CHANCEN community welcomes our first team members in Rwanda! We are excited that our community is growing internationally and speak to Audresse and Ariane about their background, their hopes for CHANCEN International and what it is like to work with a German team.
Dear Audresse and Ariane, welcome in our team! Please tell us exactly what you are working on.
Audresse: I am CHANCEN International’s Communication and Event Coordinator. This position involves logistics and planning for all events and dealing with suppliers, informing students about events and preparing information material for our partner universities and updating our website and Social Media content.
Ariane: My position is called “Application & Student Coordinator”. I manage applications, hold individual meetings with students, assess application forms and suggest changes and prepare presentations for student and application events. Furthermore, I cooperate closely with our partner institutions about applicants and students. I also monitor student participation in our programs. And last but not least, I manage our Salesforce Software and am in charge of bookkeeping.
You are both graduates of Akilah Institute, our first partner university in Rwanda. Please tell us what you studied and what is so special about Akilah.
Ariane: I graduated from Akilah Institute in Business Management and Entrepreneurship where I gained many skills such as business management and leadership skills.
Business management skills are a large field, as we were learning important assets in order to promote any business in different fields. We were more focused on communication, customer care, information technology, finance and marketing fields. I like the way that Akilah was not training us only with theories, but we were given the opportunities to be active in different fields and run some projects in order to further our skills.
I have appreciated the way Akilah has changed my mindset through the leadership course from my first year until I graduated. In every trimester, a leadership course was part of our schedule and that was helpful to build up leadership skills and implement leadership as a habit in my own life. I used to have a fixed mindset, but with that opportunity, I have completely changed.I was also elected to be a leader in the projects at school. Akilah offers an important foundation in leadership, so students can orientate and contribute positively to their own life and the community.
Akilah is different from other institutes in the quality of education they are offering and in the way that they do not focus on the number of students, but on the quality of the students whole be active in the market. That principle helps them to manage and orientate each student in her career.
Audresse: I did Entrepreneurship and Business Management major as it was a major that was matching with the career I wanted to further such as Business Management. I acquired marketing skills, financial skills and communication skills which can help to start and grow a business. I got many opportunities to improve my critical thinking and built my network through business workshops and competitions on business ideas.
Beside the business skills that Akilah taught me, they also taught me skills that will help me to stand as a leader in my community. Its interpersonal and external leadership helped me a lot to be competent at the workplace. I learnt to have a growth mindset, to be resilient and confident no matter which challenges I face. This really helps me in my current job at CHANCEN. I keep the willingness to learn and grow no matter the challenges that I face on my journey and I do not fear to express my opinions.
Akilah has been a place for me where I learnt that “two heads are better than one”.Their teaching systems gave me an overview on how to work as a team. Many of their activities and projects are done in groups to help students cooperate with each other to become better. This is really helping me to work in harmony with others. I am able to receive and give feedback from others with a positive mindset. Akilah students are problem solvers for social change projects where we have the opportunity to experience being in a leadership position and to solve issues that our communities are facing.
Akilah is a unique college with a career office that ensures that each student becomes competent at the workplace. After graduation, they follow-up to support students in furthering their career through career workshops. This helped me to keep being updated on what employers needs and how I can fulfill their needs.
And how did you become team members of CHANCEN community?
Audresse: The job was published on the Akilah job platform called Mindsky. My excitement to apply for the position was based on the mission of CHANCEN. I do believe in the power of education and the equal opportunity that each one should have to further their desired career. I was also excited to see that I have qualified experiences that I got from Akilah which could help CHANCEN to fulfill its mission: I have experience in recruitment and customer care as I was a recruitment intern at Akilah and a Customer Service Agent at Jumia Food Rwanda.
Ariane: I graduated last year from Akilah in Business Management and Entrepreneurship. The job was posted on the website wich assist Akilah students to get employment. Then I applied for the CHANCEN position and after passing two interviews with CHANCEN International’s CEO Batya Blankers, I was selected as one of the first employees in CHANCEN Rwanda. I am proud of CHANCEN Community as I am contributing to making tertiary education in Rwanda and around the world more accessible to everyone. Education is the key for everyone and for each country’s development.
What are the great challenges laying ahead for CHANCEN community in Rwanda? What are your goals for the next year(s)?
Ariane: One of the challenges is that some people think CHANCEN is offering a loan. The concept of Income Share Agreements is new for many. But we are explaining to them that ISAs are different from bank loans as they do not include interest payments but are income-based.
Many people who hear about CHANCEN suggest us to build partnerships with all universities in Rwanda. They find out that ISA is a sustainable solution in the community to make education accessible for a large number of students because the financial barrier is hindering a big number of secondary graduates to further their education. That might be a big challenge for us as we cannot support and manage all students in Rwanda for the moment. In addition, not all Rwandan universities achieve the standards CHANCEN requests to build partnerships. Nevertheless, we plan to extend our partnerships in Rwanda in the next years.
My goals in CHANCEN for the next years is to further my education especially in Business Management. I have noticed the skills I have with the Diploma from Akilah are crucial in CHANCEN Community to promote our service. It will be important if I go deeper and possess more skills in my career. I am working towards mastering my skills and go beyond the expectations.
Audresse: Rwandans are not used to the idea of using their income to pay their tuition fees. They prefer to work before studying so that they get the means to pay their studies. But through the regular info sessions with applicants and the testimonies from our first beneficiaries, many people will be involved to further their careers with our ISA.
My goal is to offer any kind of support CHANCEN might need to fulfill its mission. I am ready to learn more for the company such as being a great communicator to be able to let the world know about the impact CHANCEN is making. I will be taking further lessons to help me to accomplish my duties. As the company grows, I will make sure that I grow with it professionally.
What is it like to work for a German company? And how does teamwork across 2 continents work?
Ariane: I really value diversity, working with people who are different from me and learning from them. I am gaining crucial experiences in my life, as sometimes I meet with the German team. I feel that I am making a network with the whole world and that allows me to work in the same conditions as them and learn new things. That helps me become more confident and enables me to excel in my career.
With the technology, the world has become smaller. It is easy to communicate and work with a person who is on a different continent. The teamwork works as if we are close to each other. For instance the online calls, meetings and messages allow us to collaborate easily although we are not in the same country. The fact that we are on different continents will make ISA expansion easy around the world.
As “It takes both side to build a bridge”, I believe that with working as a team regardless on which continent we are, we will conquer the world with easy accessibility to tertiary education for everyone around the world.
Audresse: One of the Akilah English courses was about cross culture work where we learned how to work with people from a very different background. Working for a German company is an opportunity for me to improve my skills on how to work with others from a different background. I really believe that no matter the origin of the company, each work should be taken seriously. I need to be professional and respectful in and out of the company as I am its ambassador.
CHANCEN creates a collaboration between Africa and Europe. Rwanda like other countries on the African continent, is being developed in all aspects and investing in its education is another asset that can help to reach the development we are looking for. I do believe that through a proper communication and collaboration, CHANCEN will impact the African community. Both sides need to understand their expectations and do their best to respect them.
