Enterprise Challenge programme launches in Rwanda

We recently launched our Enterprise Challenge programme in Rwanda, giving young people from the country the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurial and business skills, and to explore self-employment as a possible career path.

Working with our new delivery partner, iDebate, this pilot programme will be delivered within six schools in Kigali. The programme will focus on introducing young people to business and entrepreneurship, helping students to gain an understanding of sustainability and businesses in the green economy.

iDebate Rwanda has been operating since 2012, using debate to change the lives of young Rwandans and East Africans. iDebate Rwanda gives students the tools to change their own world by teaching them how to think critically, how to solve problems creatively and how to impact their own society.

About Enterprise Challenge

Enterprise Challenge is an entrepreneurship programme that helps young people to develop business acumen that will aid them in launching their own businesses in the future. To be delivered as part of the school curriculum, the programme provides young people with additional development opportunities. It also gives them the opportunity to practically apply their new skills in the development of real-life business plans, in competition for support to turn their business into a reality.

The delivery in Rwanda will act as an opportunity to test the programme within this context, supporting young people who are part of iDebate’s wider school programmes. Young people will take part in our ‘Pop-Up’ business simulation game, supporting them to develop entrepreneurial knowledge, including basic business concepts and corporate ethical strategies.

Alongside the practical implementation of skills through the simulation game, participants will receive mentorship and guidance to build on this knowledge and learn key life skills such as communication and teamwork.

Launching the Programme

In September 2022, Prince’s Trust International delivered a two-day training workshop to iDebate staff, volunteer mentors and schoolteachers in Rwanda, upskilling them to deliver the programme within schools.

Speaking on the launch of the new programme, Rebecca á Rogvi-Hansen, our International Partnerships Manager for Rwanda, said:

“I am very excited to kick off Enterprise Challenge in Rwanda. Given the majority of the young people we have spoken to have expressed an interest in setting up their own businesses, we believe that Enterprise Challenge will help the programme participants plant a seed for their future businesses – all while gaining a deeper understanding of entrepreneurship, including in a climate friendly and ethical context.”

Grace McCatty, our Programme Manager for Africa, delivered the training in Rwanda. She added:

“As someone who has been lucky to support the delivery of Enterprise Challenge globally across the organisation, it is an exciting time to witness the programme being introduced into our sixth country in Africa. The success across the region has highlighted how Enterprise Challenge is a valuable and life-changing opportunity for young people, and I am excited that we are now able to offer this to even more young people, and to young people in Rwanda for the first time.”

The pilot of Enterprise Challenge in Rwanda will initially engage 160 young people in six schools across Kigali.