Young people should also look for jobs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has vast opportunities. This is according to UAE’s ambassador to Rwanda, His Excellency Hazza AlQahtani.

The ambassador recently had an interactive session with students at Mount Kigali University and advised them to take advantage of the various job opportunities available in his country.

His talk was titled, ‘The UAE Youth Empowerment Initiatives: An Interactive Discussion with Students at the Mount Kigali University’.

In his discussion with the students, the envoy pointed out that a path had already been created for young people from the East African nation to get jobs in the UAE.

The ambassador reminded his audience that, in June 2019, the UAE Government signed with the Government of Rwanda, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate labour mobility between the two nations.

The agreement allows skilled Rwandans to access job opportunities in the UAE through the exchange of workforce as well as transfer of skills and knowledge.

The UAE envoy highlighted the various youth empowerment initiatives his country is implementing.

One such initiative, Youth Circles, has been implemented in Rwanda.

The ambassador explained: "The Youth Circles is an initiative to inspire youth-centric dialogue across a variety of areas for sustainable engagement with youth to shape innovative solutions for global challenges. In this program, youth representing different genders, fields and age groups participate in a dialogue with senior government leaders in a circular format, to express and share their opinion to shape a solution or a policy.”

In 2019, the UAE Embassy in Kigali conducted a successful youth circle for 100 young women in the hospitality and tourism sector.

That was after they attended a training on empowering them in hospitality excellence, with trainers from the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management.

"The UAE Government fully believes that the empowerment of youth is vital in order to enable young people to shoulder responsibilities, innovate, and contribute to the welfare of the community,” said H.E. AlQahtani.

During the visit, he toured the university and was impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities at the campus.

He added: "I commend the university’s management for putting up such modern facilities for learning.”

Every year, Mount Kigali University releases into the job market hundreds of highly employable graduates who can work locally or internationally. The ambassador challenges them to create their future by taking the initiative to seek jobs abroad, the UAE being one of their prospective destinations.

The university offers a wide range of courses at certificate, diploma, degree and postgraduate levels. It keeps on introducing new programmes in response to market demand.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academics and Research Affairs, Dr Eugenia Nkechi Irechukwu, thanked the ambassador for visiting the institution.

"We appreciate you visiting us to interact with our students. Mount Kigali University is continually investing in teaching infrastructure, laboratories, online teaching tools and platforms and learning materials to deliver quality education.”

Dr Irechukwu cited the University Medical Centre and Kigali Paramount Hotel as examples of the university’s most recent infrastructure that supports practical training.

Dr Irechukwu requested the ambassador to link the university to other Higher Learning Institutions in the UAE.

She said: "Linkages are essential for enhancing technological and scientific infrastructure, promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, driving economic growth and facilitating knowledge transfer.”

The ambassador awarded the best female and male students for academic excellence, Novella Uwase Karangwa and Jonathan Rutembezz, as well as two groups of students who presented the most innovative ideas.

The ambassador was awarded a certificate of appreciation for visiting Mount Kigali University for an interactive session with the students.