President Paul Kagame of Rwanda

As H.E. Mr. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, and Dr. Armen Orujyan, Founder and Chairman of Athgo International entered, the room exploded in applause. Almost immediately, the two ventured into honoring five African entrepreneurial companies for developing socially transforming IT solutions. Rwanda’s start-up, HeHe Ltd, led by CEO Clarisse Iribagiza, was recognized as the best, and received an Innovation Grant of $7,500US. HeHe Ltd was founded in 2010 as a mobile technologies company with a vision to help transform Rwanda and Africa into an information society by increasing access to vital information.

by Aniela Kuzon, Iva Iordanova, and Loukman Lamany

Athgo’s Startup 3.0 program (S3.0) in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda proved to be a major success. A talented group of high-potential young entrepreneurs from 10 African countries was selected to work collaboratively in perfecting, vetting, and validating their socially responsible and high-growth tech-startup businesses and concepts. Many high profile speakers, panelists, and industry experts were also at hand to assist the young entrepreneurs from Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda (the host nation), Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia in laying down the foundation that will help advance their startups from early stage with no or minimum profit to sustainability and soaring profitability.

Over the course of three days, the young entrepreneurs in collaboration with the expert speakers and panelists worked tirelessly to apply Athgo’s individualized entrepreneurship prescription found in its proprietary Four Pillars to Success knowledge framework. Athgo’s own Mr. Joe Barnes, the program’s Emcee, smoothly handled the blend and the transitions between engaging, yet rigorous sessions.