Jean came up with the idea to process waste into environmentally friendly and affordable fuel in his community..
Jean Bosco Nzeyimana is an innovator in Rwanda. He was born in a small village called Kitabi in Nyamagabe district. Nyamagabe happens to be a rural area where it is difficult to find electricity or decent infrastructure, and only a few can afford it. Most villagers rely on charcoal as their main fuel source. As a child, Jean Bosco Nzeyimana went to the forest every morning before school to collect firewood for his parents to cook.
“ Children drop out of school because they try to help their parents collect firewood for cooking, creating another problem for the future of the country, and I was always thinking what can I do to help my brothers and sisters who drop school because of insufficient fuels”
For example, as in many parts of rural Africa, the majority of his village still depends on charcoal for cooking. In fact, some 80 per cent of Rwanda’s population still uses firewood as its primary source of energy, which means that millions of trees are cut to meet demand and cause devastating deforestation. Nzeyimana was also concerned about the accumulation of waste he had seen at the Rwandan landfill. He said, “The cutting of trees is dangerous because it exploits nature”. Throwing waste into landfills is not a solution. It creates another problem.”
| Jean Bosco is an expert at converting these wastes into biogas and bio-fertilizers (Photo credit: African Vibes) |
As a person with a big picture of life, he has been trying to reduce waste and the number of trees that are cut down every year. After graduating from high school at 19, he returned to the idea of producing biogas, biscuits, and biofertilizers from waste. His ideas were sustainable, but he needed financial and more educational support because of his poor background. Because he was young, his ideas were new to society, and it was very difficult. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of Rwanda, he tried to obtain loans to start a business.
| Jean Bosco Nzeyimana with some of his employees in his factory (Photo credit: Africa Vibes) |
With a startup loan from the African Entrepreneur Collective, and convincing his district to let him use a waste management facility for free, he has since created a business called Habona (which means “illumination”). Habona Ltd collects and sorts trash to make briquettes, biogas and organic fertilizers for its customers, which include restaurants, hotels, households, businesses, schools, farmers and government offices. After raising startup capital for Habona Ltd., he provided permanent jobs to more than 25 Rwandans. “I wanted to generate a sustainable fuel that would have a positive impact on people’s lives – but I also wanted to generate employment.”
Challenges in the early stages of the Startup
To show his audience that he knew what he was doing, he had to employ more hands. Initially, it was tough because those hands were not trained. He sent them for adequate training, thanks to grants and prizes gotten from business pitches. Also, inasmuch as wastes were available, the logistics of moving them to his factory was a huge challenge. Once families started to make the shift to his biogas, the new challenge was how to scale up to meet the demands.
Achievements of Jean Bosco Nzeimana
The successes recorded by Jean Bosco Nzeyimana are enormous. He was one of three young people invited by former President Barack Obama at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2016. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood on his flank while talking about business.
| President Obama, joined by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (far right), moderates a panel of entrepreneurs including Jean Bosco Nzeyimana of Rwanda (Share America) |
Jean Bosco Nzeyimana also won many awards in Rwanda for his wisdom, including the best young entrepreneurs in Rwanda in 2014. He also received the African Innovation Awardand the Mandela Washington Fellowship. There are also the 2015 Youth Achievement Award of the First Lady of Rwanda, the Africa Innovation Award, the India-Africa Youth Vision Award, and the ten promising new businesses in Africa with pitching networks.
A few years later, Jean Bosco still living in Kitaby, as he continue to work closely with his local initiatives. His main focus is to expand Habona to further encourage sustainability and job creation and improve the lives of people in marginalized communities.
Business lessons from Jean Bosco Nzeyimana
- Problems are opportunities: The difficulty of talking to distant people makes telecommunication companies a goldmine. The problem of access to books makes Amazon a global hub. The problem of deforestation and indiscriminate waste disposal gave Jean Bosco a platform of opportunities to utilize his business skills.
- Diligence makes way for you to meet kings: When you are honest with your work, your work will create opportunities for you to meet people of the upper class. Jean Bosco Nzeyimana started Habona at 19 when nobody believed in him. With consistent showing up, rolling up his sleeves, and dirtying his hands, he made a positive impression such that he got funding for his startup. His diligence took him to many places including a meeting with the president of the United States of America.
- Our background does not define us: Most times, people tend to wallow in self-pity due to their poor background. Interestingly, a poor background doesn’t make you less human. Therefore, coming from a poor background should never limit your vision. There are lots of investors who spot and support ideas.
- Purpose makes like interesting: When you wake up with a plan to execute, you tend to approach life quite differently from those who do not. Every business owner should have a purpose. It makes you focused. Also, scaling over one hurdle encourages you to move towards the next goal.
Source credit: africanvibes.com