At least 230 young entrepreneurs have benefited from an entrepreneurship training organised by the Business Development Centre (BDC). Jean Bosco Iyacu, the BDC chief executive, said since the centre started its operations last year, the number of trainees has been increasing significantly. He was awarding of certificates to 13 young entrepreneurs who completed a five-month training in entrepreneurship skills last week. The event took place in Kigali. “We really want these young people to exploit their potentials after the training. This is the reason we came up with initiatives to build their capacity so that they become better businesspersons,” said Iyacu. BDC-Rwanda is a joint project jointly run by the International Christian Chamber of Commerce and Regent University, with support of government through Rwanda Development Board. It aims at preparing and mentoring young entrepreneurs to implement their business ideas successfully. Iyacu said empowering the youth will contribute towards fighting unemployment. Those who completed the training were also given opportunity for free business consultations as well as legal advice for a period of six months from BDC. During the six months, trainees said they had benefited a lot. “We were trained on how best we could come up with good business proposals based on our business ideas, we also met with various successful entrepreneurs and shared a lot in line with our mission of becoming business leaders,” said Henley Dusabimana, who emerged the best trainee. He said writing or coming up with an appropriate business proposal to secure funding from sponsors is a major challenge to the youth. Other trainees said the training created an opportunity to learn from their peers, noting that it will impact their work.
