Student entrepreneurs

Yesterday at the Making Vision a Reality entrepreneur workshop here in Kigali, an administrator from the Rwandan Tourism Institute came up to me and requested that I come and speak to his school the next morning. It seemed like a reasonable request, and we slipped it into our schedule.

This morning, Chris Hills and I arrived at the school to learn that they had called a mandatory assembly, and all 200-300 students were crowded into two different halls. I spoke about entrepreneurialism and Chris talked about adventure tourism (his undergrad degree). I was amazed at the intensity of the student's attention and the depth of their questions. Every question had to do with how to start a business.

Like many countries around the world, Rwanda realizes that it has a poor record for customer service. But from the passion and clarity with which these students articulated their dreams, it is clear that they will be a positive force for the Rwanda tourist experience.