSB inspectors buying certified products from shops and testing them.
According to RSB, a product certificate runs for a five-year cycle. During that time RSB audits the business four times and checks the product on the market six times; after five years the business must be certified again. So the mark is a promise that keeps being tested.
| Consumers | Producers | Government and the economy |
|---|---|---|
| Safer, healthier products | Access to supermarkets and export markets | Protects public health and the environment |
| A fair quantity: the kilogram they paid for | Fewer rejects, less waste, lower costs | Common standards remove barriers to trade, for example across the EAC |
| Clear information on the label | A good reputation and customer trust | Fair competition between businesses |
| Products that fit and work together | Parts from different suppliers fit | Made in Rwanda products can compete with imports |
| Confidence to compare and choose | Clear targets for workers | Industry grows and creates jobs |
Tip
Mark, then check. A mark on a label is a claim. A careful buyer, and every trader, looks for the mark and then checks that it is genuine and current.
Worked example
Worked example: what did the standard save Uwineza? (illustrative figures)
Before she standardised her method, Uwineza checked 400 bags and found 36 underweight. After she bought a calibrated scale and wrote down a fixed method, she checked 400 bags and found 6.
Step 1: reject rates. Before: . After: .
Step 2: the cost of rejects. Each rejected bag must be opened and refilled, costing about Frw 1,200. Before: . After: .
Step 3: the saving. francs for every 400 bags, and her rejects fell by . The standard helped her customers and her profit.
Warning
A mark can be copied, and a certificate can expire. Dishonest sellers sometimes print a quality mark they have no right to use. RSB publishes a directory of certified products, and its video below shows how to check a Made in Rwanda mark by phone. If a mark cannot be checked, do not rely on it.
Rwanda Standards Board, "Menya uko wasaba ikirango cya Made in Rwanda" (in Kinyarwanda, about 2 minutes, 2019). Watch for how a business applies for the Made in Rwanda mark, and how anyone can check that a mark is genuine, with RSB's verification app or by SMS.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: Uwineza's case, the drawing of an imaginary certification mark (not a real mark), the table, the worked example and the practice items. Her figures are illustrative (2026).
