StartUp! is one of DOT's signature economic programs designed to equip existing small and micro enterprises and aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills to prepare and manage their businesses to leverage growth.  The StartUp! pilot program was launched mid-October 2011 in Kigali. The program is currently being delivered at the Kicukiro College of Technology (IPRC), the Masaka Business Incubation Centre and the Anciens de Don Bosco (ADB) Nyarutarama Secondary School. 

To date, the StartUp! program has trained 131 individuals, many of whom are women and men already in business or aspiring to be in business. The StartUp! program has helped them assess and build their businesses better and developing realizable business plans. The program is delivered by university graduates ("DOT Interns") who have expertise and experience in business operations and management. DOT Interns are equipped with technology and business skills, and trained by DOT to deliver the StartUp! curriculum. 

The graduation celebration was highlighted by the showcasing of three entrepreneurs whose innovative ideas are now in the process of being implemented.

Mugabo Aimable invented an eco-friendly stove:

Aimable is a 40 year old technician living in Masaka. He does mechanic repairs, stoves, welding and related work. He has always dreamt of starting a business out of his skills and passions. Aimable joined StartUp! in October 2011. The training has helped him turn his idea into a concrete business and to also utilize available opportunities to grow it.

Marie Jeanne Musabe, Mushroom Processing Enterprise, Masaka, Kicukiro District.

Marie Jeanne, 31, is a teacher by training and profession. It is her unwavering entrepreneurial drive that has made her venture into agribusiness specifically the growing mushrooms. With her medium-sized production, Marie Jeanne has been supplying mushrooms to two local hotels and a neighbouring marketplace. However her clients expressed the need of an easier to conserve form of mushrooms. That's how she came up with the idea of processing mushrooms into a powder. The dream seemed too big until she attended the StartUp! program from Masaka.

"Participating in the StartUp! program has given me confidence to take my dream to a higher level. I have documented the Mushroom Processing Business and plan on approaching a financial institution for funding,"  Marie Jeanne says.

Munyampinga Laurent, Poultry Rearing, Nyagatare District.

Laurent, 26, is a fresh graduate of the Ventilation and Air Conditioning course from the IPRC. He attended the StartUp! through his school. Laurent has always harbored a passion for business and this program met the skills gap he had. At this point Laurent has developed a business plan of rearing poultry in his home village of Nyagatare.

 

The three presentations were highly appreciated by the guests, who were present from different institutions inlcuding the Business Development Fund, Bank of Kigali, Business Partners International and Private Sector Federation. Linkages were made and graduates got the opportunity to make first contact with the potential partners to their business.

Ms. Yvette Mukarwema, Acting CEO of the Private Sector Federation encouraged those present that most of the great businesses seen today started off very small and had several failures before the final breakthrough. She encouraged the graduates to approach financial institutions for funding to get started.

Mr. Jean-Pierre Iyamuremye of the Small and Medium Enterprises' Manager at Bank of Kigali appreciated the level of understanding of business the graduates showed. He shared that having been in a banking institution over the past 13 years, one of the biggest frustrations he has seen banks and entrepreneurs alike meet is the inability of the entrepreneur to present a convincing business project. The StartUp! program has enabled graduates to address this issue.

The participants appreciated the opportunities StartUp! is creating for them. They said it not only gives them the business management skills, but goes ahead to facilitate linkages with future support points like MFI's, banks and other possible financial institutions.     

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About DOT

Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), an international NGO, is an innovator in enabling people to access and apply information and communications technologies (ICT) to create educational, economic and entrepreneurial opportunities. DOT transforms and supports young women and men as they become leaders of economic and educational change in their societies. DOT's vision is to make these opportunities available to marginalized people, especially women and youth, as a strategy to eradicate poverty, vulnerability and gender inequality. 

DOT started operating in  Rwanda in March 2010 to run its Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Development in Rwanda - E2DR Project to be delivered in 3 years through the DOT Signature Economic Programs ReachUp! and StartUp!  to build ICT & Business Skills capacity of vulnerable groups and young entrepreneurs in selected communities. The project will impact 30.000 community beneficiaries and train 180 Interns/Trainers.

To date, impact recorded is over 3600 youth and women who have been trained under the ReachUp! program, DOT's foundation economic program, building the knowledge in the use and application of technology to their businesses and lives. Through our 85 trainers/Interns, DOT operates in 23 districts in all the Provinces of Rwanda.