Congratulations, Class of 2018!
Last week, we graduated 95 accomplished women from the Akilah Institute. CEO & Co-Founder Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes shares her remarks from the ceremony.
Friends, Akilah community, and the Class of 2018, this is my favorite day of the year as it represents the beautiful culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice from the Akilah faculty, the donors who support Akilah and makes this all possible, and most importantly, these wise and brave young women who have repeatedly demonstrated their intelligence and character throughout their rigorous years at Akilah.
I want all of our guests to understand and appreciate the full scope of what these young women have accomplished to be here today as graduates.
They’ve mastered a curriculum that requires not only academic excellence, but also a deep commitment to personal growth.
Akilah’s academic model is rooted in five key pillars, and our graduates acquire knowledge across all of them.
21st Century Skills
The Class of 2018 has developed the necessary skills for the careers of today -and of the future. They’ve proven that they can critically analyze and work together in teams to solve real-world problems.
They can articulately communicate complex solutions and are expert public speakers and debaters.
The world is changing. Due to computers, automation, globalization, climate change, and other factors, many of the jobs our graduates will hold in their career don’t even exist yet.
Rather than a limited range of skills that will soon be unnecessary or obsolete, our graduates have developed the capacity to learn and analyze, and this transcends their time in the classroom.
They have already received job offers with some of Rwanda’s most innovative companies including MeshPower, Nation Media Group, Jumia, Kumwe Logistics, Ecopow3r, and KLab.
2. Sustainability
His Excellency President Paul Kagame recently said, “We are not making a choice between environment and prosperity; but we are rather looking at how we combine both.”
The Class of 2018 understands that they need to make decisions that balance vibrant economies with a healthy environment to create a future of abundance for all.
One of today’s graduates, Evra Grace Iwacu, was selected to participate in a UNDP design competition, where she developed an app to convert soil and temperature data into actionable insights for farmers. She led a team of students from across the region and was in the top six at the competition finals.
3. Personalized Learning
Every student is different, with their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and interests.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all model, our graduates have received individualized feedback, support, and coaching to help them identify their academic and professional strengths so they can choose the best career path for them.
In their final portfolio presentation, every graduate presented and defended a summary of their studies at Akilah and their personal journey of leadership development.
Graduate Nicole Umuziranenge’s portfolio presentation was particularly powerful. She used an oversized coat to illustrate her personal journey at Akilah.
Wearing the coat represented her pre-Akilah self. She shrugged it off to reveal the professional, confident woman sitting here today. Nicole interned at this very hotel and won the Akilah Entrepreneurship Fund Competition with her proposal for Pineapple Ushers, a company that provides professional hospitality services for conferences and events.
4. Innovation
Akilah students enthusiastically pursue new ideas, challenge the status quo, and develop solutions for unmet needs.
Many of today’s graduates worked in our Business Incubation Center to bring their ideas to life, including ventures in hospitality, toy design, and agribusiness
Graduates also participated in the Hult Prize, a global business competition, that challenges students from around the world to develop innovative ideas that address local energy challenges. In March, three teams from Akilah made it to the national competition in Rwanda.
Isabelle Umugwaneza, Babra Frida Mulinda, Eline Josiane Uwizera, and Liliane Umiwana, who are graduating today, competed in the Hult Prize regionals in Nairobi.
They presented their idea for using car batteries and waste to produce electricity in rural areas. Out of 32 team from all over Africa, and they placed 7th.
5. Ethical Leadership
And finally, the fifth unique aspect of Akilah is a focus on ethical leadership. These graduates have demonstrated their leadership competencies and their understanding of gender equity, civic responsibility, and environmental stewardship.
As part of their social change projects, they worked with local community groups to identify a pressing problem and design an actionable solution.
Graduates have helped rural women start businesses, volunteered with street children, and run debate clubs in primary schools.
Class of 2018, before you officially leave Akilah, I have three requests for you.
Support and empower other young women.
Whether it’s your younger sisters, cousins, or co-workers, identify young women and tell them that they have extraordinary potential. Amplify their voices. Demand seats for women at every table where decisions are made.
Celebrate each other’s accomplishments as a collective success for all women. Spread your Akilah confidence to other young women who don’t have the same opportunities that you have.
Don’t be afraid of failure. Take chances. Your biggest failures will be your best lessons.
Over the past three years, you’ve learned growth mindset and applied it over and over again. Don’t leave that mindset on campus — it’s incredibly valuable and will serve you well.
Class of 2018, you are living in such a unique moment in history. You are blessed to live in a country with a visionary and impactful government that believes in women’s rights and invests in health care, infrastructure, and innovation. Take advantage of the many opportunities in front of you to be a central part of Rwanda’s transformation story.
Use your voice. You have to ask for things. For respect, for promotions, for a raise, for a leadership role.
Don’t let the world tell you that you should stay silent, and keep your head down.
As we know, well-behaved women rarely make history.
Finally, I will conclude with a short story.
There was once a young woman who had a crazy entrepreneurial idea. Many people in her life gave her good advice- they said don’t pursue this idea, stay in your community, get a good job working for a respectable organization. Maybe you can be an entrepreneur when you are older.
And they were right- this young woman was unqualified to be an entrepreneur, she had no experience. But she made the bold decision to ignore good advice and push through the fear and doubt to start the Akilah Institute.
Akilah Class of 2018, sometimes you have to ignore good advice and listen to your own heart, do what you know to be the right thing for your passion and for the world.
If you see an opportunity, an unmet need, a market demand, a chance to take on a leadership role, then seize it wholeheartedly.
It won’t be easy, but it may very well be the most fulfilling and important work you do. It certainly is for me.
Class of 2018, thank you for all you have done to make Akilah such a special place. Congratulations.
