Third place at the TVET Youth Challenge

In October 2022, while Uruziga was in the RP Tumba incubation programme, UWAYEZU Jean Felix and I applied for the TVET Youth Challenge, a national programme organised by the Ministry of Youth.

Forming the team

The application asked for a final-year student as team leader, because final-year students were considered more experienced. Felix and I were not in our final year.

TWAHIRWA Djibril was. He led our entry, with Felix and me as his teammates, and the three of us entered together.

The result

On 15 November 2022, Uruziga took third place in the TVET Youth Challenge, with an award of 1,000,000 Frw.

It was the first national recognition for Uruziga, and the first time a prize of that size had come from something we had built.

We didn't stop there. The incubation programme was still running, and the final pitch was a few months away.

What I took from it

Eligibility rules shape teams. The rule decided who could lead the entry, and the team we formed is the one that placed.

A team result belongs to the team. Djibril led the entry, Felix and I built with him, and the third place was ours together.

Each stage is preparation for the next. A national result gave us confidence going into the incubation finals in March 2023.