Say yes to the incubator

After establishing a job desk website which is acting as a meeting place between young people looking for jobs and companies that have vacancies, Youth Empowerment System (YES) Rwanda has again gone an extra mile by starting up a program called the incubator which is aiming at turning the youths dreams who are doing small business come true. “The word incubator has been derived from the common word incubator that is used in the animal husbandry where a hen lays its eggs, hatches and nurtures them,” said Daniel Patel the business entrepreneurship and development officer of YES Rwanda. He said that the incubator is going to be a stop centre where youths are going to have an opportunity to interact, do networking, be mentored and also have experts who will be training them in different skills on how to do business, sustain it, and grow big. “There is no formula for making money. Anything that adds up to another can make money. So this is the reason why we are targeting the youths out there on the streets who are trying to run away from poverty and have the zeal, and the potential of making money, and probably have no ideas of expanding and becoming big.” Patel says that YES Rwanda wants to transform these youths into big business entrepreneurs. “Many youth have big dreams of getting big monies but one thing that they always don’t think of is that getting the big monies that they dream of is a process that takes time.” He said that another reason for starting the incubators is that out of 100% people who start business, 10% survive in operating their business and 90% pull out simply because they just get into business and always don’t plan for their business. Also according to Patel, others always have high hopes but things don’t work out and so they end up getting discouraged and drop the business. So for such reasons, he said that many young people will benefit from the system and they will grow big. He also believes that if these young people can plan for their small businesses and they grow, government will have a tax revenue source. Patel says that YES Rwanda will encourage the youths to learn how to take risks in business, a point he said that is affecting many youths. “Many young people fear to take risks such as borrowing but in the incubator system, we shall encourage them to learn how to take risks because there are many successful businessmen who have had a break through taking risks.” However, as the incubator system tries to get its foothold, one of its greatest challenges according to Patel is winning over people’s confidence in the system and getting the private and public sectors to participate. Email: krbfred@yahoo.com