By Entrepreneurship Campus
#MEET International Transformation Foundation
This is a short interview we conducted with Venuste Kubwimana, the founder of “International Transformation Foundation”. If you like the concept of this idea and would like to vote for it, click HERE.
My name is Venuste Kubwimana and I was born in Rwanda; I have educational background in civil engineering. I’m a social entrepreneur and youth activist currently based in Kenya (Nairobi) where my foundation (International Transformation Foundation-ITF)’s coordination secretariat is based. At ITF we run youth led social ventures and one of our coolest ventures is a water kiosk at school.
A water kiosk at school is school based and students managed business selling clean tap water to community residents at affordable price. It consists of pre-financing a community school to set up on-site water kiosk with specially designed and sustainable products for children to transport water at home straight from school. The Kiosk generates much-needed income for school and provides practical education bridging the gap between school and work enabling students to leave school ready to get a job or set up their own business.
I love visiting News & blog section I always find empowering articles to create and sustain a business.
It all started in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, when I lost my mother, the only parent I was left with. I was born and grew up in a rural and poor village of Southern Province. During the 1994 genocide, I lost almost everyone in my family making it even more difficult for me to meet daily needs. Things got worse in 1999 when my mother passed away. I was 14 year old high school student at the time, that’s when I was forced to search for a job to meet basic needs for me and my siblings, but nobody would give him a stable job because i wasn't from an influential family. The frustrations I went through balancing school life, working to pay school fees and supporting my siblings gave me passion to create opportunities for fellow young people not to go through the same frustrations. That is when the dream to create a youth system that would provide jobs, offer opportunities to grow and contribute to individual development of our communities was born in my mind. Since then that dream influences my choices and dictates my life path.
Education system that pays for itself: I believe that the education system fashioned to provide a financially sustainable education while directly solving community’s challenge is the key to tackling youth unemployment and contributes to rapid development of a community. I would create an education system where productivity is achieved through practice, self-perfection and minor innovations within the community. My education system would provide practical education bridging the gap between school and work enabling students to leave school ready to set up their own social business: A guarantee to a developed community with a school which is able to support itself without relying on subsidies and yet is able to afford the best facilities and the best teachers.
In Kenya only a third of the population has access to safe drinking water close to their homes at an affordable price. Consequently every morning school going children have to wake up early to walk long distances so as to secure water for their families (from streams and rivers) before going to school causing absenteeism resulting to school drop-outs. I created a water kiosk at school to resolve this challenge but I don’t have all necessary resources to scale my project's impact to many people in need. I participated in this Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship competition with belief that by winning the competition is a step closer to getting all resources I need to help me extend my project's impact. I need your help, YOUR VOTE for my project to win the competition.
• NOTICE: If you want to see more submitted ideas and projects at the Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition, visit BEST IDEAS and BEST PROJECTS and VOTE for the ones you think deserve to WIN the Competition!
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eduheal
7/17/2020ReplyWao! water kiosk at school being managed by students. This is a great initiative using the school system to teach entrepreneurship to the young ones is impressive.
Campus members there are great ideas in this platform . We need to read to understand what we oare doing and our focus
togeda
7/16/2020ReplyWonderful project from a powerful motivation
It all started in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, when I lost my mother, the only parent I was left with. I was born and grew up in a rural and poor village of Southern Province. During the 1994 genocide, I lost almost everyone in my family making it even more difficult for me to meet daily needs. Things got worse in 1999 when my mother passed away. I was 14 year old high school student at the time, that’s when I was forced to search for a job to meet basic needs for me and my siblings, but nobody would give him a stable job because i wasn’t from an influential family. The frustrations I went through balancing school life, working to pay school fees and supporting my siblings gave me passion to create opportunities for fellow young people not to go through the same frustrations. That is when the dream to create a youth system that would provide jobs, offer opportunities to grow and contribute to individual development of our communities was born in my mind. Since then that dream influences my choices and dictates my life path.
These interviews are great lesson and quite encouraging
