IWD 2024 Women Leading the Rwanda Tech Ecosystem - TechGyant

IWD 2024: Women Leading the Rwanda Tech Ecosystem

IWD-2024,-Women-Leading-the-Rwanda-Tech-Ecosystem

The Rwanda technology sector has snowballed over the years, especially with the rise of startups, investors, and the government, which ensures that the country’s innovation sector is multiplying. Today’s International Women’s Day, TechGyant writes on women leading the Rwanda tech ecosystem.

The percentage of women in this sector is very impressive, according to the Rwanda Development Board.

In 2022, 39 percent of companies had at least one female company director, which is a five percent growth over the expected 34 percent, according to a 2022 report by the Rwanda Development Board in 2017.

This growth also led to the development of various sectors such as edtech, agritech, health tech, and many more with women founders making significant growth in those sectors.

Also read: Africa Business Heroes Opens Submissions for 2024 Edition

Spotlighting Female Founders in the Rwanda Tech Ecosystem

  • Peace Ndoli, Co-Founder, Lifesten Health

Peace Ndoli is a Rwandan founder and a Human Nutrition and Dietetics graduate from the University of Rwanda. She advocates for a healthy lifestyle and is committed to promoting global health equity within the Rwandan healthcare system.

Peace is about enhancing individuals’ health outcomes and utilizing technology to improve community health and promote equity.

In 2021, she founded Lifesten Health, a dynamic and innovative wellness platform crafted from her passion for well-being and commitment to fostering healthier lifestyles by bringing awareness to diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and more.

A year later, Peace Ndoli was awarded Rwanda’s Innovator of the Year at Hanga Pitchfest 2022, a yearly pitching competition for businesses in Rwanda. Lifesten Health secured $50,000 at Hanga Pitchfest in 2022 and $250,000 at the Kigali CV Challenge by the Novartis Foundation in 2022.

So far, Lifesten Health has raised over $350,000, reached 20,000+ people, engaged with 30+ communities for training, and secured a public-private partnership with the Rwandan government.

Also read: Women Techmakers Kigali Releases List of Speakers for Google IWD, Kigali 2024

  • Cynthia Umutoniwabo, Co-Founder, Loopa

A contestant for Miss Rwanda 2016, an agricultural innovator, and a cancer survivor, Cynthia is a strong, passion-filled entrepreneur. She graduated from Cornell University in 2022 with a Service Excellence and Tourism certificate. 

Cynthia was supposed to study Electrical Engineering at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology earlier, but she traveled to study Architecture in the United States, which she couldn’t complete. unfortunately, she traveled back to Rwanda in 2019 and joined We Code, a program in Rwanda for women with interests in IT. 

 In 2023, Cynthia founded Loopa, a climate/agri tech startup dedicated to creating a cleaner and smarter Africa, after joining Jasiri4Africa as a fellow for a year and two months. Loopa detected a problem in Rwanda’s agricultural sector: farmers use inorganic fertilizers, and a high level of organic waste is produced in Rwanda. This led to using vermin composting and earthworms to turn organic waste into a healthy organic fertilizer. In 2023’s edition of Hanga Pitchfest, Loopa secured first place and was awarded 50,000,000 RWF for funding and scaling. 

Also read: Urukondo Initiative and Three Other Startups pitch at Norrsken Founders’ Friday

  • Christelle Kwizera, Founder, Water Access Rwanda

Christelle is a social entrepreneur and a mechanical engineering graduate from Oklahoma Christian University. With experience working for youth-led initiatives and youth innovation, Christelle has dramatically impacted her community both in Rwanda and outside Rwanda. She was the first Rwandan to win the Africa Entrepreneurship Award; she has also won some other awards like the EDF Pulse Africa Award, WeEmpower SDG challenge, Most Innovative Female Run Business in Rwanda, East Africa Business Excellence Award, Recognized Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2019, and many others. 

In 2014, she founded Water Access Rwanda. This company provides water access services like locating groundwater, drilling boreholes, and installing solar pumps and water filters to provide safe water for citizens in rural communities. Since it’s establishment in 2014, Water Access Rwanda has provided a source of clean water for over 210,000 individuals in Rwanda and outside Rwanda: DRC, Burundi, and Uganda.

Water Access Rwanda, since it’s inception, has been able to sell 196M+ liters of water, have a total number of 129K+ users, carried out 196 geophysical surveys across East Africa, and installed 36 active solar mini-grids.

In 2019, Water Access Rwanda was able to secure a grant of $100,000 from Africa’s Business Heroes grant funding program. 

Also read: Women heroes fearlessly shaping Africa business innovation.

Total
0
Shares
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post
Women-heroes-fearlessly-shaping-Africa's-business-innovation.

Women heroes fearlessly shaping Africa’s business innovation

Next Post
Apply-for-Grey's-$4000-Equity-Free-Funding

Apply for Grey’s $4000 Equity-Free Funding

Related Posts