BUJUMBURA January 8th (ABP) – The Higher Institute of Trade (ISCO) of the University of Burundi, in collaboration with the School-of-Faith Workshop, Caritas Burundi and the UNESCO House for the Culture of Peace in Burundi, organized at the Rohero Campus on Friday January 4th, a youth forum under the theme: Youth entrepreneurship, drivers of economic development and strengthening for the exchange of experiences and knowing how to do in entrepreneurship and sustainable development.
In his opening speech, the Rector of the University of Burundi, Mr. François Havyarimana, said that the implementation of the emergence of entrepreneurial actions will be supported at all costs because all university graduates may not have a direct job in public institutions. As a result, he invites them to self-create jobs. This forum, he adds, invites young people to undertake more. As Burundi is full of businesses, he said, it is necessary that young people initiate projects for sustainable development. In the National Development Plan (PND), he added, the State has planned a youth bank to help them through access to capital.
In his presentation, Dr. Aloys Misago, the Dean of ISCO, said that the University of Burundi has a program to support small businesses of students, while ISCO intends to create other entrepreneurship sections of study namely hostelry and tourism as well as the banks and insurance that will be set up for the academic year 2020-2021. He also invited young people to create self-employment associations and to avoid egoism, because, he said, cooperation is the engine of economic growth. The ability to start a business, the willingness to be your own employer, the ability to be on the lookout for opportunities, the hard work and the ability to adapt to a given environment, are among other things the main characteristics of an entrepreneur.
The Burundi government plans to help young people to undertake the business, said Dr. Sanctus Niragira, who participated in the drawing up of PND 2018-2027. Apart from the youth bank that will give access to financial capital, it will add to the young people human capital, physical capital, social capital and natural capital to start up businesses.
Under the direction of the Rector of the University of Burundi and Father Georges Bizimana, permanent secretary of Caritas-Burundi, the workshop ended with the delivery of bicycles to more than ten associations that have implemented clear projects for development and job creation. The first association called Business Network for Common Development received 60 bicycles. The others had respectively 34, 28, 14, 9 bikes. Two associations received 6 bikes each, the other one had 5 bikes and 3 remaining received 3 bikes each.
