The British Ambassador to Rwanda, Omar Daair has praised AOG Rwanda, a social enterprise co-founded by 13 social entrepreneurs for promoting and nurturing the skills of their fellow young people in creating productive opportunities related to entrepreneurship.

The ambassador said this in a tour visit held at the enterprise's headquarters in Kigali City.

Ambassador Daair says AOG Rwanda is a promising social enterprise that will be supported by the UK.

"We are very interested in supporting the education, science, economics and other sectors, and I am confident that there will be more opportunities for cooperation in the future," he said.

"UK companies including the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, the Scottish Government, and others are pleased to the contribution that the AOG Rwanda is doing," he adds.

He said the UK supports training in the fields of science and education, including about 10 Chevening Scholarships awarded to young Rwandans each year.

Jean d'Amour Mutoni, Co-Founder & CEO of AOG Rwanda

Jean d'Amour Mutoni, Co-Founder & CEO of AOG Rwanda said "Our activities aim at transforming the lives of young people to a greater extent".

“What we are doing is in line with the government policy of helping young people become job creators instead of becoming job seekers. We do this, by teaching them how to plan their projects, give them technical expertise, and build confidence among them,” he continued.

Mutoni said that they plan to expand their operations as well as establishing new hubs in 30 districts of Rwanda ,

Jean d'Amour Mutoni and Omar Daair Looking the achievements of AOG Rwanda at 'wall of fame'

"If there are more than 20% unemployed youth in Rwanda, Rwanda has also set a target of creating 214,000 jobs every year, so we want to include our contribution to creating at least 2,000 jobs every year, which will be equivalent to 1% of the national goal. So to achieve this, we have to facilitate the creation of jobs and SME's and companies,” he said.

He said this will be achievable by training entrepreneurs and improving their projects which in turn will employ more young people.

The courses offered by the center include a program called ‘Ingenzi ’which lasts between 6 and 12 weeks and other courses such as public speaking, corporate governance and other key skills that will help entrepreneurs.

Nina Nyirampeta, a trainee of AOG Rwanda and a graduate from the University of Rwanda said the AOG Rwanda built her from the scratch.

"They supported me without knowing what to do in the work environment and I have acquired the knowledge I was seeking"

After acquiring this knowledge, she was eager to produce what she had learned.  At first, she thought about establishing a piggery and start pig farming but she came to the conclusion that she should focus on crop farming.

She immediately set up the Ineza Chilli Cotton Plant in Gatsibo District, where her product is now exported to the UK where she also looking for a market in China.

With the expertise she learned from the AOG Rwanda, she is able to help vegetable and fruit farmers grow their crops on 10 hectares. She now plans to grow her crops on 100 hectares of land.

About AOG

AOG Rwanda was launched in 2011, to tackle youth unemployment through training, and gaining adequate entrepreneurial skills.

So far, the AOG Rwanda has created more than 1,500 jobs and a lot of young people who were unemployed have now created companies and others in high-level administrative positions of their established firms.
The center was started by 13 entrepreneurs, many of whom had graduated from the University of Rwanda, and began to do charity work in the field of humanitarian aid, better known as the Acts of Gratitude

Future plans 

AOG Rwanda plans to continue to raise funds that will enable young people across the region to participate in these courses, which are encouraged to learn.

Through the curriculum, the center provides training to young people to create entrepreneurs and social workers that is to say work to address issues of concern to the wider Rwandan community.