Rwanda

Within a year of completing TechnoServe's STRYDE training, an inspiring young woman has built a thriving business in an industry dominated by men.

Young Africans are improving their livelihoods, creating jobs and strengthening their communities with the support of the STRYDE program.

With the right mix of skills and confidence, rural youth in East Africa are building sustainable enterprises and creating new opportunities.

Farmers build a successful coffee business and use the profits to bring electricity to their villages.

Byagatonda Emmanuel and his wife Murerehe Speciose live in a prime coffee-producing area in Rwanda, but for years they produced low-quality coffee in small quantities.

Jean-Pierre attends a STRYDE session with his classmates in Rwanda’s Ruhango district. Across East Africa, TechnoServe and The MasterCard Foundation are working to help young people like Jean-Pierre transition to economic independence in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.

In Nicaragua, Iveth Juárez, a small business owner who processes and sells cereal to the local market, had attended seminars, workshops, courses and training sessions on accounting and finance. But at the end of each session, she always felt the same sense of confusion.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bdJqDAlKv-E Pascasie Mukagasana has known great hardship. She was separated from her children and her husband, Athanase Nzigiyimana, for a year following the 1994 Rwanda genocide. They reunited, only to lose a son to illness. In 1998, Athanase was wrongfully imprisoned for 10 years. Alone with her children, Pascasie struggled…

Evelyn Windhager Swanson, a longstanding supporter of TechnoServe, writes about her travels in Rwanda.