President Paul Kagame, on August 23, tasked the youth to purposefully work hard and smart with a mindset of putting the country on a global stage of development, with dignity. ALSO READ: 5 major developments as YouthConnekt turns 10 He was addressing more than 2,000 youths from different parts of the country at the 10-year anniversary of YouthConnekt at the Intare Conference Arena, Rusororo. Launched in 2012, YouthConnekt is a platform that links the youth with their leaders, role models, skills and resources to promote employability, access to finance, civic engagement and entrepreneurship opportunities. Over the past 10 years, more than 36,000 jobs were created as a result of the initiative, while 2,000 youth-led enterprises were empowered and supported with business development skills, seed funding and mentorship services. Over 3000 vulnerable youths were supported including teen mothers and people with disabilities. ALSO READ: Connect our youth to opportunity, the rest will be easy In his address, Kagame said that the development journey of the country starts from the youth upwards and from the history going forward, in line with how the people aspires it to be in the future. With that in mind, he emphasized that the youth should always question themselves what is hindering Rwanda from developing in the wake where other countries on other continents are advanced. This, he said, seems to give the advanced countries a position to deem it rightful to despise the ways of living for developing countries. “As Rwandans and Africans we are people like others. In this world, it is known that there are wealthy and developed countries that take it on themselves to dictate how people should live but I have a question with that, we are all people. No one created another.” According to him, this is the basis to extend mutual respect among people, and the youth should understand that they are humans endowed with different capabilities and use them to build themselves and the country as a whole. “Knowledge from education is helpful to find a solution to this issue but it is not the only possible way because there are even those making contributions without necessarily going to school, however, education amplifies your work in the development of the country.” Kagame emphasized that there is a lot that the youth can achieve together which is the total some of what they can achieve as individuals, and for their businesses and innovations to reach many, they should be equipped with a mindset of dignity. The event proceeded with an engagement session where the Head of State interacted with the youth as they raised their issues of concern from across different sectors of economy.
