There is general consensus that hair dressing business in the country is dominated by Congolese; and the accepted theory is that Rwandans lack such skills and therefore can’t compete.

But Sunday Times has found out that government efforts to give the youth this highly lucrative skill, moreover for free, in partnership with SHAIR Academy—a donor sponsored international hairdressing school, are being hampered by a high dropout rate.

The Remera-based SHAIR is one of the programmes coordinated by the Work Development Authority.

"This is a collaboration between the government of Rwanda and a UK-based charity organisation, SHAIR (Supporting Hair dressing in Africa),” says Jackie Kabagema, the head tutor.

Students are aged between 20 and 24; most, school leavers without employable skills.

"I completed high school in 2010 but was struggling to find a job; I left my home district Nyamasheke, in Western Province to search for a job in Kigali.

While in the city, I tried out retailing Tigo products but it was hard until a relative notified me about this school and I am lucky to be here,” said 24-year-old Jean Ntihunyurwa.

Incidentally, against the misconception that hairdressing is for females, there are more males at SHAIR than girls.

Twenty-year-old Belinda Uwicyeza is one of the female students there; she said that after senior three, her parents couldn’t find school fees but she had always held dreams of owning her own saloon and that at SHAIR, she’s on the way to actualizing her reverie.

Inside the practicing room, the humming noise of hair dressing machines is all one hears, the students are silently working on their clients as tutors prowl around with a keen eye to ensure the learners are doing it right.

The tutors, formerly hairdressers, got a four-month specialised training from SHAIR Academy of Nairobi, Kenya.

"We train hair dressing experts with the competence befitting the international certificate they earn, not mediocres,” said one of the trainers.

Free skills

Looking at the sophistication of everything in the room, from the equipment to the rare hair treatment products used, it’s difficult to imagine that these are free skills.

The UK-based charity sends all the necessary support including cosmetic products, state of art hair dressing equipment and an international training module in hair dressing academics.

"All one needs is to be Rwandan to gain admission and with basic competence in writing and reading English. The government pays for the facilities such as water and electricity while the donors meet all the training needs,” explains Kabagema.

On completing the one-year course, graduates get an international hair-dressing certificate which means graduates can work anywhere in the world, this, in addition to getting a national vocational education certificate.

But perhaps the most important thing is that on top of the certificates, graduates get free hair dressing tool-kits from the sponsors aimed at enabling them to immediately earn a living from their skills.

"With a free tool kit, a graduate technically has a mobile saloon and using their network of clients, can earn a comfortable living,” says Kabagema.

But Andrew Murengerantwali, 22, one of the students has his eyes set on bigger things after graduation.

"My plan is to enroll for a level three course and earn the international diploma in hairdressing studies,” he says, revealing that he would like to start a private training centre of his own.

That’s visionary because, according to Kabagema, the partnership between WDA and the SHAIR expires in after 2016 and if the academy was to close, it would leave a huge void to fill.

High dropout rate

But the immediate concern for the school is the high dropout rate that head tutor Kabagema has noticed.

Early in January, the academy admitted 50 students due to limited space and resources, but with about a month to graduation, only about 25 students remain.

The first intake which pioneered the academy also experienced a similar problem. Kabagema says that of the 50 that started last year, only 36 completed the course.

Now as she plans the 2014 intake, Kabagema says they have decided to learn from their two-year experience and will attempt to mitigate the problem by admitting more numbers to cater for those who will dropout.

"So we have received over 150 applications and because of the high dropout, we shall admit at least 70 students so we maximize the benefits for those who are really interested,” she said.

Why dropout?

Apparently, it’s a cocktail of factors that are to blame for this high dropout rate. This year, three female students dropped out after getting pregnant and because they couldn’t keep-up with the tight schedule of the course.

But the majority quit because of attitude problems and lack of passion. Some of those who quit the school, have just gone absent without official leave while others have even disappeared with school property.

In the first intake, the school had admitted three university graduates in the course but the trio somehow felt they were too advanced for the course and left.

The training model is that instead of using dummies, students come with clients and work on them under supervision.

Each student is required to work on two clients per day.

"Sometimes we require them to just go on the streets and convince strangers to be their clients, covertly, we are training them on a rare skill of negotiation, marketing and inter-personal relations which is key in this business,” explains Kabagema.

Kabagema says, the academy has decided not to admit university graduates and others who lack passion for the course.

As for a 24-year-old Jean Ntihunyurwa, a student from Nyamasheke, he’s hatching a plan of organising several of his classmates to form a cooperative with objective of training, running a professional saloon and selling imported hair products from UK using connections with the sponsors.