Only a few minutes before lunchtime and the arrival of the first customers. For Francine Uwumaliya, notepad in hand, it’s time to give the final instructions to the other trainees assigned to the service. “Everyone must know their role perfectly so that visitors do not realize that they are being served by apprentices”explains the 24-year-old student.
At Nyurah, the restaurant of excellence of the Rwandan branch of the Vatel international hotel school, everything depends on the details. Straight posture, hair pulled back and a fixed smile, the young woman, in an impeccable black trouser suit with her school logo, checks one last time the dressing to the millimeter of the wooden tables with their refined decoration. In this Kigali establishment, the majority of employees are students supervised by resident or guest chefs.
“I remember my first experience in a big hotel, I was stressed and I asked a lot of questions to learn as quickly as possible”, laughs Francine Uwumaliya. Since then, she has tried her hand at all positions: in the kitchen, at the reception and in service, but it is in the supervision of the teams that she feels most comfortable. Growing up in the Kabeza district, near Kigali International Airport, the young woman had a front row seat to observe the development of the tourism sector:
“When I was a teenager, I saw all the big hotels being built all over the city. It influenced my choice of studies, because I saw that there was a future for young people like me. »
Management and oenology courses
In the Rwandan capital, and in particular the chic district of Kiyovu, the branches of international hotel chains, such as Serena or Marriott, were actually established less than ten years ago. Inaugurated in 2016, the Kigali Convention Centre, whose dome is inspired by the former royal palaces and illuminated with the colors of the national flag at night, has become one of the city’s emblematic sites and one of the cornerstones of the strategy. development of business tourism and conferences in the country.
In Rwanda, where nearly 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, the metamorphosis of Kigali has prompted many young people to continue their studies in tourism, catering and luxury hotels. “The Vatel school in Rwanda welcomed its first students in 2018 in order to make up for the lack of staff trained to work in high-standing establishments and provide visitors with the quality of service they expect”, explains Cynthia Mulindi, director of academic operations for the hotel school.
A few meters from the Nyurah restaurant, Vatel’s classrooms overlook the tall buildings of the city center. In uniform, the first-year students, from Rwanda or from neighboring countries, arrive well in advance, in rows of onions and computer in hand, for their morning class. “We have English, accounting and management classes, but also more practical lessons, to learn about wines for example”, details Maelys Kamanzi. After her studies, the 18-year-old Rwandan dreams of starting her career as a manager in one of Kigali’s five-star establishments:
“I know it’s tough, because there’s a lot of competition to get into these popular hotels. It is for this reason that it is necessary to try to be noticed during the internships. »
A cooking school in Musanze
Hospitality training has multiplied. The South African luxury lodge company Singita opened a cooking school in the northern town of Musanze last year. Several universities or specialized institutes now offer degrees in the tourism and hospitality sector. “It’s an industry that employs and has developed very quickly,” assures Cynthia Mulindi. According to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), 164,000 people were employed in the sector in 2019, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic – or 4% of the working population – and the number of foreign visitors has more than doubled. in a decade to reach 1.63 million the same year.
While business tourism (meetings, conferences, events, etc.) remains a niche for the time being, schools are counting on its development to find jobs for their students. “With the organization of the Commonwealth Summit in June, and all the events that bring many visitors, we show students the different possibilities offered by this industry”adds the Director of Academic Operations at Vatel.
At the Nyurah restaurant, Maelys Kamanzi will greet customers at the reception for the first time during her next internship. “My mother is an event organizer and I have seen her business grow. This is also why I wanted to go into this sector,” justifies the student, who is impatiently waiting to discover the pace of work in other establishments in the capital. “And once I have more experience, who knows, maybe running my own hotel? », she begins to dream.
Summary of the series “Pros and cons of tourism in Africa”