Tag: entrepreneur

Call for Applications for Tech African Women program, by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in partnership with Betacube

ECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa), in partnership with Betacube, has announced the launch of its first Tech African Women program, inviting female-led idea stage startups from Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia to submit their applications.

TAW (Tech African Women) is a program that is launched with the objective of empowering female founders to leverage their skills in order to build strong tech startups from scratch, accelerate the transformation of project ideas into validated business models and to develop alliances between different African ecosystems.

The program will run from August to December 2022 and is composed of 3 main phases:

  1. Intensive 3-day training bootcamps & pitching competitions to be held in Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia&Tanzania in partnership with local ecosystem players. The winning team of each bootcamp will win a cash prize of 2000$.
  2. A 2-months online incubation program for the best 2 startups from each country that will allow them to reach market&investment readiness.
  3.  A final Ceremony in Ethiopia in Addis Ababa at ECA Conference Center where 8 startups will be invited to pitch to win the final prize of the program (cash grant of 7000$ for the best startup) TAW targets female-led&idea-stage tech startups and offers teams an exclusive opportunity to acquire new entrepreneurial skills, establish partnership with their African peers, increase regional business visibility and access funds.It supports ideas addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by developing the capacity of female entrepreneurs who desire to understand how to play a role in the continent’s development and want to deep dive into building impact-driven startups.

Throughout the duration of the incubation program, teams will have access to a pool of tech developers and designers who will develop their MVPs free of charge and work closely with top experts in Marketing and Finance in addition to the participation in tailored webinars provided by international trainers.

How to apply?

Participants entering the program have to be nationals of Tunisia or Tanzania or Senegal or Ethiopia, have an idea of a tech startup that is addressing at least one of the SDGs, must be female aged between 18 and 35 years old and be able to communicate fluently in French or English.

Applications are now open for candidates from the four countries on the official website of the program (www.techafricanwomen.com) until the 10th of August 2022 for Tunisia, and until the 17th of August 2022 in Ethiopia, Senegal and Tanzania.

www.techafricanwomen.com

Market creating-innovation bootcamp opportunity for Rwandans

We’re excited to announce that the session of the Market-Creating Innovation Bootcamp from The Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship at MIT, the Clayton Christensen Institute, and Ventures Platform is happening in Rwanda on 2022 June 27, 28 & 29.

The Market-Creating Innovation (MCI) Bootcamp is an eight-session learning program designed to empower innovators with principles and frameworks necessary to create new markets that make products affordable. The MCI Bootcamp is best suited for early-stage entrepreneurs with an operating business. The Bootcamp curriculum will be taught over a three-day period. Following the Bootcamp training, participants will join a network of market-creating innovators across Africa and have access to customized learning sessions with experts and entrepreneurs.

Application Deadline: May 16, 2022

Boot-camp: J2022 June 27, 28, 29

Bootcamp Participant Eligibility Criteria / Target Audience:
 Early-stage entrepreneur with established business or idea
 Willingness and eagerness to learn
 At an early enough stage in their venture where they can apply the lessons to their business model (seed stage)
 Founder or top management team member. We encourage Founders to apply and participate.
 Venture is operating in Rwanda, candidate can be Rwandan citizen or resident
 Ability to participate in sessions over 3 days
 Fluency in English

 If you have questions, please contact the MCI Bootcamp team at  mci.bootcamp.help@minict.gov.rw. 

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

www.minict.gov.rw

ClimateLaunchpad Competition – Rwanda Edition

Dear fellow (aspiring) entrepreneur,

Impact Hub Kigali launched the Rwanda edition for the global ClimateLaunchpad competition. The program aims to support green business ideas and turn them into sustainable businesses. 

We are looking for innovations in the themes of Adaptation and Resilience, Circular Economies, Urban solutions, Clean Energy, and Food Systems. 

The selected participants will be trained online through a Mini-course and boot camp, followed by coaching sessions to prepare them for the National Finals. The top 3 teams will move on to the regional finals with a real chance to pitch at the Global Grand Final. 

Who they are looking for: 

  • Anyone with an idea and has not started a business yet, or a startup that has been operational for less than 12 months, and has no substantial revenue, and has not had grants or investments above EUR 200,000. (This includes all funding like research grants, government loans, angel or VC investments et cetera, but it excludes PhD salary for instance)
  • Have not yet sold products, solutions or prototypes on commercial terms; 

Applications deadline: July 18th 

Benefits: 

  • Turn your green idea into a sustainable business
  • New acquired entrepreneurial skills & Knowledge 
  • Networking with Stakeholders in the clean tech sector 
  • Compete at the National, Regional & Global level
  • Cash prizes at the global level 
  • Exposure of your idea/solution to the global stage 
  • Create a long lasting impact on climate change 

Where to apply: https://bit.ly/CLP21_application_form

For more information: https://climatelaunchpad.org/faq/

MTN Rwanda Launches “Level Up Your Biz” to Support Youth-led Businesses.

MTN Rwanda is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Inkomoko Entrepreneur Development to support Rwandan youth-led businesses on their entrepreneurship journey with the Level Up Your Biz programme.

This 10-month programme will offer seed capital, valuable training and mentorship opportunities to eligible young entrepreneurs.

Speaking about this initiative, MTN Rwanda’s Chief Consumer and Digital Officer, Yaw Ankoma Agyapong said, “We set up Yolo as a platform to help the youth of Rwanda unleash their potential and drive them to achieve greatness. We are keen on investing in developing youth and want to make sure they are well-equipped to sustain their businesses, in line with MTN’s drive to contribute to the growth of SMEs thus promoting Rwanda’s growth.”

MTN’s partnership with Inkomoko aims to empower and provide youth-led businesses with the right practical knowledge and skills, that will strengthen their innovative capabilities amidst an evolving digital world.

Through a competitive application process, 6 youth-led SMEs/start-ups will be selected to receive:

  • A free 5-month accelerator from Inkomoko, including training, assessment, and consulting.
  • 3 out of the 6 businesses will compete to be selected to receive monetary funding support from MTN.
  • Webinars with industry experts to help boost their businesses.
  • Communication essentials and advertising platforms from MTN

Only participants whose business plans fulfil the criteria below of viability and sustainability will be selected for the programme.

  • The applicant must be Rwandan.
  • Must be a business owner aged 18-30.
  • Must have digital presence or use e-commerce.
  • Must have annual revenue of less than Rwf 200,000,000.
  • The company must have proof of registration with Rwanda Development Board (RDB) for at least 1 year.
  • Priority will be given to youth-led businesses that are making a social/environmental impact.

Sara Leedom, Inkomoko’s Chief Operating Officer also commented on this partnership by saying, “‘Levelling up’ means taking on the next challenge. We at Inkomoko see youth entrepreneurs in Rwanda take on the challenge of being more digital, using eCommerce, and embracing innovation. Inkomoko is excited for our partnership with MTN to help young entrepreneurs embrace the challenge and grow even further. Level Up Your Biz is an opportunity for digitally connected entrepreneurs to gain more management skills from Inkomoko and digital tools from MTN.“

Level Up Your Biz is in line with MTN’s digital ambition as it focuses on capacity building for businesses that use digital platforms to innovate and provide local solutions that address a market need in Rwanda.

“Our mission is to lead digital for a brighter Rwanda where everyone is connected to the digital world.  By supporting these young entrepreneurs, we see ourselves as partners on their digitization journey as they realise their entrepreneurial dreams,” concluded Agyapong.


For any enquiries about the Level Up Your Biz programme, email info@inkomoko.com.

mtn.co.rw

African Management Institute and Rwanda ICT Chamber offer business training to 2,000 tech entrepreneurs

The African Management Institute (AMI) and the Rwanda ICT Chamber have signed a one-year agreement to provide business training to entrepreneurs in the ICT sector to reinforce their skills and boost women’s participation in the sector. The partnership aims to reach more than 2,000 i-workers (i.e. internet workers who include digital services agents, freelancers, digital ambassadors and gig/platform workers). This is geared to help small businesses tackle the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and equip them with the skills, tools and strategies to manage risk and identify new opportunities for growth.

The African Management Institute will offer its sponsored virtual Business Survival Bootcamp in English and Kinyarwanda to tech entrepreneurs across the country and enable them to access AMI’s online learning platform. Through the programme, entrepreneurs learn about risk assessment, scenario planning, cash flow forecasting and other skills to support their business to grow and thrive.

To date, 114 entrepreneurs have already benefited from AMI’s sponsored programme in partnership with the ICT Chamber and completed AMI’s Business Survival Bootcamp programme. Members of the ICT Chamber are encouraged to apply directly through bit.ly/AMI-ICT.

Yvette Uwimpaye, founder of the online store Murukali Market Smart, is looking forward to the upcoming training:

“The pandemic affected my business both positively and negatively. We had more customers ordering online, however they were buying fresh products such as perishable food. It was hard to keep up with the demand due to movement restrictions. This impacted our operations and caused us to lose customers and revenue. I’m excited to take part in the Business Survival Bootcamp because I want to recover losses and make my e-commerce business more profitable,” she said.

AMI Country Director, Malik Shaffy, commented:

“This partnership is unique because it will also increase the number of women thriving in Rwanda’s digital economy. As we boost women’s participation in our programmes, I encourage all tech entrepreneurs to visit our website and apply for the Business Survival Bootcamp to gain the skills and network that will help your business to grow.”

Rwanda ICT Chamber CEO, Alex Ntare, shared how the sector will benefit from the partnership:

“ Over the years we have seen a growing number of  women owned or co-founded technology and ICT enabled businesses,  this partnership with AMI has already raised interest among our members especially those participating in the IHUZO digital commerce project, the content in the programmes is very relevant to all sizes of businesses especially those affected by COVID-19 and who want to digitalize”

About the African Management Institute (AMI)

AMI enables ambitious businesses across Africa to thrive, through practical tools and training. We equip entrepreneurs with tools to build their businesses, help companies train their teams and run work readiness programmes for young people starting their careers. AMI’s programmes combine online and mobile tools with in-person workshops and on-the-job practice and support. During the COVID-19 period, AMI is delivering fully virtual programming across the continent.

AMI has worked with a range of businesses and organizations to support entrepreneurs and managers build and grow their businesses across Africa including Uber, Nestle, Radisson Blu, Mastercard Foundation, USAID, Shell Foundation and Equity Bank. AMI has directly trained over 30,000 people in over 30 countries. AMI has offices in Nairobi, Kigali and Johannesburg. 

About the Rwanda ICT Chamber

Rwanda ICT Chamber is an arm of the Private Sector Federation (PSF) of Rwanda and was established in 2011. The ICT Chamber is the leading partner for organizations to share experience, network, grow, and expand their operations. At the ICT Chamber, we help our members to work with the right associations, companies, and individuals to ensure that they get the needed skills, opportunities, and tools to grow.

The main vision of Rwanda ICT Chamber is to make Rwanda the leading ICT-driven society by influencing the transformation of the economy and the culture through ICT. This is accomplished by creating career paths through skills development, especially among the youth, stimulating entrepreneurship and competitiveness, driving and protecting investments and innovation, promoting export of ICT products and services together with acting as the arbitrator of the ICT sector. 

www.africanmanagers.org