Empower the youth, invest in the future

The First Lady Jeannette Kagame over the weekend while addressing the Imbuto Foundation Youth Forum series, urged the youth to be self-driven. Mrs Kagame advised them to appreciate the success the country has made so far, and to aspire for greater things.So often the youth are left out of development programmes, until it is too late to inspire a sense of patriotism in them. The image of today‘s youth is of one who is vulnerable to outside influences, some of which may have profound negative impact on their lives and indeed on society. The Imbuto Foundation through its youth forum series seeks to groom and mentor a different kind of youth, one with a deep sense of patriotism and a vision for self development. It is a big investment in the country’s future, given that the youth make up over half of the population. Investing in them, in the different professional fields, means that Rwanda will have a ready work-force, prepared to take the country forward in her development aspirations. The investment in the youth has included a series of competitions and other activities that aim toempower them economically, by inculcating a sense of entrepreneurship. Over the weekend, three youths were presented with awards for coming up with innovative ideas for implementation in their workplace. The ideas submitted on the theme; ‘Innovations in the workplace’, included; enhancing service delivery at Kanombe hospital, productivity through developing handbooks and one on a website called Igisubizo Project. Entrepreneurship among the youth is not only one way of ensuring that they start practicing their future careers earlier in life, but it also means that they start earning incomes. The youth are no longer the leaders of tomorrow, they are today’s leaders as they tackle the task of national development head-on. Ends

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Empower the youth, invest in the future