A Burundian Entrepreneur Pursues Her Dream at Akilah’s Rwanda Campus
Ella Stella Ishimwe will graduate from the Akilah Institute in November 2017 with a Diploma in Business Management and Entrepreneurship.
With a political crisis unfolding at home, Burundian Ella Stella Ishimwe moved to Rwanda to pursue her entrepreneurial ambitions at Akilah.
Most successful entrepreneurs have grit, but few have their perseverance tested by a national crisis, particularly a crisis that has forced more than 400,000 people to flee and has shut down businesses, schools, and public services. But that’s exactly what Ella Stella Ishimwe (Entrepreneurship ’17) was up against.
The soft-spoken student was four months into her studies in Akilah’s Entrepreneurship Diploma program (now Business Management & Entrepreneurship), when widespread political violence broke out in her home country of Burundi. The insecurity forced Akilah to close its Burundi campus in 2015. It was no longer safe for students and staff to travel to campus.
But Ella Stella wasn’t ready to give up on her studies. At Akilah, she’d found a program that combined her passions for technology and entrepreneurship. “Akilah was the only institution in Burundi that offered entrepreneurship as a course. Other schools offered business administration, but it was more about theory than practical skills,” she recalls.
Making her move
So Ella Stella made a difficult decision. She left her family behind in Burundi and moved to Rwanda, alongside 42 students transferred to Akilah’s Kigali campus. “The move was challenging as it was not planned. It happened just like that,” she recalls, snapping her fingers. “But if you have a dream or a vision, you cannot be stopped by challenges. If you really want it, you have to go for it, no matter the sacrifices you may incur,” she explains.
It didn’t take long for Ella Stella to hit her stride. “Akilah made it easier because they supported us. They give a stipend to pay rent, and they helped us go through the processes to get a student visa,” she explains. She moved in with four of her Akilah classmates from Burundi. “We’ve become like family,” she says.
“But if you have a dream or a vision, you cannot be stopped by challenges. If you really want it, you have to go for it, no matter the sacrifices you may incur.”
A budding entrepreneur
Ella Stella dove into her studies. She learned the ins and outs of running a business during Akilah’s Fundamentals of Management and Entrepreneurship course, which provides capital to student teams to launch and run a business. “The class helps you get skills to deal with people … If the marketing officer does not do her job, it’s going to affect us all because people are not aware of our product. Everyone has to do her part to ensure that the business is running,” Ella Stella explains.
A problem and an idea
Ella Stella remained to committed to starting her own business. She wanted to launch something that would solve a problem using technology. So when her sister and two friends complained about the exhausting and expensive process of applying to universities in East Africa, an idea formed in her head.
‘Why couldn’t applicants simply research schools and apply online?’ she mused. She came up with the idea for an online platform that would provide information about all the private universities in Rwanda, including their degree programs, extracurriculars, and unique selling points. Students would be able to apply to universities on the platform and learn whether they were accepted or rejected. “The platform will be a bridge between universities and students,” Ella Stella explains. She dubbed her idea U-Connect.
‘How are you going to make money?’
Ella Stella enlisted Akilah classmate Phyllis Uwase to help develop the idea. The two took U-Connect to Akilah’s Business Incubation Center, an on-campus facility that offers workspace, mentorship, and programming to student entrepreneurs. They were selected for a specialized track that prepares the most-promising business ideas for launch on the market.
“Some universities offer you knowledge, but they don’t offer you opportunities. Akilah has managed to offer both to its students.”
Soon, Ella Stella and Phyllis were spending their Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at the Business Incubation Center, working with mentors and coaches to define their business model. “I remember when we joined the Incubation Center, our mentor asked us, ‘So how are you going to make money?’ We didn’t think about it — we were just focused on solving a problem,’” Ella Stella recalls.
The mentor sent Ella Stella and Phyllis off campus to conduct market research. They developed surveys, interviewed university staff and secondary school students, and tested different pricing models. They discovered that their initial hypothesis — that universities would pay for the platform — didn’t hold up. They pivoted to add a small surcharge to university registration fees that would be passed on to students
A winning idea
U-Connect made its big debut at the Akilah Entrepreneurship Fund Competition, an intra-school pitch contest for funding and mentorship. Ella Stella walked the judges through her business model, explaining the problem, her proposed solution, and how she would turn a profit. They were impressed. She nabbed third place, $1,200 in seed money, and business support services. Ella Stella plans to use the money to cover operating costs and business registration fees.
Ella Stella interned with Akilah classmates at kLab, an open technology hub in Kigali.
Focused on the future
Ella Stella will graduate in November. She plans to continue working on U-Connect part time while honing her business skills with a full-time job. “I want to get experience that I can put into my business,” she explains.
As for making the move to Rwanda to continue her studies at Akilah? Ella Stella has no regrets. “Some universities offer you knowledge, but they don’t offer you opportunities. Akilah has managed to offer both to its students,” she says. “I’ve acquired IT and entrepreneurship skills and was given the opportunity to present my business idea and to get the capital to make the vision come true,” she says.