The Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, has called on Rwandan girls to take up studies and careers in ICT as these offer a chance for them to enhance their skills and tackle unemployment challenges.
Minister Nsengimana made the call in a discussion last week on YouthConnekt Hangout ahead of the International Girls in ICT Day celebrated on Saturday 25 April 2015 in Kigali, with the conclusion of the Ms. Geek Competition – an annual competition in which young women, mostly university students, compete based on their innovative ideas as well as their ability to develop a certain technology or business idea based on a given problem statement and challenge reflecting issues faced by Rwandans today.
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The Minister stressed that the youth need to focus on their goals by owning their passion, vision and determination which – in the end – will bring partners to support their initiatives.
“It is very important for young girls and women globally, more especially in Rwanda, to take up studies and careers in ICT. Our country is on the move, we are busy transforming our economy from agricultural base economy to a knowledge-driven economy. ICT happen to be the engine of that transformation.”
He further added that embracing ICTs opens doors to new opportunities: new jobs, new careers, new markets, and new connections.
“Let’s encourage Rwandan girls to join ICT in big numbers. We have to keep spreading the word about the opportunities available in ICT.”
The President of Girls in ICT Rwanda, Lucy Mbabazi, remarked that “Technologies enable solutions. We want girls to know that they can use ICT to solve the different problems they face.”
During the Youth Connekt Hangout, the speakers encouraged the youth to keep improving their ICT innovations. “When your idea (ICT project) is viable, you get sponsorship and your business is likely to be overly productive, and therefore you will be enhancing your community’s welfare,” one of the speakers pointed out.
YouthConnekt is a platform that serves as a channel for the youth, private sector, and government to discuss solutions to address issues facing the youth, specifically those pertaining to employment and entrepreneurship.
