Youth Minister Dr. Utumatwishima Jean Nepo Abdallah addresses a Career Orientation Fair held in the Northern Province, November 16, 2023
Rwanda is doing something remarkable.
Through skills training, entrepreneurship programmes, and employment initiatives, the country is creating real pathways for its young people. Many young people are being connected to jobs, businesses are being supported, and training programmes are expanding across the country. This progress is real, and it deserves recognition.
But there is a question these numbers do not yet fully answer — and it is worth asking now, while the momentum is strong.
Are young people entering work that actually fits who they are?
The degree was never the destination
Across Rwanda, a quiet but damaging belief has shaped how many young people approach education. The belief goes like this: study hard, earn a degree, and a good life will follow. So families guide children toward certain fields. Students select courses based on salary expectations, social approval, or simply what their peers are doing.
Very few stop to ask the more important question: does this pathway connect to who I am, what I genuinely care about, and how I want to contribute?
That question is not a luxury. It is the foundation of a career. Without it, even a well-trained graduate is building on uncertain ground.
The pathway that actually works
Career direction is not a single decision. It is a sequence.
It begins with self-awareness — an honest understanding of your personality, your strengths, and the kind of contribution you want to make. From that awareness, a natural direction emerges. That direction connects to the right skill, the right training, or the right degree. And from there, to a job where the person can genuinely grow, perform, and serve.
Self-awareness → direction → skill → opportunity → contribution.
When this sequence is followed, work becomes something a person invests in. When it is skipped, work becomes something a person simply endures.
Why job placement is not the full story
A high job-placement rate is a genuine achievement. It reflects investment, organisation, and effort. Rwanda’s training programmes deserve recognition for the progress they represent.
But here is a question worth adding to how we measure success: are we measuring youth progress only by job placement, or also by career alignment?
A programme is not fully successful only because a young person gets a job. It becomes truly successful when that young person enters a direction where they can grow, stay motivated, serve an organisation, and contribute to the country over time. Those are different outcomes — and both matter.
The cost of mismatch
When a young person enters a role that contradicts their personality, their interests, and their long-term direction, the loss is not only personal. It spreads in three directions.
The person loses motivation and stops growing. The organisation receives someone who is present but not fully committed. And the country loses the deeper productivity that comes when talent is genuinely aligned with purpose.
Rwanda needs young people who do not simply occupy roles but grow inside them, take ownership, and build something lasting. That level of contribution requires alignment — between who a person is and what they are doing every day.
Step one: know who you are
This article is not asking young people to have all the answers before they start. Career clarity is built in stages, and future conversations will address each one — how to understand yourself, how to match your strengths to a direction, how to enter an opportunity and grow inside it.
But every stage begins in the same place.
Before asking which job you can get, ask who you are. Before sending the next application, get honest about what kind of work fits your strengths, interests, and temperament. A degree can open a door — but self-awareness tells you which door is worth entering.
Rwanda’s future will not be built only by young people who have jobs. It will be built by young people who know why they are doing what they do.
Opportunity is growing across the country. The question is whether our young people are ready — not just with skills, but with direction.
Sannan Khan is a Career & Relationship Clarity Coach based in Kigali, Rwanda. More at sannankhan.com
