Igniting Momentum for Youth Employment in Rwanda

When Olivia Africa graduated in hospitality management, she imagined a future shaped by hotels, customer service, and steady work. Then COVID-19 arrived and like many young people, she lost her job. Applications went unanswered, and interviews came with a familiar condition: three to five years of experience-just one year after graduation.

Instead of waiting, Olivia explored opportunities online. She began researching what Rwanda was importing and what could be produced locally. One product stood out: bathing soap. It was a long way from hospitality, but it was a start.

Her journey, marked by trial, learning, and persistence, was shared during discussions at the Jobs for Youth Day, convened by Rwanda's Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) and the World Bank Group to discuss policy priorities and foster alliances on the youth employment agenda. The event brought together a broad range of stakeholders from government, the private sector, academia, civil society, and development partners, building on ongoing work between the two institutions, including discussions to pilot a project on digital entrepreneurship and a forthcoming study on jobs in Rwanda. Her testimony resonated because it reflected a reality many young people face: resilience is abundant, but opportunities remain uneven.

What followed was not easy. Moving from idea to production required learning an entirely new sector, navigating regulations, and securing the seal of approval required to enter the market. At one point, progress stalled. Then she entered a business competition and won a small cash award. She reinvested every franc.

Today, Olivia's company produces Eva Bathing Soap, a growing manufacturing business with 10 permanent and 8 casual employees, supplying more than 50 supermarkets across the country. With one product on the market and plans to expand production and variety, her journey reflects what is possible when resilience meets support and opportunity.

"Jobs for Youth Day" brought together government leaders, private sector, academia, civil society, development partners, and young innovators to ignite momentum for youth employment in Rwanda. A collective commitment to ensure that growth translates into opportunities for the next generation. Photo: World Bank Group.

Beyond One Story: A National Imperative

Olivia's story is personal, but it also mirrors a national challenge.

Rwanda's economic progress over the past decade is clear-steady growth, consistent reforms, and ambitious goals. Yet for a country where young people make up the majority of the population, the real test of success is whether that growth produces jobs, especially for first-time entrants to the labor market.

One lesson is increasingly clear: growth alone does not create employment. Jobs emerge when growth is deliberately shaped to do so.

Certain sectors offer far greater potential than others. Agriculture and agribusiness, housing and construction, tourism and services and value-added manufacturing, the creative and digital economy can absorb large numbers of young workers-if skills, finance, and market access are aligned. Without that alignment, opportunities remain out of reach.

For many young school drop-outs and graduates, the gap between education and employment remains wide. Requirements for experience exclude those who have had no chance to gain it. Informality dominates entry-level work, and too many promising ideas stall at the earliest stages.

Connecting Systems for Impact

Rwanda has initiatives designed to address these gaps but is often missing the coordination for scale and impact. Skills training, business support, access to finance, and social protection frequently operate in parallel rather than as a single pathway. When these systems connect, results follow. When they do not, young people are left to navigate the transition alone.

Regional experience shows that youth employment strategies succeed when they are practical and layered. Apprenticeships linked to private employers, entrepreneurship support paired with mentoring, and digital platforms that lower entry barriers all help bridge the gap between potential and productivity.

Social protection plays a critical role-not as an endpoint, but as a springboard. When young people are supported through periods of transition, they are more likely to take calculated risks, start businesses, and enter new sectors. This is how disruption becomes opportunity.

For Olivia, access to training, a small amount of capital, and the confidence to take a risk made all the difference. She did not start out as a manufacturer. She learned by doing, adapting, and persisting. Her experience highlights a powerful truth: with the right support, young people are not afraid to venture into new sectors, and they can excel. What they need is a system that lowers risk, provides practical guidance, and recognizes potential beyond years of experience.

Rwanda's growth story is strong. Ensuring that it becomes a jobs story will require bold action, combined with patience, persistence, and partnership. If the country succeeds, stories like Olivia's will no longer be the exception, but the norm.

And when that happens, economic progress will not just be measured in numbers, but in lives transformed.

This feature was written by Yoonyoung Cho, Senior Economist in the World Bank's Eastern and Southern Africa Region.