Patrick’s journey into the workshop was far from straightforward.
After dropping out of school in Primary Six, he spent nearly two years trying to find direction. Some days were spent at home with little to do. Other days were shaped by temporary work and short-lived opportunities.
He briefly became a DJ after encouragement from his older brother, a musician who already owned equipment. The experience lasted barely two weeks.
Later, he joined a garage repairing heavy machinery, but the physically demanding work quickly became overwhelming.
Born and raised in Kamembe Sector near the Rwanda–Democratic Republic of Congo border, Patrick grew up in a family where mechanics were everywhere.
Two relatives from his father’s side and another from his mother’s side worked in garages. As a child, he often followed them around, fascinated by how machines could be dismantled, repaired, and brought back to life.
That curiosity never left him.
Yet like many vulnerable rural youth, turning passion into opportunity was not easy. Patrick comes from a modest household. His mother sells sambaza - small fish commonly traded in local markets, while his father survives through casual work and currently works at a carwash.
For families already navigating economic hardship, access to formal technical education often remains out of reach.
Today, Patrick learns inside a functioning motorcycle repair business serving customers daily from Rusizi and nearby communities.
And increasingly, those customers are arriving with electric motorcycles.
As Rwanda accelerates its shift toward green mobility, workshops like this one are becoming important entry points into a rapidly evolving economy. For young apprentices like Patrick, learning to repair both conventional and electric motorcycles means gaining skills connected not only to today’s jobs, but also tomorrow’s industries.
Unlike classroom-based learning environments, every day at the workshop presents real technical problems to solve.
Motorcycles stream in constantly for repairs, maintenance, battery checks, and diagnostics. Apprentices learn directly from experienced mechanics while interacting with actual customer needs and evolving technologies.
The workshop is not a simulation. It is a real business operating within a changing economy.
And for Patrick, that exposure is already paying off.
Only five months into the apprenticeship, he can now diagnose faults and repair mechanical, electrical, and electronic motorcycle systems.
More importantly, he has found clarity.
His future, he says, is in motorcycle repair.
The “plus” in the Dual+ for Rural project extends beyond technical training alone. Alongside practical workplace learning, apprentices are also supported with soft skills, workplace discipline, communication, and entrepreneurship competencies - helping young people transition more confidently into employment and self-employment opportunities.
The training itself is closely linked to the realities of the labour market. Private sector enterprises collaborate with trainers in shaping learning, mentoring apprentices, and assessing practical competencies, while the programme also supports pathways toward certification through the Rwanda TVET Board (RTB).
For Patrick, however, the transformation feels simpler.
He no longer feels lost.
One day, he hopes to own his own garage. If given the chance, he would continue working at the current workshop to sharpen his skills further. If not, he is confident he can seek employment elsewhere.
In many ways, Patrick’s story reflects a broader shift happening across Rwanda’s rural communities; where young people once excluded from formal education systems are beginning to access opportunities connected to emerging industries and local enterprise growth.
And inside a repair workshop near Rwanda’s western frontier, one young mechanic is already helping power that future forward.
The Dual+ for Rural project is implemented by Swisscontact as part of the Swisscontact Development Programme and financed by Fondation Audemars Piguet for Common Good.