Ten young professionals will this month head to Japan to acquire hands-on skills in information and communication technology (ICT) as part of efforts to strengthen economic ties between the private sectors in Rwanda and Japan.

The 10 students will join 16 Rwandan students already benefitting from the African Business Education Initiative for Youth (ABE) scholarships, Takayuki Miyashita, the Japanese ambassador to Rwanda, has said.

The initiative is part of a five-year strategic plan developed in 2013 to train 1,000 youths from Africa at Japanese universities, as well as offer them internships at Japanese enterprises to help foster human resource development to ensure sustainable industrial development.

Seventeen Rwandans are currently pursuing master’s programmes under the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) training programme.

Miyashita said the ABE Initiative has created interest among Japanese private sector to come and invest in Rwanda. He said the students will have the opportunity to learn the Japanese technology and management skills that are critical for Rwanda’s ICT sector. The need for human resource development in Africa’s private and public sectors was one of the issues discussed at the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) to build a strong human network between Japan and Africa.

ABE programme

While undertaking the master’s degree programme, the local students will have a chance to do internship with Japanese ICT companies. This programme offers opportunities for young and eligible African men and women to study master’s courses in Japanese universities as international students and to undertake internships at Japanese enterprises in order to develop effective skills and knowledge in various fields. Rwanda has benefited from training programmes in Japan since 1977 through JICA.