About 231 aspirants at the Innovation Accelerator (iAccelerator) challenge at the College of Business and Economics, in Kigali last year
Four young, hard working and innovative entrepreneurs will this afternoon earn $ 10,000 each in a campaign to tackle pressing sexual, and reproductive health challenges, while promoting social entrepreneurship among the youth.
Under the Innovation Accelerator (iAccelerator), a mentorship – driven acceleration program by Imbuto Foundation, top 10 innovators will present their ideas during a pitch event at Innovation Village – Kigali Public Library.
From the ten, a panel of 5 judges will pick four entrepreneurs with best projects, according to a communiqué from Imbuto Foundation.
At this final stage, top 4 innovative solutions will receive $ 10,000 grant each on top of a mentorship and training program, pending a big event – Demo Day where they will be given an opportunity to pitch their ideas to potential investors in May 2017.
The innovators will be young entrepreneurs who really deserve it because they will secure a win in a tight competition involving 231aspirants.
The competition was launched on December 2, 2016 and was followed with a series of bootcamps, outreach events and a media campaign throughout the country to encourage the youth to apply and benefit from this opportunity.
The competition closed on January 23, 2017. A panel of judges and experts reviewed over 231 applications to shortlist a group of 10 innovators.
The iAccelerator challenge program is a partnership between Imbuto Foundation and UNFPA, with funding from UKAid.
UNFPA is supporting a regional program that intends to improve maternal health in East and Southern Africa, specifically to respond to critical family planning commodity gaps.
The program includes ten countries; Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eritrea, Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia, Swaziland and Rwanda.
Imbuto Foundation, an organization whose chairperson the First Lady Jeannette Kagame has several interventions in areas of social protection, education and health support benefiting vulnerable communities.
In collaboration with UNFPA, and with funding from UKAid, Imbuto Foundation launched the Innovation Accelerator (iAccelerator) challenge
