Rwanda: Students Meet Companies to Prepare for Labor Market

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Focus Media (Kigali)

23 June 2008
Posted to the web 23 June 2008

It brought together top performing students from most universities of Rwanda with some of the major companies such as Bralirwa, BCR, Ecobank, Sulfo Industries or Rwandatel, along with representatives from the Private Sector Federation and the ministry of education.

The theme of the day, "Talent meets the market," was very appropriate since the companies presented their profiles and gave insight in the kind of skills and competences they are looking for.

"The information students get from the companies is vital," said Charity Kagenza, the director of Africa Young Entrepreneurs in AIESEC Rwanda, "because it helps them to be prepared for the labor market. Thus, they can get competitive advantage compared to other job seekers."

That is also the mission of SFB's career center, as Kezia Kirongi, the head of the centre, explained. "We want to expose students to the world of work, and make them competent individuals in local and international labor markets."

And although the center is still young, it seems it is succeeding. "We have been able to create relationships with many employers who have taken up our final-year students for internships. Some of these companies have made requests to recruit SFB graduates through the centre," Kagenza said.

A representative from Fina Bank advised the students not to put all their opportunities in one basket, warning them against the outdated concept that they can get employed because they know somebody in the company. She added that at the end of the day, it's not only the students' marks that matter, but also the confidence they have in themselves.

"Get to know people"

The CEO of BCR, David Kuwana, for his part advised students to get as many skills as possible. "Don't think that just because you have done engineering at KIST you will remain an engineer all your life," he said.

To illustrate his point, he explained that amongst the board members of the bank are a physician and even an entomologist, so for him students need to open up and develop as many skills and talents a possible instead of limiting themselves to one particular career.

One of the students asked Kuwana how his company dealt with nepotism and the "who-do-you-know-in-this-company" system of recruiting. The BCR boss replied that even if such cases exist, it does not matter because at the end of the day all job applicants sit for the same oral and written exams, and only successful candidates can secure a post.

Yet he added that in his view knowing many people is also important. "You can get to more people by networking, so whenever you meet someone new ask him who he is, what he does, how much money he makes and don't leave without his business card," Kuwana advised.

Companies can also participate in preparing students for the labor market by giving the field experience through internships, as the Director General of Bralirwa, Door Plantenga, pointed out. "Internships allow students to get working experience in the area they are studying. This year we count on taking in three or four students, in technical as well as in commercial departments."

Plantenga also stressed the role of companies in education, which in her view doesn't stop after university. "We are very serious on continued education," she said. "After your first degree, you need more skills be it technical, general or leadership skills."

Demystifying the world of work

For SFB rector Krishna Govendar, the importance of the Career Day is also to make students less anxious about the labor market, for instance by giving them the opportunity to undergo mock interviews.

"The students got a chance to demystify the world of work," Govendar said. "Moreover, by actually interacting with the companies, students can learn of what is needed to add value to their profile and match themselves with the enterprises.

"The students can now evaluate what they have within themselves in terms of additional skills, apart from the knowledge they have acquired at the university, in order to match the standards and requirements of companies."

Relevant Links Central Africa Economy, Business and Finance Education Rwanda

Edward Nshimyumuremyi, a third year student at Kigali Institute of Management, explained that the career day was indeed a great opportunity for him to actually know more about these big companies. "I got to meet various people, and this also taught me to be learn to develop my skills in as many areas as possible; the world has become a global village, so we must continue to study to get all the opportunities that come our way," Nshimyumuremyi said.

As for Joseph Ndahiro, a fourth year computer science student at Kist, he acquired insight in what these companies expect of future employees. Considering that he will be doing his internship next year, he saw the Career Day as a chance to see for himself the emphasis these companies put on human resource development.

As for how this will help shape his career, Ndahiro said that he was inspired by the words of David Kuwana, who remarked that "what you think of talent is not necessarily what other people think is the right standard for talent, and what you think of qualification is not necessarily qualification. It is up to you students to figure out what the market needs in terms of skills and personality, and to learn to network to see what others expect of you."

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