Brandine Tumukunde, a 23-years-old young girl was born into a vulnerable family of five children and two fostered children in Rutunga Sector, Gasabo District, 30 kilometres from Nyabugogo Downtown in the City of Kigali.
"I grew up in a large family of six siblings, and our parents fostered two children due to the history of our country. It was difficult for us to have enough food to eat twice a day. Our parents struggled to afford school fees and materials for all of us," said Blandine.
In 2020 during COVID-19, her family had been enrolled in the SOS Children’s Villages Family strengthening program, since then, SOS Children’s Villages in Rwanda has been supporting her family with school materials and school fees for one of the family members.
"I was supported by SOS Children’s Villages in Rwanda with education support when I was in Senior Six. After school, I was supported with TVET in culinary arts. My dream is to have a small business that accommodates people. I hope my dream will come true, which is why I decided to take hospitality-related courses," Brandine explained.
When she enrolled in TVET, she worked very hard. This effort resulted in her obtaining a professional internship at the King Fisher Hotel, which is located near her family home.
"At the end of the TVET, I was the second best among all TVET students which resulted in getting my first professional internship and which helped me finance the small businesses that I run today.” Brandine added.
I earned two thousand Rwandan Francs Rwf 2,000 (1.54 USD) at the end of the day which were my savings in the three months that I have been working at King Fisher Hotel. Additionally, I also got tips, which made around three thousand Rwandan Francs Rwf 3,000 (2.32 USD).
Meaning that I was able to earn five thousand Rwandan Francs every day for three months. I was able to save all of it.”
"My goal was to save up to four hundred fifty thousand Rwandan francs (347.35 USD) in three months to start my own business. However, I managed to save up to four hundred sixty-three thousand Rwandan Francs Rwf 463,000 (357.39 USD) in three months."
Brandine emphasized that from that time, she started to find someone to work with because she realized that her budget would not be sufficient to start a business due to the high inflation in Rwanda. I approached another TVET graduate and we agreed to start a small business.
We agreed to start a business of selling beverages because we realized that many people like to gather after work. We started with a budget of six hundred thousand Rwanda Francs Rwf 600,000 (463.14 USD). For the first month, this went very well, the business was on its highest peak but after two months, my business partner decided to withdraw his wages.
“My business partner decided to step down because he wanted to get married. The business went very slowly. I decided to change the business and went into agriculture but it was even worse, then with the support of my family, I started to run a shop and restaurant."
Currently, Blandine’s business is thriving. She has rented a house with three rooms. The sitting room serves as the restaurant, the second room is the shop, and the third room is used for roasting meat, bananas and potatoes. She employs three permanent staff and two casuals.
“I now generate three hundred thousand Rwandan Francs Rwf 300,000 (231.57 USD) after the deduction of all salaries and taxes and I am aiming to own soon a Motel to accommodate people.”
SOS Children’s Villages in Rwanda empowers young people to utilize their full potential and tap into opportunities for employment, productivity and economic transformation.