About 50 youth, on Thursday, completed a three-month intensive training in micro-entrepreneurship, facilitated by; YES-Rwanda and Educat.

YES-Rwanda is the local chapter of the Global YES Campaign Network that provides young people with opportunities to create livelihoods, while Educat is an international NGO that promotes entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and opportunities among the youth.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, one of the trainees, Sandrine Umuhoza, said that the course equipped her with skills to develop and build her own business.

"Through the training, I have learned about customer care; now I know how to approach and retain customers,” she asserted.

Laurene Hagenimana, also a graduate, stated that the training helped him gain innovative skills, underlining that he is ready to start his own business if he secures start up capital.

"I have acquired skills on accessing credit from banks and other micro-finance institutions,” he added.

The training was designed to meet the needs of young entrepreneurs working in the informal sector. It dwelt on expansion of their business to facilitate them to register into the formal private sector with topics in innovation, finance, savings and credits, cooperative creation networking.

Andreas Norlem, the chief executive of Educat said that the programme focused on entrepreneurship and business management and the entrepreneur’s own personal resources such as existing knowledge, skills and network.

"The micro-entrepreneurship programme facilitated the trainees to step inside the established business and get registered,” he asserted.

Norlem mentioned that the training also connected the participants to several micro-finance institutions to help them apply for loans.

Ends