A Memorandum of Understand has been signed between a Cairo-based organisation, International Business Driving License (IBDL), the University of Kigali and Rwanda’s Private Sector Federation to facilitate capacity building for Rwandan young entrepreneurs.

The University of Kigali is hosting the first group of 50 beneficiaries.

But the deal, signed yesterday at University of Kigali, targets to train 1000 people annually.

The training, which has already kicked off, takes a duration of five days.

The fifty scholarships are fully funded by Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Egyptian Agency for Partnership in Development (EAPD).

Dr Mohamed Galal, the Chief Development Officer-Africa of IBDL, said the purpose of the collaboration is to build entrepreneurial skills in the private sector in Rwanda.

"This is also meant to support entrepreneurs to develop and implement different business strategies as well as create more employment and thereby enable Rwanda to demonstrate leadership in the execution and support of entrepreneurship skills and job creation,” Galal said.

This will be achieved through different executive courses, delivered by IBDL.

Dr Galal added that they are planning to have this programme running for years to have as much impact as possible.

Classroom sessions will be delivered to make sure that there is a common understanding of each and every concept in a very localised way, he added.

PSF Chief Executive Officer Stephen Ruzibiza said the deal targets youth businesses, small or big, to enable them grow to create more jobs and equipping entrepreneurs with adequate knowledge to enhance competitiveness and production.

"We have seen businesses register but sometimes fail to start off. That happens because of lack of knowledge and hands on skills as some people could come up with an idea but without skills on how to manage the business,” said Ruzibiza.

PSF members are set to improve their business in terms of quality, quantity and branding thanks to this programme, Ruzibiza noted, adding that trends keep on changing on the market daily and they have to be up to date.

The chairman of the board of directors of the University of Kigali, Philibert Africa, said the institution is well placed to help the programme reach its targets.

"We will later imbed the programme in our university together with our partners. We started with young people who have businesses but we are thinking of extending it to university students,” Africa said.

The new training programme is expected to generate 10,000 to 30,000 jobs in the county.

IBDL says it wants to have its regional training centre in Kigali to serve the Great Lakes region and its Board of Trustees meeting will take place in Rwanda next year.

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