PS youth ministry urges young people to work hard

PS Rosemary Mbabazi at Amizero Training Center. (courtesy photo)

The permanent secretary in the ministry of youth and ICT, Rosemary Mbabazi, has called on the youth to work hard and get specialized which could be beneficial for the people and the country.

She made the call on Wednesday when visiting Amizero Training Center (ATC) in Kayonza, Eastern Province, which is a technical school where youth get skills in carpentry, welding, plumbing, tailoring, cooperative management, hotel and services.

Mbabazi told youth at Amizero Center that they can achieve what they want by embracing the culture of hard work. “The government introduced a fund to help youth and women boost their projects where youth grouped in cooperatives are required a guarantee equal to 25% of the total cost of their project while 75% will be guaranteed by the fund as a loan. I urge you to approach COOJAD and SACCO’s to access these facilities,” the PS said.

The program ‘Women and Youth Access to Finance’ was developed by the ministry of youth and ICT in conjunction with the ministry of gender and family promotion, the Busi­ness Development Fund (BDF) and the Rwanda Cooperative Agen­cy (RCA) to address the manage­rial and financial challenges.

The director of Amizero, John Bideri, said that the center has also a social component where they train local residents in modern farming, and help youth to create their own jobs through start-up kits. He commended the government and funding partners of the training center for their continued support.

Mbabazi also visited youth engaged in small income-generating activities mainly in agribusiness, boutiques and transport either as individual or in groups in Gahanga sector, Kicukiro, where a group of young people with the support of EDC Akazi Kanoze is selling different products with good results.

“We started saving last year in May and now we have more than one million Rwandan francs,” said Fidele Kavamahanga, one of the group’s representatives.