Grace Ashiru
Although Rwanda is a small nation, it is swiftly growing into a significant African innovation hub by thinking outside its borders. Sissel Hansen starts now.
The country has a population of 13.58 million people, 60% of whom are youth. According to the 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, Rwanda ranks ninth in the world regarding gender equality, and women account for 43.2% of entrepreneurs in Kigali.
The government needed to invest in several programs, such as Kigali Innovation City and Startup Grind, and host conferences such as Africa Tech Summit and Transform Africa.
In the Doing Business 2020 report from the World Bank, Rwanda was ranked as the second-best African country after Mauritius.
Hubs, Incubators & Accelerators
Impact Hub has grown into a fast-growing, diverse global network with more than 24,000 members in more than 105 Impact Hubs and 63 countries, including Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Singapore, and San Francisco. Each community is full of new programs, events, and content on the cutting edge. Step into any of our Impact Hubs around the world and you’ll be part of a global movement on a local level.
FabLab
FabLab Rwanda was set up on May 12, 2016, by the ICT Chamber in collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Ministry of Education, SolidWorks Corporation MIT-CBA, and others.Gasabo3D, which put His Excellency’s suggestion to set up a Fabrication Laboratory (FABLAB) to help Rwandan hardware innovators to action by using what it had learned from helping software innovators at KLAB.
KLab kLab
Knowledge Lab) is a unique open technology hub in Kigali where students, recent graduates, entrepreneurs, and innovators come to work on their ideas and projects to make them into viable business models. There are also a lot of experienced mentors in the growing kLab community. They help members with both technical and business issues. Workshops, Bootcamps, hackathons, and networking events can be held at kLab to encourage collaboration, partnerships, investment, and funding.
The goal of kLab is to encourage, help, and support the creation of new ICT solutions by building a strong community of entrepreneurs and mentors.
250StartUps
250STARTUPS is a multi-partner incubator and acceleration hub that speeds up startups for six months per cohort so that they can get funding.250STARTUPS has made a good way to help tech startups move from the “incubation” phase to the “expansion” phase by providing financial, legal, technical, and mentorship support, among other things.
Westerwelle Startup Haus
The Westerwelle Foundation runs the Westerwelle Startup Haus Kigali, which the Evonik Foundation backs. It has a unique mix of services, including coworking space, networking events, private offices, a maker space, consulting services, and opportunities for local entrepreneurs to network with people from other countries. Its goal is to make a place for entrepreneurs to meet, share ideas, and work on their business plans.
The Westerwelle Foundation for International Understanding is a non-profit organization based in Germany. It was started in 2013 by Dr. Guido Westerwelle, a former German Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ralph Dommermuth, the CEO and founder of United Internet AG. The Westerwelle Foundation’s mission is to encourage entrepreneurship, social and economic progress, and job creation in developing countries.
Evonik Industries’ foundation is a non-profit organization.
It fosters interest in mathematical, scientific, and technological themes.
Emerging talents require chances that will enable them to broaden and enhance their knowledge and experience in the relevant fields outside of the classroom.
Iris Accelerator
Iris Hub is an incubation and innovation center that employs technology to combat youth and female unemployment. As the foremost entrepreneurship support organization in Rwanda, it unifies and enhances Rwanda’s entrepreneurship ecosystem by supporting an inclusive entrepreneurial culture. Iris Hub helps ensure every entrepreneur has the chance to succeed by putting on big events, making digital programs, and working on policy, mentoring, and advocacy.
GlobalGro Ignition
The French Embassy in Rwanda is paying for the GlobalGro Ignition project, which is led by Vitagora, the French agri-food innovation cluster, in partnership with NAEB.
The goal of the project is to help the Rwandan agri-food sector become more innovative and competitive by making it easier for companies to reach new markets, changing their products or ways of making them, and coming up with solutions to the problems facing the industry (export, food security, food waste, productivity, etc.)
In addition to the acceleration program, the project will give training and coaching to 100 early-stage startups/companies and microenterprises in rural areas to help them grow. It will also build an innovation ecosystem to help Rwanda’s agri-food sector find more business and partnership opportunities.
The Digital Transformation Center Rwanda
The Digital Transformation Center is an innovation hub with several boardrooms, event space, and innovation labs, in addition to its other amenities. It is a place where Africans can work together to create digital solutions for Africans. There are also events about current ICT topics and trends, training and capacity building, and opportunities to network. The Digital Solutions for Sustainable Development Program, managed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, provided the initial funding for the facility, which opened its doors in May of 2019.
