“Wake up every day and continue the journey towards fulfilling your dreams” – Aphrodice Mutangana

I met the 28-year-old Mutangana at Telecom house and felt like I had known him for years. He is cheerful and polite to everyone around him. I soon found out that his goodness goes way past courtesy and a cheery personality. He was more than willing to share his encouraging story.His journey Aphrodice completed high school from Lycee de Kigali and proceeded to pursue a degree at National University of Rwanda in Agriculture majoring in Crop Production and Horticulture. His first vocation idea came in 2005 at the age of 20 but was told that he couldn’t implement it as it was only given to white people. “I was very hurt and discouraged though it didn’t make me lose my focus for success,” he said with determination. He then started a website called Agro Help. This website was aimed at providing useful, relevant and updated information concerning agriculture and livestock. Unfortunately for Aphrodice, it failed again due to poor market research. “One thing I learnt in life is to wake up every day and continue the journey towards fulfilling your dreams instead of wishing you were already where you want to be,” he advised. Failing didn’t stop Aphrodice. He went on to create FOYO Group Ltd, a company that develops mobile and web applications as well as the conception of IT innovation and creative solutions. FOYO is currently making a mobile application called Mobile Eating Plan Application (MEPA). “We use a specific developed mobile application “short-code SMS” that sends daily SMS’s concerning the composition of a balanced diet to stay healthy, strong and acquire vital nutrients for the proper functioning of the body to different groups of people especially those with health problems. Every SMS costs 65 Rwf,” he explained. The best thing about this application is it takes into consideration many factors such as blood group type, height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) disease or illness the subscriber may have, and others in order to provide dedicated personal assistance. Building a stepping stone“I used to visit hospitalised people, but once when I was a student at National University of Rwanda, I met an old woman who asked me for Rwf 100 and I had nothing! I really felt bad because I couldn’t buy her something to eat. From that moment I started thinking about how to feed people with my own funds,” he narrated. Today, he has finished talks with the University Central Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) and University Central Hospital of Butare where he will be providing the sick with breakfast every day. He will spend Rwf 700,000 a month on each of the hospitals. Aphrodice works from Monday to Thursday and the rest of the week is left to conversations with people about how best they can build their businesses. He devoted a lot of time to many young and enthusiastic youths at Telecom House. His achievements He won Seedstars World Competition with his mobile application MEPA and will represent Rwanda in Switzerland next year 2014 in February.His dreams He dreams of building a hospital in Rwanda and wants it to be classified first in Africa and third worldwide in pediatrics and palliative care.