Technology Incubation Programme: A gendered approach

Thematic Area:	Digital Financial Solutions
Duration:	2019 – 2020
Client:	African Development Bank (AfDB)
Region:	Africa
Country Coverage:	Rwanda and Sudan

Project Overview

African governments recognise the key role of information and communications technology (ICTs) in supporting social and economic development and how ICT will provide new job opportunities for youth.

The primary goal of this Project is to promote jobs for youth through entrepreneurship and innovation by leveraging ICT as an enabler of development (and from a gender approach) in East Africa, specifically in Sudan and Rwanda.

The Project aims to foster and strengthen entrepreneurship through incubation support and mentorship. At the same time, African Development Bank (AfDB) aims to partner with African universities to strengthen their capacity to incubate and grow young businesses. Through these efforts, a pipeline of youth-led scalable and sustainable start-ups will be developed, and which will leverage international best practices.

To achieve the Project objectives, the following key activities have been carried out to date:

Trainings to boost the confidence of 164 young, female, aspiring tech entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Sudan as they start their entrepreneurship journey;

In preparation of hackathons, four illumination forums were successfully conducted in Rwanda. These forums provided young tech innovators an opportunity to engage and learn from thought leaders and successful entrepreneurs across various sectors such as agriculture, transport and logistics, financial inclusion and clean energy;

Successfully conducted five hackathons in Rwanda with a total of 149 participants, 50% female. Five teams have been selected to receive training, mentorship and coaching for six months to turn their business ideas into market ready products; and,

Started the six-month incubation programme in Rwanda. The incubation programme was initially in a classroom setting but converted to virtual classes due to the COVID-19 restrictions and safety measures in Rwanda.

More information about the project, news and events you can find on the project dedicated pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.