Beneficiaries of the incubation program
If you are a techpreneur, law and finance graduate but don’t know what to do next, a multi-partner incubation program in Rwanda has opened a window of opportunities which may enable your business idea to grow to another level.
Under the third cohort of the 250 startups initiative, 10 successful applicants with tech startups will spend six months in incubation programme that will help to create a fundable business, with technical, advisory and financial assistance.
Charles Shyaka, the 250 Startups Incubation Program Manager said that those with startup prototype will also be assisted in building the software and hardware needed to make their tech product marketable.
“After building their working prototype, a startup founder will get financial assistance to be able to go to the field and talk to potential clients to see if what they built is needed on the market,” Shyaka said in a phone interview today.
Those selected will also receive support in making their business sustainable by getting legal and financial services support in the incubation program.
“We will be matching the startup needs with the available interns in law and finance to help in creating a business plan and legal advice,” Shyaka said.
Twenty business have previously benefited from the first and second cohorts held in Kigali, and after six months another cohort will be selected for the incubation programme that is worth over Rwf8million injected directly and indirectly to each Startup in the cohort program.
The 250Startups program was developed with the ambition of promoting the ICT sector in Rwanda with young entrepreneurs as the key focus. Its expected outcome is to have 100 startups by 2025 with a net worth of $50 million.
The opportunity to get selected in this year’s cohort closes this May 31, 2019 and registration is on the 250StartUp Rwanda website.
Some of the prominent 250StartUp include Ejobu, that links Rwandan skilled and innovative youth to potential employment opportunities which remains a wide gap today, as government seeks to create 250,000 jobs annually.
To bridge part of this gap, Samuel Tuyizere, the CEO and Founder of Ejobu, said they have since January created an online platform for Rwandan freelancing programmers or software development as a perfect place for them to get clients online.
