Creative ideas displayed during May Day expo

Over 80 exhibitors showcased their innovative ideas at an exposition organised as part of this year’s Labour Day celebrations.The event, held at Amahoro indoor Stadium in Remera, Kigali, featured local exhibitors from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), large companies, financial and educational institutions.Aloys Habimana, an exhibitor and lecturer at the Higher Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (ISAE), in Musanze District, noted that participating in the exhibition enabled him demonstrate how people can create employment instead of depending on government jobs.“Over 90% of agricultural experts who are working in all these agricultural institutions in the country are from our institute. We teach them how to grow some crops on small scale basis and many of our students have prospered,” he told The New Times.Agnes Kanimba Mukabaranga, from the Career Advisory Centre at Kigali Health Institute (KHI), said they also teach their students entrepreneurship.At the expo, the Institute taught dental health and provided free eye checkups to people who visited their stands.The exhibition was organised by the Ministry of Labour and Public Service though participants cited lack of access to finance among their major challenges.Jean de Dieu Kabengera, a Programme Manager of Youth Employment Systems (YES), a local company which provides advisory services to the youth on entrepreneurship, appealed to the government to put in place mechanisms to easily access loans from banks and other micro finance institutions.Alphonse Murenzi, who works with Rondereza Limited, makers of energy saving stoves, on the other hand, commended the organisers.“This expo is very good compared to the previous exhibitions I attended. It mainly focused on how we entrepreneurs can easily penetrate the labour market unlike others where exhibitors would come with the objective of selling their products to make profits,” he said.Gilbert Agaba, a Labour Market Economist in the Labour Ministry, said the exhibition was geared at identifying people who participated mostly in job creation across the country. He said they had put in place various websites; umurimo.com, tohoza.com to connect job seekers with prospective employers.

National

Creative ideas displayed during May Day expo