Agahozo wins the inaugural Ashinaga USA "Conference in Africa Prize"
Agahozo Francoise, Ashinaga USA Scholar from Rwanda, is a rising sophomore at the University of Miami studying Microbiology and Immunology with minors in Public Health, Biology, and the African Diaspora. Agahozo is the winner of Ashinaga USA's inaugural Conference in Africa Prize, which covers travel and lodging to a conference in Africa. Scholars research conferences they'd like to attend in Africa to propel their Ashinaga Proposal research, major, and future career, and explain their reasoning in a competitive application process.
Agahozo chose the Consortium for International Management Policy and Development (CIMPAD) conference, held in Kigali, Rwanda from June 23 through 27, with the team of 'Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development.' Agahozo was drawn to this conference because of its focus on entrepreneurship as a critical driver of economic growth and development, with special emphasis on empowering youth and women entrepreneurs. CIMPAD holds its conferences in an African country to provide a forum for those across government, academia, the private sector, and NGOs to come together to promote good governance and sustainable development in civil societies.
To kick off the conference, Vice Chancellor of East African University Rwanda, Prof. Callixte Kabera made opening remarks along with a welcome from CIMPAD’s president, Dr. Peggy Valentine. After the inauguration, breakout rooms under different tracks were open for everyone to join and learn more from different research papers being presented about how entrepreneurship contributes to sustainable development. Under the track of innovation and sustainable development, presenters highlighted how 78% of the youth are unemployed, and therefore should be exposed to sustainable development using entrepreneurship for the transformation of communities.
Day two of the conference covered breakout sessions for the presentations about innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainable development and gender norms in African countries. Remarks from the keynote speaker, H.E. the Ambassador of Pakistan to Kigali Naeem Khan emphasized that the youth should be creative to generate solutions for the world, use available opportunities to create opportunities for the others, and have high quality enthusiasm to achieve dreams.
The last day's highlight was Keynote speaker Rev. Richard, who emphasized being resilient and determined, having a growth mindset, and investing in knowledge because knowledge is power in the business world.
Agahozo reflects: “attending this conference gave me an opportunity to realize that regardless of the courses one takes in higher levels of education, entrepreneurship will always be crucial. With my Ashinaga Proposal being about how to address the healthcare delays in my community, I now understand that socioeconomic status- which correlates with Rwanda’s Sustainable Development Goal (Vision 2050 SDGs) of global call to action to end poverty- is one of the factors behind this issue. From now onwards, my research focus will be on how to generate innovative solutions to enhance sustainable development and improve the healthcare sector in rural areas of Rwanda.”