The City of Kigali, through the Kigali Employment Service Centre (KESC), has launched its programme “KESC, Youth Entrepreneurship Business Education” in partnership with ENTREPRENARIUM Foundation. This programme aims at providing trainings on entrepreneurship and self-employment to a group of young graduates selected by KESC.

Young aspiring entrepreneurs are being equipped with the necessary skills to develop a successful and sustainable business in Rwanda. The first group of 42 participants, aged 29 years old on average, has attended in September a Master Class of the following business essentials: Business and Entrepreneurship, Lean Start up Methodology, Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition, Market Research and Market Analysis, Market Segmentation, Competitor Analysis, Positioning and Marketing. The expressed will of the young graduates to start their own activity is an indication of the importance of such programme for the youth. Both parties have therefore agreed to plan for another series of trainings in November this year.

The City of Kigali has a mission to foster entrepreneurship by helping aspiring entrepreneurs to set up their businesses and acquire competences through capacity building and technical assistance programmes. For Mrs Aline Umutoni, employment Counsellor in the City of Kigali: “It is crucial for young graduates to be taught the basics of entrepreneurship and what it takes to develop a successful and sustainable small or medium enterprise.” This is why ENTREPRENARIUM Foundation was judged a fitting partner to implement this programme, as the pan-African foundation mission is to support entrepreneurs in developing businesses that will create jobs, income and wealth across Africa. ENTREPRENARIUM endorses fully the City of Kigali’s initiatives to help transform Rwanda economically and socially.

According to Mr Frédéric Ngirabacu, Chief Operating Officer of ENTREPRENARIUM Foundation, this type of training has shown positive results in the past, enabling youth of different countries across Africa to establish businesses that stimulate a positive socio-economic development in their communities. “The young Rwandan graduates who just participated to this programme have shown a great interest towards the topics presented, all along the Master Class week, and through their evaluation forms it appears that 84% of the participants will recommend this programme to their friends and relatives”.

Mr Nshimiyimana Deo-Eustache, a participant with a business idea in the leisure sector, was asked for his appraisal at the end of the programme: “I had the idea to launch a small Entertainment Company, and I saw myself doing everything at the same time, theatre, dance, folk performance, etc...But after I participated to this training, I realize that this could lead to a failure and that, on the other hand, I should start small to be able to go far, serve customers to their expectations and surely. This training was really useful and of paramount importance.”

During the “Youth Entrepreneurship Business Education” programme, the participants have shared their aspirations to understand the business essentials that will allow them to develop a small enterprise by their own and with limited financial means. Through the creation of their own sustainable businesses, the participants aims to become financially independent and wish to serve the community by offering solutions to current needs/expectations of the Rwandan populations, in various fields.

ENTREPRENARIUM is a pan-African foundation dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship with offices in Libreville, Kigali and Dakar. The foundation is committed to providing business support to women and young entrepreneurs on the African continent through concrete uplifting projects. With a shared management centre, trainings / workshops and consulting services, ENTREPRENARIUM Foundation offers a full range of tailored services in order to support the creation of viable and innovative SMEs on the continent.

Since its inception, ENTREPRENARIUM has trained 1,884 young aspiring entrepreneurs including 661 women and supported organizations and large companies in the development and the monitoring evaluation of their programmes dedicated to entrepreneurship.