CORONA ACTION RWANDA AWARDS GRANTS TO ENTREPRENEURIAL INITIATIVES IN RWANDA

Jasiri, in partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Inkomoko, Westerwelle Foundation and the Norrsken Foundation launched CORONA ACTION RWANDA, an initiative that supports entrepreneurial projects addressing the impact of COVID19.

Corona Action Rwanda announced that grants have been awarded in varying amounts to support the following essential entrepreneurial initiatives:

❖ The Ihangane Project

❖ IPRC Kigali Consultancy/ Made in Rwanda Emergency ventilator

❖ Insightiv

❖ Iriba Water Group Ltd

These winners were selected from among 435 applications, representing entrepreneurial initiatives in Rwanda that can mitigate the health or socio-economic impact of COVID19. Each application was reviewed, scored and selected by a team of 10 representatives from Jasiri, Rwandan Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Inkomoko and Westerwelle Foundation, guided by an assessment criteria which included innovation, scalability, sustainability and market readiness.

Yves Iradukunda, Permanent Secretary, Rwandan Ministry of ICT and Innovation talked about the timeliness of the initiative.During the grant period, all the projects will be provided with additional support in the form of business advisory and consultancy.

Corona Action Rwanda has also partnered with 13 organisations in Rwanda that have

offered to provide support to 30 entrepreneurial initiatives that were not selected for the grant but showed immense potential in mitigating the COVID19 impact. Anthony Farr, CEO of Jasiri, was impressed by the willingness of partners to come forward and demonstrate the strength of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Rwanda.

The support from the 13 partners ranges from pro-bono business services to coaching and mentoring and we are happy to have partnered with the following support organizations: 250STARTUPS; 510.Netherlands B.V; African Management Institute; BPN Rwanda; Bridge2Rwanda - The BRIDGE Career Services; German Rwandan Tech Network; Hub&Fund; Inkomoko; Muraho Technology; ProfeTech Rwanda LTD; Resonate; Seeds&Chips and Venture Platform Foundation

Sara Leedom, COO, Inkomoko Business Development believes that the Corona Action Rwanda offers valuable grant capital to ensure the grantees can respond directly to the economic and health challenges in communities across Rwanda,

Westerwelle Foundation also stated that the COVID19 crisis has impacted all sectors of the economy.

Rwanda has in the past overcome numerous challenges by growing solutions locally. Entrepreneurs have been at the forefront of this dynamic and are confident that these solutions will address some of the challenges facing Rwanda.

Jasiri provides entrepreneurship development programs for high potential individuals and teams in East Africa and soon will be launching their programs in Rwanda.

For enquiries and more information about JASIRI and CORONA ACTION RWANDA please contact: Cynthia Ndeti: cndeti@allangillgrayphilanthropy.org