BUJUMBURA, February 19th (ABP) – The entrepreneurial spirit is at its embryonic stage in Burundi. Young people are aware that they should, at all costs, create jobs. However, they face many challenges because the training acquired at school does not allow them to undertake, create or innovate. Even if entrepreneurship is beginning to rise to a certain level, entrepreneurs testify that the way ahead is still long and that it is also necessary to take the bull by the horns. They deplore being confronted with several constraints when they decide to embrace the entrepreneurial path. In the era of Covid-19, the whole world has resorted to digital entrepreneurship, another form of entrepreneurship that has considerably facilitated continental, regional and sub-regional exchanges.
An economic expert, Mr. Kervin Ndihokubwayo, told a check by ABP through interview that in Burundi this entrepreneurship faces many challenges, mainly linked to the rate of access to electricity, and the internet which is still low and which is considered a barrier to this digital entrepreneurship. The expert said that digital entrepreneurship is a concept brought about by the emergence of new information and communication technologies. He also indicated that in economics, information is a good whose cost is significant; hence the new information and communication technologies have become a business opportunity linked to accessibility to information which, as a result, changed the trade environment.
In Burundi, when we talk of digital entrepreneurship, he mentioned, we must understand, in a way, digital trade which is a new opportunity that and has reached its peak around the world during Covid-19, an era during which the emergence of e-commerce websites as well as marketing agencies has been observed. The Digital Entrepreneur initiates the creation of a business, from an idea that they bring to life on a digital platform. Their business model is based on digital tools and is deployed thanks to the various technical and marketing levers put in place, he added.
Dr. Léonard Bizimana, an entrepreneurship expert, defines digital entrepreneurship as a form of entrepreneurship that consists of seizing opportunities on the internet through digital technologies for the creation of e-business.
He says that in Burundi, digital entrepreneurship is an opportunity that has not yet been fully harnessed given that there are still obstacles, such as the internet, which is not of good quality, the problem related to electricity, but also and above all, the lack of knowledge of this field among entrepreneurs. Dr. Bizimana recognizes, all the same, the presence of this entrepreneurial opportunity in Burundi but at a still low level. “I would not say that this business opportunity does not exist in Burundi because there are entrepreneurs who have launched into this field, but the rate is still low,” he noted. During Covid-19, most entrepreneurs around the world have resorted to digital entrepreneurship as a response. But in Burundi, the expert says, Covid-19 has not been a motivation to raise digital entrepreneurship to another level even though there were certain conditions that favored its expansion. Furthermore, the doctor in entrepreneurship acknowledges some progress to be recorded: “With Covid-19, some digital entrepreneurial projects have emerged because it is a business that the entrepreneur does at home without traveling and with possibilities of reaching a large number of customers,” he noted. Making a comparison between classic entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship, Dr. Bizimana emphasizes that digital entrepreneurship has more advantages over classic one. “Digital entrepreneurship is an economic lever, like any other entrepreneurship, which is done exclusively on the internet, but what differentiates it from other entrepreneurial opportunities is that we can reach a large number of people in a short period of time,” he underscored.
Thus, he makes a strong appeal to Burundian unemployed youths in relation to this digital entrepreneurship: “these young people just need to change their attitude. Young people believe that without having the garb of an employee, life is meaningless, and dramatic, he deplored. Young people must dare walk in step with the times and detect current opportunities, including these digital innovations, to be able to change their lifestyle,” he advised.
According to the news website www.okaydoc.fr through an article entitled “Entrepreneurship in the digital age”, digital is at the heart of the major societal changes of the 21st century and is shaping new work practices (de-spatialization of work, the leading role of digital platforms, applications, start-ups, agile methods, etc.). Digitalization, i.e., the adoption and application of digital technologies, thus generates new opportunities for value creation for companies. The world of digital entrepreneurship reached one of its peaks with the emergence of the pandemic (Covid-19). Entrepreneurs had to quickly learn a set of digital tools that were not previously essential, as reported through the said article.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the digital economy has the potential to improve productivity, income and social well-being. It creates job opportunities in new markets and increases employment in some existing professions.
The challenges related to access to electricity and the internet, which experts say constitute a barrier to digital entrepreneurship, were discussed during the national forum on the Development of Burundi held in Bujumbura from November 18 to 19, 2021. Indeed, for the year 2021, the rate of access to electricity stood at 11.1% for Burundi, while that of Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya stood respectively at 37.7%, 38.8%, 41.3%, and 69.7%. The internet penetration rate stood at 13% for Burundi.
