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Our Story
Every organization has a beginning. Ours starts with a scholarship, two co-founders, and a belief that the people closest to a problem are best placed to solve it.
In much of the region, education leans on theory more than practice. Capable young people finish with diplomas but few real ways into work or leadership. Our founders felt those limits themselves, and decided to build something different.
In 2016, co-founder Bernadette Itongwa Eagle discovered the Social Innovation Academy (SINA) in Uganda and went through its self-organized program herself. Co-founder Arsène Bashizi joined the SINA scholarship the following year. He had run into the same gaps in education back home in DR Congo.
Together, they started adapting what they had learned to the reality of Eastern DR Congo. SENTA was formally established and registered in Bukavu in January 2021.
Bernadette Itongwa Eagle discovers SINA in Uganda and goes through its self-organized program.
Arsène Bashizi joins the SINA scholarship after facing the same gaps in Congo’s education system.
Living and working in SINA’s self-organized community, Bernadette and Arsène take on real roles and start preparing to bring the model home to DR Congo.
Social Entrepreneurship Academy (SENTA) is formally established and registered in Bukavu, DR Congo.
Conflict disrupts activities in Bukavu. With SINA’s support, SENTA moves 24 scholars to a three-month residential program in Kampala. 15 enterprise ideas come out of the cohort.
They had both seen what conventional education could not give them, and what SINA’s model could. That is what brought them together.
On Bernadette & Arsène, co-founders of SENTA
A note on dates: some SENTA materials mention early groundwork in 2018 and 2019, before formal registration in 2021. On this site we use 2021 as our founding date.