President Paul Kagame has urged young people to do self-reflection before setting out to solve problems in society, saying this can help them identify the issues they are best placed to tackle.

He said this on Thursday, September 3, at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026 in Kigali, during a session with young people, in response to a question from Lydia Murekatete, co-founder of All Greens, a Rwanda-based agribusiness that focuses on empowering farmers and promoting environmentally responsible practices.

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Murekatete asked about the most important lesson from Rwanda’s transformation that young Rwandan leaders and entrepreneurs should carry with them.

"It’s broad, it's what you may think about, but more importantly, what you have to do. It's one thing to think about things and even be inspired, and finally the test is in doing things,” the President said.

"What do you do with it? What do you do with the knowledge? What do you do with the inspiration? What do you do with really understanding of the world around you?”

He emphasised that everyone has the capacity to become a leader, but that leadership is demonstrated through how people respond to problems.

Kagame said leaders should focus on helping people by addressing problems as they understand them.

"Just to give you a piece of advice, before you set out to address problems out there, think about yourself first,” Kagame said.

"Here I mean not in a selfish way, but in a way of drawing the lessons. What problems would I be having, that even in the end may be a hindrance to my progress? This is a conversation you have with yourself.

"Once you get it right and then go out, it becomes easier to identify problems and be able to prioritise and choose which ones you are going to take on that meet your aspirations or those things that affect you,” he added.

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Kagame said the challenge is often not a lack of capacity, but failing to act on it. "It's not really going to be one person or monopoly. All of us have that ability,” he said.

"And it's better when you think like that at a much younger stage, so you grow into it. Then you are able to build yourself to resolve even bigger challenges."