The Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa Foundation – Paying Forward
Starting out as a young refugee from colonial Rwanda with only an eighth-grade education, Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa relied on hard work and entrepreneurial instincts to build a business empire across sub-Saharan Africa. He has never forgotten where he came from and those who helped him along the way, and Tribert has always offered a helping hand to younger Africans coming up behind him.
In 2012, Tribert stepped back from directly managing his companies and handed over day-to-day operations to his sons. He now plans to intensify his charitable works and is taking steps toward development of a private, nonprofit foundation.
Tribert envisions creating a foundation that focuses on assisting others to develop business. Initially, the foundation will concentrate on helping those closest to Tribert’s heart: African young people with drive and determination, who need a shot at opportunity and a little help overcoming the odds – those who are in a similar situation to the one Tribert faced as a young refugee.
Tribert has two main goals for this project at the outset: first, providing mentoring and venture capital to budding African entrepreneurs so they can pursue their business development goals and, second, developing internship opportunities for African students to give them the practical, hands-on experience they need to succeed in today’s job market.
This foundation is the logical extension of Tribert’s lifelong passion to promote African education, community development and business opportunity through philanthropic efforts, civic work and public service. He quietly invested in community development projects and student scholarships for decades, without recognition. Between 2005 and 2012, Tribert provided scholarships for 84 high school students and nearly 30 university students in his native country of Rwanda.
After the war in Rwanda – which Tribert was instrumental in ending through his work organizing and funding the movement that ended the genocide in 1994 – Tribert helped establish the Rwandan Chamber of Commerce, serving as its first chairman. Then, between 1994 and 2008, Tribert served as the chairman of the Economic Commission that advised the governing party on investment and economic policy. He also served as chairman of the Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency and co-chairman of the Akagera Task Force, which was the driving force behind many of Rwanda’s economic reforms.
In community development, Tribert helped build a housing complex with about 100 homes for refugees after the genocide in Rwanda, when banks and commercial agencies were not yet operational. Tribert funded the entire development, including a school and child care center, and subsidized about 40 percent of the construction costs out of his own pocket. In addition, Tribert funded the building of a primary school and helped expand a technical secondary school in his home district of Nyanza. He also has begun work on a project there that includes plans for a sports stadium to anchor a large community development program.
Tribert continues to contribute to the many communities and families that support and sustain his businesses. Whether providing electricity to 500 families near the Nshili Kivu tea plantation in Rwanda; donating cement to build new roads, a church and a football stadium in Burundi; or providing food and seedlings to farmers in Uganda, Tribert is committed to improving African lives.
Through his foundation, Tribert plans to keep “paying it forward” and thanking the people who helped him succeed. He hopes to put members of a new generation on their own paths to success. Empowering people to build stronger communities – that’s one endeavor from which Tribert will never retire.
Current Community Development Projects
Nigeria
Uganda
Angola
