Small business operators are set to benefit from a $1 million (about Rwf843 million) grant from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to support their growth. The grant will be rolled out over a period of three years in partnership with the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), locally known as Inkomoko, the organisation said in a statement.

Inkomoko develops and grooms entrepreneurs in the sectors of technology, agriculture and energy, three of East Africa’s biggest and fastest growing sectors, and priorities in Rwanda.

MasterCard committed to supporting Rwanda’s vision of financially empowering its citizens during the 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF Africa) in Kigali and the grant was established to help achieve this goal. This also supports government efforts aimed at job-creation and poverty reduction, as well as ensuring gender equality through equal access to opportunities, and delivering decent work prospects to drive economic growth.

The SME sector is the key driver of the local economy, making up about 98 per cent of the private sector in the country.

The one-year programme by Inkomoko will help remove the barriers local entrepreneurs face in the areas of skills development, networks, and financing through providing mentoring, technical support, capacity building, and direct access to affordable capital, according to the statement.

Supporting refugees

Under the programme, Inkomoko will also support some of the 160,000 refugees currently living in Rwanda in collaboration with the United Nations Agency on Refugees (UNHCR), the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, to foster the social and economic independence of refugees in the country.

With a large population of refugees, the role of private and public partnerships remains crucial to the inclusive growth and development of all those displaced.

"Connecting entrepreneurs, especially women and refugees, to the networks that power the modern world, like financial services, unlocks their economic potential and accelerates a cycle of equitable and sustainable economic growth,” said Shamina Singh, the president of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

The entrepreneurship programme by Inkomoko aims to restore the dignity of refugees living in Rwanda by empowering these small business owners with vital support to grow their businesses.

The programme will work with 4,000 refugees in Rwanda over the next three years.

"The intention is to connect refugees with the tools and skills necessary to enable them to become self-sufficient and independent entrepreneurs to improve their own livelihoods, create jobs for others in their communities, and contribute to Rwanda’s larger economic development.

"Rwanda’s refugee camps and host communities are places of vibrant social and economic activity with bustling markets, shops, restaurants, and industries,” said Julienne Oyler, the executive director of African Entrepreneur Collective, in the statement. "Supporting and developing entrepreneurs in these areas will have tremendous impact on the communities themselves and the country at large.”

Equipping next generation of entrepreneurs

The programme targets high potential local entrepreneurs to drive broad-based economic growth by equipping the country’s next generation of business owners with the right tools to hone their financial literacy and lay a strong foundation for financial inclusion and growth.

The support provided under the grant falls within the country’s Vision 2020 strategy to create a knowledge-based and cashless economy with 90 per cent financial inclusion, and will enable Rwanda to meet its Sustainable Development Goals, notably, eradicating poverty and driving gender equality through empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Singh said: facilitating inclusive growth is an important way to build social and economic development, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth remains committed to working with partners in both the public and private spheres to drive that development.