Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, on 9th December 2022 awarded 30 young entrepreneurs as part of an effort to support youth-led innovative COVID-19 impact initiatives from refugee camps and host communities. The awarded seed fund forms part of the program “Economic Inclusion of Refugees and Host Communities in Rwanda“ (ECOREF), which is implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It focusses on refugee camps and neighboring host communities in Kirehe, Gisagara, Nyamagabe and urban refugees in Huye and Kigali. Under this program, DOT offers digital, entrepreneurship skills and coaching support to TVET graduates and existing businesses. Access to finance has always been a challenge for entrepreneurs and startups, it is a serious challenge for the refugees and other entrepreneurs; youth and women in host communities. The awards provided are to increase access to finance and startup capital for the recipients. Among the awarded initiatives, 20 are led by social entrepreneurs from refugee camps, host communities and from urban refugees while 10 are community projects developed by digital champions and business coaches (youth recruited and trained to deliver digital skills for business in their communities). Each initiative received a grant worth Rwf 500,000. According to Dr. Emmanuel Nzeyimana, Deputy Director of DOT Rwanda, they started with young people from those regions who were trying to provide solutions to their communities, and empowered them with ICT skills, helping them to adopt the use of ICT tools in their businesses particularly those impacted by the socio-economic effects of Covid-19. DOT hired 24 digital champions from the refugee camps and host communities and empowered with professional leadership skills they were deployed in five regions to serve as community facilitators to empower with digital skills, entrepreneurship and coaching, TVET graduates and existing businesses. “We also challenge them to think about how they can be part of the solution. They provide the skills to people but also check to see where there are challenges so that they can come up with solutions,” said Dr. Emmanuel Nzeyimana. From 5-9 December 2022, 32 selected social entrepreneurs and 20 Digital Champions attended a boot camp at Cenetra Hotel located in Kabuga, Gasabo District. The bootcamp aimed at empowering the attendees with Business model generation skills, the funds utility session, gender equality and social innovation session and pitching skills as they prepare to present their projects in front of judges. The Social Entrepreneurs and Digital Champions pitched their projects in front of teams of judges who selected the best 20 projects for social entrepreneurs and 10 for Digital Champions. All the selected projects are in the different sectors including; ICT, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Hospitality, E-commerce, Services and Art. One of the social entrepreneurs who secured Rwf 500,000, said he is going to use the money to expand his business, given that in Nyamagabe District where he operates, there is a big demand for ICT-related services, and thus he seeks to establish new cybercafés in the district so that people can access the services nearby. He noted that throughout the collaboration with DOT Rwanda, he expanded his network and gained new skills that he believes will help his business scale up. Josée Mukandayisenga, a digital champion who also received the grant has invented a machine that helps farmers to apply seed and manure to the farm concurrently, hence helping them to use less time and manpower, cutting down costs of production. She said she is set to use the money to assemble other machines so that she can expand to other districts, not only in Nyagatare. Speaking during the awarding ceremony, Melanie Axiotis, Advisor at GIZ, commended the winners for making it from a pool of over 100 applicants, declaring that their victory is also beneficial to their communities. As it is expected that the winners not only improve access to quality services but also create new jobs in the communities with the use of the funds. She urged those who did not make it to not give up and continue participating in the Business Counseling and Exchange groups to receive advise from their peers and business development advisors to sharpen their business idea and access other financing opportunities. As the way forward for the winners, Dr. Nzeyimana said that after receiving the grant, a team of coaches will provide technical support to the recipients to leverage their digital leadership skills until March 2023“, they will help them understand how they can use the funding efficiently and fine-tune their products while responding to market needs and creating impacts in communities.”
