RWANDA’S CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR Raoul Rugamba, through his Pan African initiative, Africa in Colors, has organised a three-month training program that intends to help young people learn about technologies around 3D, and entrepreneurship in the culture and creative industry, which would allow them developing content, video games, toys and more as catalysts to job creation in Rwanda’s creative industry. The training, which starts next week, is part of the pan African initiative that Africa in Colors is working on in collaboration with Tunisian-based technology institute, 3D Netinfo, American company, Unanimous Games, French company LAFAAC, various studios, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders with an idea to diversify jobs generated in the vast creative industry across Africa. Under the initiative, similar training programs will reach creatives in Kenya, DR Congo, Burundi, Mali and Togo among other countries. The training will kick start with 20 Rwandan youths aged between 18 and 25 years, from various backgrounds around marketing, finance, animation, 2d and 3D design, programming and development. Rugamba said they selected trainees without previous experience or complex requirements to be part of this training, but who could be able to learn skills and knowledge that could help them create one or more jobs and build an important economic value, directly and/or on the value chain. From the program, he looks forward to seeing the program’s package empowering sustainability of Rwandan Culture and Creative industry in order to create jobs and generate revenues for every player in the industry, local and Africa at large. “Most of the trainees will be new in the industry, that’s the idea to be able to monitor the success of the creative industry. We hope the skills that they will acquire from this training program will be key to creating jobs that can help to sustain our industry in the future,” said Rugamba. The participants were selected through a call of candidates. During the training sessions, they will have a chance to learn familiar skills from world class teachers, entrepreneurs, experts and artists from Rwanda and the rest of the world who will be delivering lectures throughout the next three months. After the training, the youths will go through an incubation during which Africa in Colors and partners will be doing follow up on how best the graduates will be putting the skills learnt into actions, job creation, as well as look at how outstanding trainees-turned entrepreneurs can get funding from potential sponsors. “Most of us here, for instance, buy toys with the Batman character and give them to our kids to play with. But, with the skills we are going to give these youths, why not create Rwandan culture-inspired toys of King Ruganzu or of traditional houses as toys for our kids? Those are skills that people will be learning and then develop them into prototypes through 3D model,” he added The initiative comes to Rwanda from successful experiences of how similar skills contributed a lot in job creation and diversity of creativity in countries with advanced creative industries.
