Entrepreneurship Development, a path out of Unemployment in Rwanda

Today more than ever before, employment presents one of the real challenges to the international community. This is felt more acutely in Rwanda, which faces many developmental problems. After the socio-economic crisis of the 1994 which contributed to increased unemployment and underemployment, the Government of Rwanda since 1998 carried out national consultations aimed at facilitating long term sustainable development. It is in this context that the government adopted a long-term strategic vision “vision 2020” with key developmental pillars which would help Rwanda move from a very poor country to a middle-income country with employment as one of the fundamental pillars. The third pillar of Rwanda Vision 2020 consists of “A Private Sector-Led Economy”. Achieving the Vision 2020, Rwanda's second EDPRS (2013/2014–2017/2018) has two central and overarching goals: (i) to generate sustained economic growth rate of at least 11.5% per annum over the duration of the EDPRS, and (ii) to reduce the rate of poverty to below 30% of the population by 2017/2018. To achieve these ambitious goals, four thematic priority areas have been identified as a focus for prioritization and planning. These thematic areas are economic transformation, rural development, accountable governance, and improved productivity and youth employment. While the education sector has a role to play in all four of these themes, it is most directly involved in providing the human resource pool required for economic transformation and in addressing issues of productivity and youth employment. The Vision 2020 targets to create 1, 4 million jobs outside agriculture. To achieve this goal, at least 200, 000 new jobs annually must be created. Productive entrepreneurship must be fostered to perform its traditional role of creating wealth, employment and vital innovations through opportunities for profit.

The present research, using Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, aims to describe Entrepreneurship and shows how it is a path out of unemployment in Rwanda. The research found that the Government of Rwanda has set Entrepreneurship as a Priority method and a sure way of generating new jobs. The Government has set several programs to support young entrepreneurs by providing capacity building and facilitating access to finance through the propagation of finance institutions in countryside among which SACCOs, each, serving a diameter of 5 km.