Female artisans in the country have been advised to uphold Rwandan core values and embrace global competition in order to benefit from their trade.

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba, said this yesterday at a graduation ceremony of artisans at Indego Africa’s Leadership Academy in Kacyiru, Kigali.

At least 25 female artisans from nine cooperatives graduated with diploma in advanced business courses from the academy.

Graduands were briefed on Rwandan core values and their role in national development.

The minister also hailed the female artisans for embracing entrepreneurship in the country.

He noted that the female cooperatives had made a tremendous contribution toward Rwanda’s development.

Kanimba urged the group to keep the momentum to ensure that the country achieves its target of 11.5 per cent growth rate envisaged under the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2).

Indego Africa launched a groundbreaking Leadership Academy in October 2014 to provide free, advanced business education for artisan partners, according to Rosine Urujeni, country director Indego Africa.

The six-month programme consists of practical and dynamic lessons in business management, which incorporates English and computer skills along the way.

Karen Yelick, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indego Africa, said the women were expected to apply the lessons they learnt to improve the management and performance of their cooperatives.

"We work closely with them to design beautifully handcrafted products that incorporate both traditional techniques and modern aesthetics,” she said.

Rose Manirarora, the head of four cooperatives that benefited from the training, commended the academy.

She said through the six months programme, members are able to export their products, communicate with clients and use technology to design their products.

"I can now communicate through e-mails with my clients in USA without any problem, which was not the case before,” Manirarora added.

Minister Kanimba acknowledged that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face many challenges, including lack of managerial and production skills and technology for the production of standard products that can be able to compete on the international market.

He, however, outlined several measures to make SMEs more competitive.

These include clustering them to address the issue of lack of relevant skills which affects their competitiveness on the labour market, and partnering with non-profit organisations like Indego Africa to help female artisans achieve their dreams.

According to Ministry for Trade and Industry, micro-businesses (SMEs) comprise of 97.8 per cent of the private sector, and contribute 41 per cent of the private sector jobs.

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