Back in 1973, in a society where women had very limited opportunities, Zulfat Mukarubega used only Rwf5,000 to open up a mini restaurant near a garage in Muhazi, (located in Kayonza District in the Eastern Province), which would later go on to initiate her among Rwanda’s top entrepreneurs.

Mukarubega, 53, was named by Rwanda Development Board as the Woman Entrepreneur of 2010 in recognition for her contribution towards improving the quality of customer care in the country by setting up the Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC).

In an interview with Business Times, last week, Mukarubega narrated her success story, which is filled with struggle, commitment, patience, risk and aggressiveness.

The divorced mother of four recalled her childhood as an endured struggle to attain formal education in a family that was not able to provide her with everything she needed.

"In the 70s, I studied nursing for three years in Butare Hospital, where I attained a certificate. Thereafter, I decided to get a job to further my education. Instead of practising nursing, I secured a job at a white man’s garage in Kigali as a secretary,” Mukaruriza recalled.

"There, I realised that I could make money by opening a cheap restaurant for the mechanics. I had only Rwf5,000, which I used to buy sugar, bread and a few foodstuffs for the first day at work. I also collected unwanted furniture from friends, which I used as tables and chairs in my restaurant.”

The Rwf8,000 she got from, both working as a garage secretary and her restaurant, enabled her to start up a men’s clothes shop in Kigali.

In 1979, she got married and together with her husband, opened up a technical training school in Muhazi, where she served as the Deputy Headmaster.

However, Mukarubega realised that if she were to become a successful businesswoman, she needed to attain further education and, in 1989, she attended Lycee Notre Dame in Kigali, where she was awarded a certificate in accounting.

"In the morning I would go to school and in the evening, tend to my shop, on a daily basis. The situation then was very hard for women. It was an abomination for women to go to school but I was helped by several people who saw the desire I had for studying,” she narrated.

"Things are easier now, whereby, the President (Paul Kagame) has put women at the helm of development and given us a chance to participate in the development struggle of this nation.”

Starting up RTUC came from her identification of the customer care gap that existed within hotels and restaurants. Yet, according to her, the service is a core factor in the performance of any firm in the hospitality business.

"In 2002, I visited several tourism colleges in Kenya and South Africa in search for experts. I shared my vision of creating a tourism school in Rwanda. They helped me, passed me through orientation programmes and proposed for me a curriculum,” she said.

That same year, Mukarubega and her husband divorced but that never killed her ambitions. She finally set up RTUC in 2006 with only five students at the beginning.

Four years down the road, RTUC boasts of 1,500 students pursuing vocational courses as well as undergraduate programmes in hotel and tourism management and business information technology.

"Since its inception, RTUC has graduated over 400 students, most of who are immediately employed in several hotels in the country,” she added.

Last year, she opened up an RTUC branch in Gigenyi, a six hours drive from Kigali, which attracts students from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Uganda.

Amongst her core reasons for setting up the Gisenyi branch was to expand English language skills in the remote district and to enhance its local population in customer care skills.

"My message to fellow Rwandan women is; ‘never give up!’ We have a very good opportunity now to realise our full potential. The President has opened a window for us which no other regime ever provided. Let us take this opportunity and improve our families and our country,” Mukarubega said.

For her business acumen, Mukarubega has achieved several recognitions, including an honorary PHD she picked in Kenya, last year, as well as the latest RDB’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.