Gasabo: Ndera youth cooperative invested in Modern Music instruments from little savings

By Elias Hakizimana.

Young secondary and University Graduates from Ndera sector in Gasabo District in Kigali city had a better choice of uniting together in a cooperative after experiencing the hurdles of getting jobs.

In December 2017, they formed cooperative dubbed ‘Ndera Youth Cooperative’ made of 15 members, 7 boys and 8 girls. Members increased to 21 currently with 12 boys and 9 girls.

From a small amount of coins, Rwf200 savings, they managed to contribute Rwf40,000 each and bought musical instruments worth Rwf 6,5 million in only twelve months.

Emmanuel Sinamenye, the president of the cooperative explained that 75% of their members are University graduates while 25% are secondary school graduates.

“It was not an easy journey to buy these instruments, we wanted to build our resilience and help the country create new jobs, we cannot expect having jobs from anywhere, we made a cooperative and contributed money as a start up,” Sinamenye said.

The inspiration

Sinamenye said that one secret behind their success is to have confidence and will. “Most of us were doing different part time jobs and collected money within a year and we bought the musical instruments,” he said. 

“We collected Rwf 40,000 everyone as capital, in the last twelve months, we had Rwf 2 million. Our dreams are not limited here, we continue to fundraise and we target but tints and chairs to serve wedding ceremonies and big parties, we have hope to start making good money in coming days,” he added.

They have about two months serving their musical instruments, and they target to serve different people with the capacity they have. These youths now moved from Rwf200 monthly contribution to Rwf5,000.

To achieve this, they collected their own money which is Rwf 3,300,000 and gained a support OF Rwf 1,500,000 from Rwanda’s Business Development Fund (BDF) and another loan of Rwf 1,000,000,000

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