30 September 2008
editorial
Kigali — Last week Imbuto Foundation, an initiative conceived and supervised by the Office of the First Lady to recognize and develop initiatives of young Rwandans in the sectors of health, education, and economic empowerment, held a business proposal competition for university students from all over the country.
The idea was simple - produce the best business proposal and the winner(s) will be handsomely rewarded, with prospects of even getting funding for their projects.
Though simple in its design, however, the business competition proposal has great ramifications for economic development in Rwanda, specifically targeting the youth.
Rwandan leadership has time and again said that though the country lacks natural resources like mines, it is very proud of its people and considers them the greatest resource that it has.
This means therefore that we should be very resourceful to fill the gap of development that other resources could have filled.
Innovation, resourcefulness and entrepreneurship share characteristics, but basically it is using ones' head to work out various production challenges and overcome them.
As the Minister of Youth Protais Mitali said, youths who are using their brains to think up potential business proposals will graduate as prospective job creators, not job seekers.
It is a good thing that Imbuto Foundation is encouraging such competitions so that the intrepid young thinkers will have a shot at showcasing their ideas, even as the Private Sector Federation also encourages similar ideals amongst its myriad business enterprises.
Even when one fails to win, the fact that they thought up something long enough to package and enter it into a competition is enough to encourage them on, as the idea encourages the rest.
It is good that the State minister of Trade, Vincent Karega, was present and called upon the Centre for Support to Small and Medium Enterprises to help such innovations come to fruition.
The government should really do everything possible to spur worthwhile business ideas by getting their authors funds to develop them to another level.
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