Justine Mugisha is a student at Hope Africa University of Bujumbura in the Medicine Faculty. Passionate about entrepreneurship, she studies and at the same time makes sandals and decorates them with loincloths during her free time.
You may wonder if making sandals and studying Medicine can match? Justine told us that she doesn’t like to spend time without something to do. That’s why in 2021, she thought of what she may be doing during the vacation period. She started making earrings with threads and, later on, she thought of making bigger things than earrings in 2022.
Her starting point was not easy because she was doing what she had never learned to do anymore. But she tried and she saw it was good. Step by step, she progressed in her profession thanks to the good ideas from her clients. “If they told me that there is something to change in my works, I have to do that as well”, she tells.
Now she is proud of the outcome of her handcraft. Apart from satisfying her needs, she gained other skills she hadn’t before, she got friends especially entrepreneurs like her, she got support.
Justine wants to widen her work and add other things to do. She also wishes to participate in international exhibitions and have customers. She wants to present Burundi abroad throughout her activities so that the foreigners get interested in the African garments.
She concluded by calling out the youth to start doing something that they’re passionate about for self-development.
