Competitive Performance and Youth Entrepreneurship in Rwanda

Current evidences from around the world indicate that young people are facing particular problems and challenges in gaining access to the labor market or available entrepreneurship opportunities in order to find secure employment (World Bank 2010; United Nations 2013; Levinsohn et al. 2014; Ryder 2016; Kilimani 2017, ILO 2018). They do face unprecedented levels of challenge around the world in accessing the careers they want to pursue. The global reports highlight that the youth unemployment crisis is having a profound effect on young people and the societies in which they live (OECD 2010; World Youth Report, 2003). Governments, particularly Rwanda, have created different dedicated structures and implemented various policies to promote youth employability, encouraging the creation of youth enterprises as an alternative source of employment. However, the analysis of the Rwandan employment ecosystem shows both an annual increase in youth unemployment rate and their inability to start new businesses, as well as consistent failure of new youth ventures (Nic & Jos, 2013), hence a need for this study to investigate youth’s competitive performance and policy gaps in the sector.