The Ministry of Youth and the Ministry of Public Service and Labour, in partnership with UNDP- Rwanda and the European Union, brought YouthConnekt Awards 2023 that will support young Rwandan entrepreneurs with business development capabilities and funding to accelerate their businesses growth and job creation countrywide.
Beside linkage to sector experts, this year’s YouthConnekt Awards will provide direct financial support to 200 most impactful businesses whereby top winners will receive grand prizes. The grand prizes are 25,000,000 Frw, 20,000,000 Frw, 15,000,000 Frw, 10,000,000 Frw and the lowest prize is 1,000,000 Frw.
The YouthConnekt Awards is designed to create a fair mechanism that supports youth-led innovations and businesses with technical and financial funding through competitions across the country.
The YouthConnekt Awards is open to young Rwandan entrepreneurs aged 16 to 30 who are working in Rwanda in any capacity including people living with disability and special consideration to women. The most innovative and impactful projects will compete in four categories:
● Agri-business: Improve agricultural systems by developing new technologies or practices.
● ICT: Information Technologies related services and solutions
● Manufacturing: Transformative manufacturing products
● Other Services: Variety of formal industries, such as banking, fashion, arts, tourism and
others
The competition will start at sector level, then move on to the district level, then province level and finally the national level. The first prizes will be awarded in four categories at the provincial
"It is essential that we uphold Rwandan values in everything that we do; we have an obligation to do everything that is within our power to facilitate the rapid growth of our nation. YouthConnekt has provided a platform for the youth to flourish." Minister of Youth, Dr. Utumatwishima Jean Nepo Abdalla level and in the city of Kigali, each receiving 1,000,000 Frw. The awarding ceremony at the national level will take place in Kigali in December 2023.
All district winners will have the opportunity to attend an entrepreneurship mentorship bootcamp that stands to unleash their respective businesses with the support of leading experts in various business development fields. The boot camp modules may include, but are not limited to, business modelling, business management, customer-centric planning, digital marketing, intellectual property rights, law and standard compliance, efficiency, and many others.
The application deadline for the YouthConnekt Awards is September 30, 2023. To learn more about the application, visit the Ministry of Youth’s website at www.miniyouth.gov.rw and stay tuned to our social media platforms.
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