Start-ups have for long complained about lack of access to capital and business mentorship. In fact, many upcoming creatives and entrepreneurs fail to implement or develop their ideas because they do not have the means to do so.

This has meant that many innovations do not ‘see’ the light of day and are abandoned at the formative stages, while start-ups with immense potential collapse due to lack of funds to push them to the next level of growth. Others collapse because the operators are not guided by experienced sector players on how to run businesses profitably and sustainably.

For some 15 Rwandan start-ups from diverse fields of the economy, these challenges might not suffice.

The 15 entrepreneurs were some of the 1,000 start-ups that participated in the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) in Nigeria this year.

The group received a 12-week online mentorship that climaxed with a two-day networking boot camp about three weeks ago aimed at sharpening further the entrepreneurs’ skills, as well as connecting them with like-minded people.

The 15 Rwanda representatives were from areas of agriculture, ICT, healthcare, education, transportation and general trade. The boot camp in Lagos, Nigeria attracted 1,000 start-ups, of the 20,000 that submitted projects, representing 51 African countries. Each of 1,000 participants in the TEEP received $10,000 (about Rwf7.6 million) to inject in their projects.

Clarisse Uwineza, who runs Kigali-based Environmental Protection and Organics, a firm that seeks to recycle garbage to make organic manure, is one of the TEEP Class of 2015 beneficiaries.

Uwineza says the programme gave them exposure that will help spur their enterprises to great heights.

She says she will use the skills gained from the mentorship programme to refine her production processes and marketing to ease access to fertilisers (organic manure) when the project kicks off in coming months.

"The seed capital we got from TEEP will help to develop the projects,” she adds.

Uwineza is a graduate of environmental chemistry from the University of Rwanda, and she says her university dissertation was on waste management. After graduation, she participated in various government programmes sensitising the public on environmental protection initiatives.

 Why organic manure project

Uwineza says she was inspired to start recycling garbage after realising that in many places across the country, garbage is just dumped and seen as useless.

"I found out that there are few companies in Rwanda that deal in recycling. When I visited Nyanza chemical waste dump and Nduba waste site, I found that a lot of garbage was ‘wasting’ away at these sites as the few recycling companies in Rwanda have no capacity to use all of it,” she explains.

She notes that she was pushed by the fact that over 90 per cent of waste collected in City of Kigali goes to landfills.

Besides, the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) had reported that many landfills countrywide were closing or exhausting their remaining capacity.

"Due to environmental restrictions and government laws, few new landfills are being opened to offset the looming space crisis. Recycling is recommended as an alternative to land fills in order to protect the environment; that’s where our initiative comes in handy,” Uwineza says.

She believes that she’s ready to make use of them and grow the business, she expects to improve access to organic fertilisers and, thus, boost agro-production.

She says the organic fertilisers are less toxic to the soil and ensure high food security.

Rwanda imports over 32,000 tonnes of fertilisers annually, but looks to increase to 62,000 tonnes by 2017, according to Charles Murekezi, the co-ordinator for fertiliser distribution at the agriculture ministry.

The prices of fertilisers (with subsidies) for 2015 seasons A-C is, NPK Rwf410 per kilo; DAP Rwf470 and UREA is at Rwf550 a kilo. 

For the season 2016A, fertilisers will cost Rwf390 for a kilo NPK; Rwf465 for DAP and UREA will be going for Rwf540 a kilogramme. Farmers who buy from dealers that are not under the government subsidy programme buy NPK at Rwf558 per kilo, DAP costs Rwf720 and UREA costs Rwf635 a kilo.

This makes Uwineza’s initiative crucial in as far as improving Rwanda’s agriculture production is concerned.

"The project will also create employment opportunities for many youth, both directly and indirectly throughout the production value chain,” she says.

She says though there other organisations like REMA, CODEC, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) and SOIMEX are interested in improving the way waste is managed, her approach is different.

Uwineza says she will educate the public to ensure waste is separated at source, and make them understand that it is valuable.

"I don’t treat garbage as waste; I handle it as a raw material that I can use to produce other products (manure),” she notes.

Uwineza’s project will recycle the waste, package it and market it to the final consumer. She plans to work with different stakeholders, including central and local governments, as well as those entities that produce a lot of recyclable waste when the project kicks off.

Other start-up proprietors speak out

Marie Claire Murekatete is an app developer. She pitched Smart Taxi mobile app idea that targets the transportation sector. The smart taxi project aims at easing access to transport means as it helps cabbies and public commuters identify where passengers are on the route.

Murekatete says she started the smart taxi idea in 2013 at Carnegie Mellon University.

"We learnt to build our ideas on small things and making business plans more attractive to investors and other people who might need to help financially. Besides, we shared and exchanged ideas with different entrepreneurs; and learnt how to be innovative and the leaders of tomorrow, all of which will help us grow our enterprises,” Murekatete says.

Louis Antoine Muhire from Market Mergims has an ICT business start-up, MERGIMS, a mobile application that connects migrants back to businesses in their countries of origin, enabling them to pay for electricity, airtime and tuition fees for their relatives at a service fee of 5 per cent.

MERGIMS is a ‘cash to service/goods” business model that offers to migrants a cheap, efficient and secure solution compared to traditional remittance schemes serving Rwandans, Muhire explains.

"I wanted to come up with something unique to benefit a diverse number of people,” he explains.

He adds that next year, they will start operations in Kenya and Uganda.

"The cash we got isn’t much, but, in business, we believe that any amount of money can do something. Therefore, it will help pay some of the bills,” he notes.

The other Rwandan entrepreneurs who participated in TEEP are Assan Ololo, Dieudonne Nkomejegusenga, Julien Mitali, Francois Nkurikiye, Emmanuel Hitimana, Jean Leon Iragena, Marie Rose Rurangirwa, Lauren Russell, Theodomir Sebazungu, Amani Twagirayezu and Sam Zizinga.

The TEEP programme was founded by Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu, who also finances the foundation. TEEP’s goal is to drive Africa’s economic and social transformation from within and to radically intensify job-creation on the continent.

TEEP mentorship gave me a deeper understanding of ICT businesses 

Victor Nkindi, TEEP Class of 2015

I am a Rwandan media professional with 10 years experience in broadcast and digital media. I was selected to participate in the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program (TEEP) by Tony Elumelu Foundation in March, 2015, having submitted a project on digital media platform. The Tony Elumelu Foundation supports African startups by providing training, mentorship, coaching and seed capital through the TEEP. My mentor was an IT executive based in the DR Congo, who is working in the telecom sector like me. He also has a clear understanding of digital media business. After undertaking the TEEP 12-week mentorship programme, I now have a deeper understanding of how to manage and run digital media enterprises.

Besides providing seed capital of $10,000 (about Rwf7.6 million) and support, the TEEP will also continue to foster increased collaboration with us as it seeks to promote cross-border trade on the continent. We are the first to be part of a great alumni network, made by young entrepreneurs who face situations where it is always hard in African countries to convince and access mainstream funding (banks and micro finances) for IT projects.

For my Rwandan fellow young entrepreneurs, the message I have for you is that you don’t have to limit yourself; the market is wide and not limited to Rwanda. Opportunities are vast and there are people out there ready to venture; just bring the best of you and you will be rewarded.