In early August 2017, students from the Youth Entrepreneurship Training Programme (YETP) attended a week long course presented by UK business leaders from Project Umubano, the UK Conservative Party International Development Social Action Programme.
Training was provided in many different business skills including sales, marketing, online businesses, finance and leadership skills. The aim was to help the delegates develop business plans to set up new ventures. Those businesses that were ready to start were encouraged to present their business plans to a “Dragons Den” style panel at the end of the week, with a view to obtaining seed funding to start their business.
The panel, comprising Brookes Newmark (Business owner and former UK MP), Sarah Metcalfe (Head of DFID in Rwanda), and Sam Munderere (Chief Executive of SURF), heard presentations from seven businesses and chose their top four who all received funding to start their businesses.
The winners were:-
- Etienne Nsengimana – Pig farming
- Patrick Musoni Nkusi – PM Sound and Vision
- Jean Neretse – Chicken farming
- Eugene Mukeshimana – Children’s Home education services
Congratulations to all the successful businesses, and we wish them well as they start their new ventures.
Training was also provided to existing businesses who are hoping to apply to the Innovation Fund through SURF, to help expand their business. Some of these were winners of seed funding in previous years, showing how important the provision of entrepreneurial training and seed funding is.
Adrian Veale
Project Umubano Kigali Business Training Coordinator
and Survivors Fund (SURF) Trustee
