Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) and the Private Sector Federation (PSF) have stepped up efforts to develop entrepreneurship in the country.

This was after both parties discussed with Business Plan Competition (BPC) contestants and winners on the challenges faced during their entrepreneurship careers.

The BPC is an annual programme initiated by the PSF in collaboration with government and the World Bank through its Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (CEDP).

It is an annual competition which focuses on providing capital to young and start-up entrepreneurs with innovative and profitable business ideas.

The Managing Director of BRD, Théogene Turatsinze, said, "The forum seeks to answer questions from entrepreneurs that we may not be aware.”

He added that the dialogue with BPC stakeholders, winners and contestants seeks to provide ideas for entrepreneurial growth and also give courage to contestant.

BRD is the intermediary which administers the guarantee fund provided by the World Bank to most viable entrepreneurial project proposals selected by the PSF.

This year the World Bank availed $500,000 (Frw275.6 million) to implement the competition that embraces development oriented enterprises for impacting on employment and income generating activities.

Antoine Rutayisire Manzi, the Director of the Entrepreneurship Department and Business Growth in the PSF, said that entrepreneurs face problems but PSF their advocate does do not know.

This was justified when some entrepreneurs especially those in foods and beverages claimed to have problems of getting certification from Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS).

PSF and the World Bank jointly manage the programme with the objective of promoting entrepreneurship among the youth and fresh graduates to address the unemployment problem and alleviate poverty in Rwanda.

Manzi revealed that this time 50 entrepreneurs will be awarded though the target is 100 entrepreneurs if funds permit.

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