Tell me about yourself

I am Samuel Yesashimwe, I am 28 years old. I have an IT background, and I did Computer Engineering and Information Technology at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). I like change, novelty, surprises and love everything that can make life beautiful. My personal vision is to be a change agent, a man of positive influence. I want to be able to share my experiences and knowledge with people that happen to cross my way. I am hard working, flexible and able to adapt myself easily to different situations.

How and when did you join DOT?

A colleague at university told me about DOT Rwanda's ReachUp! program and encouraged me to apply. It was the last day of application and I applied. My motivation was to get business and entrepreneurship skills. Since I was in a rush to submit my application in time,  I didn't get enough time to read through to understand everything. After getting to know how DOT Rwanda works, mission and vision, I gave up an offer from CAREFORCE (UK) and joined the internship with DOT. Some friends of mine don't understand why I did what I did till now! I joined DOT Rwanda in April 2011.

What has the internship with DOT meant to you?

I used to joke with my friends that this internship with DOT brought back humanity in me! I spent my university years with my computer, the only friend I valued at the time. My objective was to become a geek, an IT professional.

During my internship, the way I used to view community and people at large changed a lot, and getting the opportunity to help others changed my way of thinking. Here are some highlights:

1. The internship has made me feel better about myself; confident at least I have done something for my community, my country.
2. It has connected me with other people, at least for a moment, and I think it is for life;
3. I have gained various skills and I discovered who I am.
4. I have improved the life of others, at least a little;
5. I have made my community a better place, believe me or not, this is true. I can't explain how joyful I am when a participant calls me and tells me that his life is getting better; there is no other bigger reward than that.

In this photo: Samuel delivering the ReachUp! program at the One Stop Youth Employment and Productive Centre, Kimisagara.

I also improved and expanded my personal learning environment and I will keep learning as an adult learner for personal development. For me, the interest and practice of improving my life, especially my career, education, relationships, productivity and other personal goals, but the more important was identifying my values and beliefs, and self-actualization.

I managed to attend various courses (some at campus and others were online courses) such as:

1. Innovation Collaboration for Development (UNITAR)
2. UN Protocols (UNITAR)
3. Entrepreneurship training program (ICCC & Regent University)
4. E-learning technologies (GIZ & NeLB)
5. UN Systems (UNITAR)

With DOT, I enjoyed to know how I can use my skills and acquired knowledge to help my community to find solutions to the challenges of life, equipping them with skills that help them to create and improve sustainable livelihoods.

What are your future plans

I am presently an entrepreneur. I  own a company (sole proprietor) called iTECH CONSULT. We offer the following professional services:

1. Type certificate approval consultancy for telecommunication equipment.
2. Web development, web design, web hosting and web management.
3. IT skills training.
4. Social media consultancy and training.
5. E-marketing.

I hope to improve daily in the use of information technology as an instrument for enlightening, entertainment, an educative and corrective tool for positive change. I believe that I have a place in the business and professional world. With the package I have got from DOT, I can do better and I will always keep helping and supporting underprivileged people to have sustainable livelihoods!