Juste Picasso Nduwayo Life: The Challenging Travel
“Pray as one who may die at any moment, but work as one who lives eternally”
-Juste Picasso Nduwayo
Early life:
Juste Picasso Nduwayo was born on September 12, 1985 in an intellectual family and is the first-born in the family with one brother and three sisters. His father, Alphonse Propagande, was a teacher before he became an administrator of Ntega. In 2001, he became a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly. His mother, Ciza Catherine, was a teacher in primary school. Due to the civil war, he and his family fled to refugee camps in Rwanda and Tanzania where he studied.
After returning back to Burundi in 2003, both of his parents passed away and he was left with the responsibility of taking care of his siblings. Picasso raised his siblings well and never gave up pursuing his ambitions and dreams.
Growing up, these events of civil war, the death of his parents, education, and his job experiences significantly shaped his life. Something his parents taught him that he would never forget is: “Be a respectful and hard-working man”.
School Year Institution Degree
2008-2012 University of Burundi Bachelor of Arts in English Language and literature
2003-2007 Don Bosco Lycee High school diploma
1999-2003 Lycee de la Democratie in Lukole Camp/ Tanzania Common core certificate
1995-1999 Sadako Ogata primary School / Lukole Camp National Certificate
1992-1995 Ntega Primary School
Educational background:
Major Achievements:
Picasso created a blog (http://urugendo1962.blogspot.com ), in which he publishes articles inspiring change among young intellectuals. He believes that the youth have immense potential to develop Burundi.
Picasso also taught and helped labor workers at Bukeye washing station to get health care cards. The card costs 3,000BIF ($1.4) and can be used for a whole year by one family to cover 80% of the medical costs in public health centers and hospitals. All laborers are now covered.
In 2017, Juste Picasso with his friends Zephyrin Banzubaze and Jeremie Nakimuhana started a Business: BURUNDI SPECIALTY SEEDS, BSS Bdi. S.P.R.L . BSS Bdi is organized as a Burundian S.P.R.L under the civil code of Burundi. It is a Company created on 25th July 2017 less than 3 years of operational business it has around 30,000 coffee trees and 2 cows. It has bought a house that is a storeroom for different crops and materials. BSS Bdi has created other two farmer associations that have multiplied around 160,000 coffee seedlings. The business’s primary activities are farming, buying, producing and exporting specialty coffee from Kayanza province and other areas that can fit in BSS values and objectives in Burundi to the all consuming countries In America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa . Three people (Picasso, Zephyrin and Jeremie) met in 2014 as Long Miles Coffee Project employees and became good friends.
While he was working on RTNB in 2013, as a journalist, Picasso published articles on Burundi magazine: https://burundimagazine.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/twelve-years-later-burundis-problems-will-soon-find-solutionsa-dream-by-juste-picasso-nduwayo/
Work facts:
Picasso was born and raised in Burundi. He graduated from the University of Burundi in 2012. Following graduation, he was employed by a Burundi coffee company where he learned the SPECIALTY COFFEE trade, also right from the plantation field work, harvest, production, milling, through to export. From 2018 to 2020 , he was employed as Assistant Managing Director and Managing Director, Operations at HILLSIDE COFFEE COMPANY, LTD , in Uganda . He gained this knowledge by managing one of Burundi’s largest washing stations, then assumed the position of Manager Quality Control & Export. His current responsibilities are building relationships with Farmers and Cooperative Leaders, while managing both MANAFWA SPECIALTY SEEDS, LTD’s washing station and plantation based in Manafwa District in eastern Uganda. His focus is on “QUALITY CHERRY’ processing to satisfy the needs of specialty coffee buyer by impacting his communities
Juste Picasso Nduwayo was Bukeye washing station Manager at Long Miles Coffee since 2014 to 2016 and Quality control Manager in 2017 and he creates a positive work environment for laborers and work to improve the lives of around 2,000 farmers because of specialty coffee. He has helped labor workers at the station get health care cards. Due to education, farmers are changing old prejudices on coffee quality and income from coffee.
Personal facts:
Favorite childhood memory: My mother teaching me in my first year of primary school.
Ideal holiday: in my mother land (home), Ntega
Favorite food: Rice
Favorite dessert: Avocado and ripe Bananas
Favorite song or artist: Alpha Blondy
Favorite book or author:
“Why Have you chosen to be Poor ? Chief M. Nangoli
Favorite movie: StartUp
Favorite actor: Charlie Chaplin
Favorite series: History documentaries
Favorite sport: Jogging
Favorite sport to watch: Football
Favorite color: Blue
Mountain cliff or beach?: Mountain Cliff
Sweet or savory?: Sweet
iOS or Android?: iOS
Cappuccino or black coffee?: Cappuccino
Three words you’d use to describe yourself: leader, generous, and socially inclusive.
One thing you’d like to improve about yourself: planning my long-term goals
Hobbies: sketching, writing, reading books and news, publishing articles on blog, Coaching young people on entrepreneurship, breeding cows, and farming coffee trees and vegetables
If you could be an animal, what would you be and why? A Dove because it is a symbol of peace and I prefer negotiations to armed conflict for reasonable causes.
Given a chance today, whom would you want to meet? Barack Obama.
Life vision: I see myself as an entrepreneur with many companies, especially companies that use specialty coffee production and livestock to spur community transformation. I hope to create and work with various young people and farmer cooperatives to produce a coffee and livestock surplus and decrease the number of those living in poverty to less than 5% of the population in East Africa community. Equipping farmers and young people with knowledge and modern technical methods and entrepreneurship skills as keys to the change and sustainable development in our communities
