GITEGA September 22nd (ABP) – The young Niyomwungere Willy, based in Gitega province (in central Burundi) is overflowing with innovative ideas and needs a helping hand from partners in order to have the means to realize his dream of set up a large factory in Africa that manufactures shoes.
In an interview with ABP, Mr. Niyomwungere indicated that he had the idea of making sandals when he was in secondary school at Lycée Gitega, formerly Ecole Normale des Garçons “ENG”. He noted that it was through YouTube that he became familiar with making sandals.
“I learned to apply these techniques using one of my mother’s sandals. I took them apart to see the techniques used during its manufacture, and little by little, I acquired this knowledge. »
Mr. Niyomwungere subsequently recruited sewing graduates from the Gitega and Bwoga Vocational Training Centers who mastered sewing techniques and then created a cooperative called Awaken Youth Center for Development (AYCD) of which the young Niyomwungere is a shareholder. In that cooperative, takes care of the design while the others take care of other aspects related to sewing.
According to him, this cooperative’s mission is to generate income, create jobs for youth and provide opportunities for importers to sell their raw materials, in order to improve the quality of life of the people.
To achieve that, Mr. Niyomwungere said his company needs at least seven machines. Those include Double needle post bed sewing machine, hydraulic swing beam cutting machine LX-107 20T, gluing machine, shoe dryer, embossing machine, leather cutting machine and float bottom type sole marketing machine.
He added that after receiving all these equipment, the company will provide work for up to 50 employees. Currently, AYCD produces 400 pairs of sandals per month but in the coming days it will be able to produce 2000 pairs per month. He hopes that in 2060, that company will produce approximately 12 million sandals per month, so that every Burundian has a sandal.
He called on Burundians to like products “made in Burundi” to encourage national investors, because, he added, this will allow the country not to spend too much foreign currency on the importation of different products manufactured locally. He asks the government of Burundi to continue to support innovative young people by providing them with equipment and funds to realize their dreams. Note that this company is located in the Rango district near the Monsignor Joachim Ruhuna monument while the items produced are sold at the Gitega central market.