It was Friday afternoon, January 20, 2012, in a hall in Remera Kigali. An event had been organised by DOT. Every other minute people were walking in, taking seats. The anticipation on their faces was almost captivating, as they sat waiting for the event to begin one could easily see that despite coming here the audience is composed of  actually busy people, as some could be heard whispering on their phones, others walking out to receive phone calls. While those who came a bit late took up their sits, some looked at the day's agenda and others inquired to know the time this event will be ending, the air was different from what we are used to on graduations…perhaps because some of these people are university graduates and have seen better. 

I observed a clear motivation shift from the usual one which has always hugely been centered on certificates to a more subtle motivation…that of coming face to face with people who have the potential of making their business dreams a reality. One couldn't expect less from this group: hey, these are StartUp! graduates! 

A person who has attended the previous ReachUp! Graduations could not fail to notice the difference with this audience, their appearance, dress code, enthusiasm and a silent sense of responsibility was different from ReachUp! graduates, like Felix, my colleague, said it, it was obvious that this was a more advanced group of DOT beneficiaries; It was the first and second group DOT StartUp! Graduates.

In this photo: StartUp! Participants after getting their certificates

Although the staff arrived an hour early to make sure everything is in perfect order, the event started 30 minutes late as we took some time waiting for the guests who came a bit late. The day's main Master of Ceremony, Emmanuel the DOT Rwanda Program Manager did a good job introducing the event and the respective guests present. At this point you could feel sense of contentment as he introduced officials from Business Development Fund (BDF) and the SME Manager at Bank of Kigali who were the first to arrive among the invited guests.

Participants were bursting with concealed speeches, everyone wanted to say something, although we had put an item on the agenda where a participant representative would give a speech on their day, we saw it okay to allow a few of them to quickly give their impressions and how they feel about the day. A man in his mid fifties named Alphonse Kampayana came forth, he was smart in his slightly ill fitting black suit that blended well with his white shirt and red tie.

Alphonse a family man joined StartUp! in mid October from Masaka after having heard of the program from a friend in a commuter taxi. He realized that the program will better position him to grow his welding and carpentry business. In his words Alphonse noted: "This program has not only opened my view of business but has also empowered and challenged me to use ICT in business, a trend that looked as though had left me." Alphonse came along with his wife and two daughters one of whom is a local musician called Miss Shannelle.

Among the 131 participants we were expecting, over 90 participants showed up on that day; others apologetically calling their facilitators that it was beyond their control. We had thought of having this day since last year, but we waited for the perfect time to give ourselves time leverage so it can be well organized to attract the deserved attention and mark a grand launch of the StartUp! in Rwanda.

When discussing the graduation, with the participants and interns, early December 2011, we brainstormed on the idea of inviting strategic institutions and people who in one way or the other deal with SME's. We even earmarked some institutions like the Bank of Kigali, Microfinance Institutions, the Business Development Fund and others that we identified as relevant due to the different financial products they currently have for organized business operators and prepared aspiring entrepreneurs. Now here, a month later, we had them in the same building with the participants; this meant a lot to me and everyone else who has been thinking, imagining and working towards the growth of this program right from inception. The interns too were more than happy and proud to see the participants they started with two months ago reaching this level today.

In this photo: Marie Jeane Musabe showcasing her mushroom processing business plan

At the time of the graduation, over 21 business plans were complete and the rest were waiting completion, among all these we had earmarked two which were fine tuned and put in PowerPoint to be presented to the guests.

Just like the DOT Rwanda tradition of trying our best to seize the opportunity, this also went well. During the business plan presentations you could see a silent appreciation from the invited guests, nodding and noting down on their notepads as though they were also learning something from the presentations. At the end a guest from Business Partners International, Eric Rutabana in his own words said he can fund one business plan and also promised to give good feedback to the others on the slight refinements needed! Coming from the Chief Investment Officer himself, we are optimistic that something will materialize.

In this photo: DOT Rwanda Country Director handing over a certificate to a StartUp! participant

The role this program plays was accurately grasped and highlighted by the Bank Of Kigali Head of SME department  Mr Jean-Pierre Iyamuremye who observed that "What DOT does here is to make our work easier, we deal with business owners daily who come with substandard business plans yet they do not want to go without the money. However, with trainings like this one, our work becomes much easier" he noted.

Mark Cuban, a billionaire and one of the elite entrepreneurs of our time in his article about the 11 start up tips brought out the aspect of risk reduction by downplaying risks if a start up is well prepared:

"Risk? What risk? Because if you're prepared and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there, There is always a way to get there."

To me this made a lot of sense in the StartUp! context because the more an entrepreneur gets prepared the more he/she reduces risks and if the financier finds no risks, a loan can even be guaranteed without collateral or any other prerequisite.

The opportunity was also seized by a participant from Masaka, Aimable Mugabo, who exhibited his eco-friendly stove that uses coals and stones instead of charcoal. To me the stove is a really cost-effective solution and I am saving for one! However what caught my attention is the way the invited guests asked him powerful and challenging questions which made him see the other areas of his project he had not thought about. The Intergrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) representative promised him technical support in refining his project! This also resonated with the guest of honor's desire to be getting a time to meet up with participants for idea sharing and feedback.

In this photo: Aimable Mugabo explaining how his eco-friendly stove works

As we move forward, we are now working on materializing the linkages and connecting any other possible support to the StartUp! beneficiaries. I will be keeping you posted and as always your inputs and ideas are welcome.