GITEGA December 16th (ABP) – Mr. Amos Ruberamasengo is one of the young entrepreneurs working in Gitega commune (center of the country). His project involves making donuts and bread made from orange-fleshed sweet potato.
In an interview he gave to a check by ABP on Monday December 12, 2022 at the headquarters of his Isange bakery located in the Magarama quarter, he called on young job seekers to be creative, to always have a vision of harnessing the natural wealth that Burundi has to develop.
He said that he set up this agri-food processing company in 2020 with a capital of more than 8 million BIF, but that he is currently reaching a turnover of around 37 million BIF including the first instalment of funding of 20 million BIF granted by the Economic Empowerment and Youth Employment Program, PAEEJ.
He expects from PAEEJ a second instalment of 20 million BIF. Mr. Ruberamasengo also pointed out that with that support, that agrifood processing company has increased its daily production capacity to 180,000 breads and 48,000 donuts and that it has already hired 17 workers, including two bicycle riders who transport the items produced in 5 selling points located in Bwoga, Kimanga, Kabasazi, Songa and Karera I. Before that financing, the company often experienced problems related to the lack of raw materials.
That young entrepreneur positively appreciates his project because, he says, people are starting to get used to it because they get their supplies from the Isange bakery. He claims that those products are of good quality and that their sizes take precedence over products made using wheat flour. He also expects the expansion of selling points of those items throughout the country, once it gets other funding because, he says, the funding benefited from PAEEJ is not enough to cover the entire national territory.
As challenges, Mr. Ruberamasengo mentions in particular the lack of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes used for the manufacture of those products. He hopes that soon he will have arable land to cultivate his own plantations, which will allow him to spend little on transport, he explained.
Starting from the step already taken, Mr. Ruberamasengo calls on young job seekers not to always rely on public employment or other people who can hire them, but to create their own jobs.
He calls on any person or organization that would be interested in that initiative to support him in extending his project throughout the country and exporting his products.