Labour minister asks Rwandans to support new entrepreneurs

Labour Minister Anastase Murekezi used Labour Day celebrations yesterday to rally Rwandans on supporting Kuremera programme, an initiative that the government introduced recently to speed up job creation in the country. Murekezi urged ordinary Rwandans, officials at all the country’s administrative levels, and members of the civil society to help young people without capital start their own businesses. “We urge government institutions, districts, sectors, cells and villages, private institutions, churches, the civil society, and parents with adult children to help them start their own jobs. Helping them start their own business should be a common practice just like the ‘one cow per family’ programme was scaled up to help poor farmers who had no livestock to their name,” Murekezi said. Kuremera is a Kinyarwanda word that is rooted in the Rwandan culture where family and friends donate to young adults to get them started as they become independent and sometimes get married to start a family of their own. Since last year, the government has emulated the age old tradition to help unemployed Rwandans get off the street, especially those who are most vulnerable, like the youth and women. Under the drive, every Rwandan is encouraged to support new entrepreneurs with either money or equipment to help them implement their business ideas. “Job creation as we all know is at the core of self-reliance. It is the way to go when it comes to realising the government’s Vision 2020,” the minister noted. He reminded Rwandans that the government’s Business Development Fund (BDF) ensures 75 per cent of collateral when Small and Medium Sized Enterprises or local cooperatives apply for loans in banks. He also urged Rwandans to help new entrepreneurs get the remaining 25 per cent to complete the banks’ requirement of 100 pe rcent collateral in order to access business loans. Analysts project positive impact but call for a framework for evaluation. The Ministry of Public Service and Labour announced intentions to streamline the Kuremera programme across the country last week. According to Prof. Herman Musahara, an expert in development studies at the National University of Rwanda, the programme is likely to help the country’s overall job creation policy trickle down in the society. “It will by all means have a positive impact,” he said, highlighting that home-grown approaches to implementing the country’s policies have always had positive effects. “It is putting more emphasis on what has already been in place.” The government hopes that the initiative would reduce unemployment rate in the country with reports by the Labour ministry indicating that 125,000 people join the labour market annually, with only 2 per cent getting jobs in tpublic service, while 98 per cent have to be self-employed or seek employment in private entities. Musahara called for a clearer framework for both the implementation and evaluation of the new Kuremera drive.