{The Ministry of Trade and Industry initiated the apprenticeship program in the framework of promoting self-employment and job creation to the school drop outs. The program focuses on short training (3-6 months) giving them hands on; practical skills trained by and at the craft master trainer’s workplace.}
It is against this background, that Unemployed youth with the eye for enterprise have a reason to smile after the Ministry of Trade and Industry through Building Inclusive Financial Sector in Rwanda (BIFSIR) and Umurenge Saccos signed a Rwf223 million deal to provide them with short-term loans to start or expand their businesses.
Under the UNDP-government deal, the Ministry of Trade and Industry was expected to scale up small-and-medium enterprise development initiatives, including apprenticeship training for youth and school dropouts selected from Nyabihu, Kamonyi, Ruhango, Nyamagabe, Rwamagana, Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge districts.
Martin Hagenimana, the Sector Specialist at the at the ministry’s Single Project Implementation Unit, said the funding that will benefit young entrepreneurs who were recently trained in business skills by the trade and industry ministry, would be channeled through 38 Umurenge Saccos countrywide.
The SACCOs will facilitate the trainees through this facility to enable them buy start-up kits,” he said, adding that the Saccos through which the loans will be disbursed were selected based on their National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) credit rating, and proximity to the trainees.
The specific objective of the programme is to contribute to capacity building of the various stakeholders at the macro, meso and micro levels, with a view of supporting the development of sustainable, quality and diversified financial services that are accessible to the less advantaged Rwanda, both in rural and in urban areas, and to improve the economic and social status.
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