NYARUGENGE - President Paul Kagame yesterday encouraged young Rwandan entrepreneurs to adopt professionalism in their day-to-day life as a route to prosperity and success.

Kagame was addressing youth gathered at the second Imbuto Foundation’s Youth Forum held at Serena Hotel.

Imbuto, created in 2007, is an initiative of the First Lady Jeannette Kagame for the advocacy of female and youth prosperity.

President Kagame urged youth to work hard and to transform creative concepts into commercially viable business.

"Our vision for a prosperous Rwanda hinges on how we address questions of professionalism and entrepreneurship,” Kagame said.

He added that the principle competencies of professionalism include the ability to turn concepts into practice using a capacity to solve problems, a dedication to continuous learning and an enthusiasm and commitment to serve clients.

"It is in this context that strong professional associations are required in our country to foster a culture of excellence.”

Kagame told Imbuto members that they are the determining factor of change for the new Rwanda, "one with a thriving private sector constituting the engine of socioeconomic transformation”. He also urged them to form professional associations and where they do exist to strengthen them.

"The point here is that whether you are in public or private sector, academia, civil society organisations, you need to excel in what you do,” he said.

He added that institutions that care and serve the public effectively require policy entrepreneurs and sector specialists that are capable of applying innovative solutions.

"Professionalism in all walks of life is what will free us from being hostages to the culture of dependency where the outside world is expected to provide answers. The rest of the world owes us nothing.” said Kagame.

He encouraged youth to take pride in holding themselves to high standards and gave his own example of making the right choices and not just giving up. He said that in life it is either fight or fright and that challenges must be confronted and overcome.

Committed

In her welcoming note during the beginning of the function, the First Lady Jeannette Kagame emphasised Imbuto’s commitment to empower the youth of Rwanda.

She said that the Youth Forum Series are aimed at bringing extraordinary men and women together with young Rwandans, in a dialogue aimed at inspiring, empowering and equipping our youth with values that will contribute to their success, and the fulfilment of the potential we know they possess.

The First Lady said that she believes professionalism is fundamentally about attitude; it begins in the mind and is an intrinsic part of one’s character.

"Entrepreneurship means innovation, competition and quality, and goes hand in hand with having a professional attitude,” she added.

She also noted that a professional believes in and takes ownership of his or her work – confidently and competently knowing what to do and when to do it.

The First Lady gave several examples of  professionalism pointing out responsible behaviour and having a sense of impact.

Like President Kagame, The First lady also talked about her principles of life: "One thing I have learned, and I am sure you are aware of, is that people are observant, and in their observations, are influenced by what they see happening around them. By that same token, people are attracted to excellence – we therefore have in our everyday lives many occasions to lead by example and multiply the positive consequences of our actions.”

The purpose of the forum was to tie professionalism with entrepreneurship since businesses are the strongest drivers for development.

The function was attended by top government officials including cabinet ministers and key achievers in business from across the world.

During the function, Imbuto also awarded eleven winners of the business proposal competition which brought together students from different universities across the country.

The competition, which was the first of its kind, was conceived during the first Imbuto Foundation Youth Forum which took place in April and was attended by hundreds of university students.

The first three winners were awarded US$6,000 (Approx. Frw 3.2million), US$5000 (Approx. Frw 2.7 million) and US$4000 (Approx. Frw 2.1million) respectively while others were handed envelopes containing Frw 50,000.

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