Platform for youth

The son of a Rwandan diplomat, Haguma first traveled to China in 1995 at the age of 12, when his father became the ambassador.

"It was a very different China at the time. We didn't interact with the Chinese people at all. The diplomatic community was completely cut off and I didn't have a single Chinese friend," he says.

It was the words of his father that spurred him to forego a chance to study in France and return to China.

"My father, who has incredible insight, told me in 1994 that the 19th century belonged to Europe, the 20th century to the US, while the 21st century will belong to China," Haguma says.

Shortly after graduating, he began working for the Rwandan embassy in Beijing, but left after just six months.

"I realized quickly that diplomacy was not my cup of tea," he says.

But his time at the embassy allowed Haguma to take part in the First Forum on China Africa Cooperation, and realizing the potential of trade between China and Africa, he set up the AfrOrient trading company. Experiencing success over the course of two years, his desire to trade came to a sudden halt after a high-volume customer decided to cancel the order after the products were already purchased. It left Haguma without any money and little desire to continue with the business.

"I lost all my money in one deal," he says.

Switching from trade to investment, his first entrepreneurial enterprise was to start a school. Experiencing success in his first foray into education, he turned his efforts toward creating a bridge for students from Africa in 2009 by founding YAPS and beginning his work with Kiziga, just as Sino-African trade began experiencing heavy growth.

"The idea was that these relationships were becoming important and that there was a large number of Africans here and we needed to get them organized," he says.

With more than 3,000 members in YAPS, Haguma's efforts have been more than successful.