STRIVELABS INITIATIVE / Kigali, Rwanda

Lead Program Facilitator.

One person to teach, cook, manage a kitchen, run a classroom, evaluate student work, host outside guests, and hold the standard for two cohorts of young Rwandans learning to launch food businesses.

Term 24 weeks
Cohort 8 students
Start 1 July 2026
Location Kigali — on site
Apply Now → Read the Role →
About SLI

A non-profit building digital fluency and entrepreneurship in underserved Rwanda.

STRIVELABS INITIATIVE (SLI) is a Kigali-based non-profit focused on digital access and AI literacy for underserved communities in Rwanda. Our flagship program is a 24-week culinary entrepreneurship and digital skills training that prepares young Rwandans to launch food businesses with a strong technical and operational foundation.

The program runs in two parallel cohorts — AM and PM — sharing the same curriculum, the same kitchen, and the same standards. We are looking for one person who can hold all of it together.

144
Published
Lessons
8
Students
Per Cycle
2
Parallel
Cohorts
8+
Capstone
Milestones
What You Will Gain

A six-month commitment with a real return.

A well-resourced position, a growing network, and a pathway forward — for you and for the 8 Rwandans whose businesses you help launch.

01

A six-month, well-resourced position running a substantive, growing program.

02

Direct involvement in launching 8 Rwandan-owned food businesses.

03

A real and growing network — outside experts, partners, mentors, suppliers — invested in your work.

04

Professional development support: Date Code Genie certification, industry events, books and tools provided.

05

Pathway to a longer-term role in program direction or to launch your own venture with SLI's support.

See what the role actually involves.

Five categories of work, six months of program. Read the full breakdown next.

Read the Role →
The Role

You are the person who shows up Monday morning — and sets the tone.

You will not be doing this alone. STRIVELABS provides program support, mentor partners, and outside experts who rotate in throughout the program. But you teach the curriculum, run the kitchen, evaluate the work, and hold the line.

"If you can teach mise-en-place from a kitchen that already practices it, this role is for you."

What You Will Do

Five categories of work — all of them yours.

/ 01

Teach the Curriculum

  • Deliver 144 published lessons across 24 weeks, two blocks per day
  • Lead Monday Digital Fluency Labs — Sheets, Docs, AI tools, Canva, WhatsApp Business
  • Run Tuesday/Wednesday content sessions on compliance, food cost, sourcing, branding, leadership
  • Lead Thursday Service Labs grounded in Setting the Table, Unreasonable Hospitality, Work Clean
  • Run Friday Main Labs — the most hands-on, deliverable-heavy day of the week
/ 02

Run the Kitchen

  • Maintain SLI's kitchen at audit-passing standard at all times
  • Run real prep services for outside partner organisations (12–25 people) starting Week 13
  • Hold the line on station discipline, par tracking, real-time waste logs, and reconciliation
  • Get and maintain Date Code Genie certification, lead student certification weeks (W7, W16, W22)
  • Coordinate HACCP plan documentation aligned with RSB S-Mark process
/ 03

Evaluate Student Work

  • Grade 144 Classroom posts across five categories plus a Reflective Practice bonus track
  • Review and give feedback on eight Capstone Milestones — concept, costing, branding, ops, hospitality, defense
  • Score station audits, kitchen simulations, and live service performances against published rubrics
/ 04

Host Outside People

  • Coordinate field visits to 3 food businesses in Week 1
  • Recruit and brief 8 mentors (one per capstone track) for Week 4
  • Invite 2 real suppliers to Week 8 negotiation role-play
  • Confirm partner organisations for outside event services (Weeks 13, 14, 18)
  • Coordinate shadow-service partner restaurants (Weeks 17, 19)
  • Host Public Capstone Day on 18 December 2026 — panel of 4 + 25+ guests
/ 05

Run the Operation

  • Pre-load Google Classroom posts, set deadlines, manage submissions across two cohorts
  • Track 8 capstone milestone deadlines and chase late submissions
  • Run monthly mentorship sessions on the Saturday closing each month
  • Read next week's curriculum every Friday afternoon — the single most important habit in the role
/ 06

Set the Standard

  • Hold the bar — don't lower it when students struggle, teach them how to reach it
  • Read ahead — surprises are avoidable when you know what next week looks like
  • Teach by doing — students copy what the room does, not what you say
  • Give feedback that bites without breaking — specific, kind, on the work, not the person
  • Document everything — if it isn't written, it didn't happen

See if you're the right fit.

The candidate profile — what's required, what's preferred, and how the right person works.

Candidate Profile →
Who You Are

A practitioner, a teacher, a steady hand.

We are looking for someone who has done the work — not just studied it. Someone who teaches by doing, who reads ahead, and who holds the standard when it would be easier not to.

Candidate Profile

Three lenses on the same person.

  • Professional kitchen experience You have run a station or a kitchen for at least three years. You know what mise-en-place, par sheets, waste logs, and reconciliation actually look like in practice — not from a textbook.
  • Teaching or training experience You have taught adult learners before, formally or informally. You know the difference between explaining and demonstrating — and you do both.
  • Trilingual capability Fluent in Kinyarwanda and English. Working French is preferred — much of Kigali's hospitality customer base is francophone.
  • Digital fluency Comfortable in Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Forms, Classroom, Calendar) and AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Canva AI). You will be teaching all of these.
  • Knowledge of Rwandan food regulation Familiarity with RDB business registration, RRA tax basics (EBM, VAT), RSB food safety standards, RSSB employer obligations, and the Plastic Ban Law N° 17/2019. If not all — willing to learn fast.
  • Food business launch experience Prior involvement with a food business launch — yours or someone else's, soup-to-nuts.
  • Rwandan hospitality background Hospitality role in a Rwandan restaurant, hotel, or catering operation.
  • HACCP / RSB S-Mark experience Direct experience with HACCP or RSB S-Mark certification process.
  • Prior facilitation work Prior facilitation or teaching role at YALI, Inkomoko, Hanga Pitchfest, or similar.
  • Familiarity with the canon Familiarity with the books used in the program: Setting the Table (Meyer), Unreasonable Hospitality (Guidara), Work Clean (Charnas).
  • You hold the standard You don't lower the bar when students struggle. You teach them how to reach it.
  • You read ahead Surprises are avoidable. You know what next week looks like before it arrives.
  • You teach by doing Students copy what the room does, not what you say. You set the room.
  • You give feedback that bites without breaking Specific. Kind. On the work — not the person.
  • You document Notes, photos, par sheets, waste logs, audit checklists. If it isn't written, it didn't happen.

Sounds like you?

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Earlier applications are preferred.

Apply Now →
How to Apply

Get these 5 items ready, then submit your application.

Have all five items prepared in the formats requested before you begin. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis — earlier applications are preferred.

  • 1
    CV or résumé No longer than two pages.
  • 2
    One-page cover letter Answering this specific question: "Tell us about a time you held the standard when it would have been easier not to. What happened?"
  • 3
    Three references Name, role, organisation, phone, email. At least one from a kitchen, one from a teaching or mentoring context.
  • 4
    A short demonstration Either a 3-minute video of you teaching one thing — anything you know well — to one camera, OR a written one-page lesson plan for any topic in the curriculum.
  • 5
    Desired salary range Monthly, in RWF.

STRIVELABS INITIATIVE is an equal-opportunity employer. We strongly encourage candidates without traditional academic credentials but with strong demonstrated experience to apply.

Open Application Form →