Joshua Tahinduka, the president of the 1Rwanda Toastmasters Club, last Saturday beat 19 other speakers from the region to emerge winner of the Best of Toastmasters East Africa (BOTEA) speech contest.

Every year, Toastmasters in East Africa gather for a conference that involves a speech contest and gala dinner.

The conferences aim to bring all Toastmasters’ club members together so that they learn from each other.

"Being the winner of this prestigious award in the East Africa Toastmasters community brought streams of joy to my heart as I had only gone to see how far I am compared to others in the region,” Tahinduka told The New Times.

"I am encouraged to persuade many more Rwandans to join Toastmasters as well as continue coaching and training people in public speaking,” he said.

Rwanda was represented by 12 other members at the Nairobi event.

Kenyans, Momanyi Nyaboke and Ronald Chepkwony, were second and third, respectively.

Toastmasters in Rwanda was introduced by Imbuto Foundation in 2011.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills.

Tahinduka added: "Everyone needs to communicate well irrespective of what they do in life. The ability to communicate well might be the difference between winning a deal and losing it. In the long run, therefore, it directly contributes to one’s financial independence, among other positives.”