By Pauline Luba
She is just 27, but Uganda Christian University (UCU) graduate, Maureen Mutoni, already has a mission to be one of Rwanda’s most passionate changemakers.
As a 2024 Mandela Washington Fellow, Mutoni recently completed a business and entrepreneurship leadership program at Drake University in the United States. From this course, she says, she learned “how to build systems that work,” and it is this spirit that she has taken back to her roots in Rwanda.
In Rwanda, just like it is with many developing countries, she says education is often more of a privilege than a right. Born to a Rwandan family that spent decades in Uganda as refugees, Mutoni’s father, a farmer with four wives and 18 children, and her mother, a housewife, did not fully have the benefit of having a formal education.
But Mutoni was determined to chart a different course.
“Moving when I was younger was very significant in my life,” she reflected. “It contributed so much to the person I am today.”
Her educational journey took her from Kagarama Secondary School to Cornerstone Leadership Academy Rwanda, and eventually to UCU, where she pursued a Bachelor’s of Economics and Management.
“I loved the community at UCU,” said the soft-spoken Mutoni. “It was serious, disciplined and had a tight-knit Rwandan community.”
Behind her gentle demeanor is a relentless spirit, one that refuses to be confined by circumstance or complacency. Her passion for education and youth empowerment took root during her time working with schools in remote Ugandan communities.
These experiences laid the foundation for what would become the Inspire Change Foundation, which Mutoni officially launched in late 2022, to provide inclusive and equitable opportunities for education, empower the youth and support the women to promote financial inclusion.
By 2023, the foundation had begun full operations, focusing on improving education access for children in rural Rwanda. Today, the organization supports 133 learners, providing essentials like books, uniforms and school supplies. It also works with parents to form savings groups that ensure continued education into secondary school.
But the road hasn’t been easy. One of the biggest challenges she faced was the mindset of parents.
“They didn’t value their children’s education,” she said. “Some would say, ‘I can’t afford this,’ even when it was about a simple pen.”
Mutoni persisted — often funding the initiative herself in the early days. Over time, partnerships with local governments, schools and Non-Governmental Organizations like Kidzone helped the foundation gain traction.
According to her organization’s website, she also took the initiative to reach out to the parents and guardians of these learners. She believed that finding sustainable ways to support them was the key to unlocking true potential.
Technology, Mutoni believes, will play a critical role in shaping the future of education in Rwanda. Her foundation is now working to introduce digital learning tools, creating school libraries, and launching nationwide competitions that celebrate creativity and literacy. Some of children there have never even seen an iPad or a toy, according to Mutoni.
Balancing her full-time job and her work at Inspire Change is no easy feat, but Mutoni says it’s all about time management and the passion she has for what she does. She is currently the program’s head at Afri-Farmers Markets.
For aspiring young social entrepreneurs in Rwanda, Mutoni, who believes her ultimate goal is to touch people’s lives, offers a simple, but powerful advice: “Just do it. Share your ideas and act on them. Have a vision for where you want to be.”
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