The initiative, led by the Climate High-Level Champions, aims to mobilise capital for climate ventures in developing countries and emerging markets.
Spiro’s inclusion in the RPCP Pipeline recognises its role as a key climate leader, delivering innovative, high-impact solutions that accelerate Africa’s shift to a low-carbon, sustainable future in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Founded in 2022, Spiro operates a vertically integrated platform that scales electric two-wheel mobility across eight African countries, including Rwanda, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, and Tanzania.
Its business model includes electric bike sales via distribution partners and financiers, battery-as-a-service subscriptions through an expanding swap station network, after-sales maintenance and spare parts services, and data monetisation via licensing and analytics.
To date, Spiro has deployed more than 35,000 electric motorbikes and facilitated over 20 million battery swaps, enabling upwards of 500 million kilometres of CO₂-free travel and reducing approximately 30,000 tons of carbon emissions.
Beyond environmental benefits, the company has created over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Nigeria, with women making up more than 40% of its workforce.
Spiro’s Academy also plays a crucial role in training local talent and supporting their transition into medium- and high-skilled employment.
Financially, Spiro generated USD 23 million in revenue in 2024 and projects a tenfold increase to USD 200 million in 2025. To fuel its expansion, the company is raising USD 50 million in Series A funding, complementing the USD 120 million in equity and USD 23 million in debt financing already secured.
Participation in the RPCP Pipeline will provide Spiro with increased visibility at key climate-focused events, opportunities to be featured in curated publications by the Climate Champions Team and partners, and access to a global network of climate stakeholders to foster collaboration and amplify impact.
Spiro, with over half a billion kilometres of CO₂-free travel achieved, aims to transform African economies by replacing costly fossil fuel-based transportation with affordable, locally manufactured electric mobility solutions.
The new president was installed during a celebration held in Kigali on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Muderevu also serves as the national chair of the Polio Eradication Commission for all Rotary Clubs in Rwanda.
He succeeds Ida Alexandra de Cordier, who reflected on a productive year marked by key achievements, including the training of 140 nurses on pediatric cardiac care, the creation of five cooperatives producing reusable sanitary pads for schools in Burera District, and the founding of the Bwiza Initiative in Kicukiro District to support the reintegration and education of former street children.
Looking ahead, Dr. Muderevu emphasised that expanding the club’s membership base is crucial to scaling its impact.
“The more members we have, the more lives we can touch,” he said.
Among his flagship projects is the installation of a biogas facility at Ecole des Sciences Saint Louis De Montfort in Nyanza, which serves nearly 800 students. The goal is to reduce reliance on firewood for cooking, thereby protecting the environment and improving air quality.
Rotary Club Kigali-Doyen also plans to collaborate with partners to purchase a medical device for the early detection of breast cancer. Early diagnosis significantly improves recovery rates, with up to 80% of cases successfully treated when identified in time.
Founded in 1965, Rotary Club Kigali-Doyen is the oldest of Rwanda’s 12 Rotary Clubs and is preparing to celebrate its 60th anniversary of service to the community.
The court delivered the verdict on Friday, July 11, 2025, ruling that there was no reason to overturn the sentence handed down by the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court last year.
The Intermediate Court of Nyarugenge found Kazungu guilty of all 10 charges on March 8, 2024. He appealed on June 12, 2025, requesting a reduced sentence, arguing that he had cooperated during the trial, admitted guilt, and sought forgiveness.
Kazungu was convicted of crimes including premeditated murder, torture, concealing and dismembering bodies, unlawful detention, and unauthorised access to computer systems. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of Frw 10 million, as well as Frw 30 million in compensation to the victims’ families.
Following a detailed review, the High Court dismissed Kazungu’s appeal and upheld both the life sentence and the compensation order of Frw 30 million.
Kazungu was taken into custody in September 2023 after police discovered multiple bodies buried in a pit behind his home. Most of his victims were women. He subsequently confessed to the killings.
The Minister of Emergency Management (MINEMA), Major General (Retired) Albert Murasira, laid the foundation stone for new homes to be built for 870 families in Rubavu District during a ceremony held in Rugerero Sector, Muhira Cell, Gitebe II Village.
Minister Murasira told the families that this housing project is a fulfilment of a promise made by President Paul Kagame.
“He sent me to encourage you to stay strong and assured you that he still remembers you. This project to rebuild your homes was pledged during his visit after the disaster, and we continue to appreciate how you supported one another during that difficult time,” he said.
He also reminded the beneficiaries of the importance of self-reliance, noting that although the government is there to support them, they too must actively participate in their own recovery.
Minister Murasira added that since the disaster occurred, the government has not neglected those affected but has been working to mobilise resources to assist them.
One of the beneficiaries who has already been rehoused, Nirere Chantal, said she had lost hope while living in a camp.
“But now I have a home of my own. Long live the Government of Rwanda for giving me a reason to smile again,” she said.
The government plans to build new homes for 2,978 families across seven districts in the Northern and Western provinces, following the devastation caused by the May 2023 disasters.
The families to be rehoused are located in Karongi, Rutsiro, Rubavu, Nyabihu, Ngororero, Burera, and Musanze districts.
The disasters, caused by heavy overnight rainfall between May 2 and 3, 2023, struck the Northern, Western, and Southern provinces, leaving 135 people dead, partially damaging more than 2,100 homes, and completely destroying around 2,763 others.
Trump posted a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his social media platform Truth Social, criticizing Canada for retaliating against previous U.S. tariffs.
He pointed out that the new tariff is in part caused by the flow of fentanyl from Canada, as well as allegedly unfair trade practices, and that he would “consider an adjustment” to the tariffs if Canada cooperated with the United States to stop the flow of fentanyl.
Trump used basically the same wording in the letter as that in the more than 20 letters sent to leaders of other countries earlier this week, such as warning them not to retaliate, urging them to move companies to the United States and the rates may be adjustable if they cooperate.
According to an NBC News report, Trump said that blanket tariffs of 15-20 percent will be imposed on most trading partners.
“We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20 percent or 15 percent. We’ll work that out now,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview.
The Trump administration had previously imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods, but later exempted products covered under the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade deal.
The roll-call vote, held at noon in Strasbourg, ended with 360 votes against the motion, 175 in favor, and 18 abstentions, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for passage.
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The no-confidence motion marked the first no-confidence vote in the European Parliament since 2014 and brought to the forefront growing criticism of von der Leyen’s leadership style.
Romanian lawmaker Gheorghe Piperea initiated the motion, accusing von der Leyen of refusing to disclose text messages exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during negotiations for COVID-19 vaccine contracts in 2021, raising concerns about transparency.
Piperea also accused the European Commission of inefficiencies and potential misuse of funds, as well as interference in elections in member states such as Romania and Germany.
The motion garnered some support, including from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who publicly endorsed the motion on Wednesday, tweeting “Time to go” alongside a photo of von der Leyen on social media platform X.
Addressing the parliament earlier this week, von der Leyen defended the Commission’s pandemic decisions as being in Europe’s best interest, likening her contact with Pfizer to “seeking advice from the best epidemiologists and virologists in the world.”
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Despite surviving the vote, von der Leyen faces growing criticism from various parliamentary groups. Concerns have been raised about a rightward shift within von der Leyen’s center-right European People’s Party (EPP), aimed at advancing certain legislative agendas, including efforts to roll back green policies.
“Our vote today is not an endorsement of the direction of the Commission. It is undeniable that the Commission and its President are losing support in recent months,” the Greens/EFA group co-president Bas Eickhout said in a statement, calling on the Commission to stop rolling back the Green Deal.
Valerie Hayer, the president of the pro-business Renew Europe group, wrote on X that although they voted against the motion, their support for von der Leyen is not unconditional. She urged von der Leyen to take control of her political family to “put an end to alliances with the far-right.”
The centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the European Parliament’s second-largest political group, had previously threatened to abstain. However, after securing budget concessions from von der Leyen, they ultimately backed her in the vote.
Parliament Vice President Katarina Barley, of the S&D, said many lawmakers are determined that this will be the “absolute last chance” for von der Leyen, POLITICO Europe, a news outlet covering European Union politics, reported.
The country’s demographic momentum continues to be fuelled by its youthful population, with young people under the age of 30 now accounting for 64.6%, more than 9.1 million Rwandans.
NISR announced the milestone on Friday, June 11, as Rwanda joins the world in marking World Population Day.
This year’s World Population Day theme, “Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world,” resonates strongly with Rwanda’s current demographic landscape.
“Rwanda’s vibrant population, now 14.1 million, powered by its youth, is the greatest asset, driving the development, innovation, and resilience,” NISR said in a statement.
Steady growth over the years
Rwanda’s last national census in 2022 reported a population of 13.2 million, up from 10.5 million recorded in 2012. Over the ten-year period between the two censuses, Rwanda maintained an average annual growth rate of 2.6%.
Demographic projections also indicate important shifts ahead. While youth under 30 currently dominate the population, their share is expected to decrease to 54.3% by 2050, reflecting a maturing population.
Conversely, the working-age population (16–64 years) is rising, from 53.4% in 2012 to 56.0% in 2022, and is projected to hit 61.4% by mid-century.
World Population Day, commemorated every July 11, was established by the United Nations in 1989 to draw attention to global population trends and their impact on development and human well-being.
The day encourages dialogue around key population-related issues, including reproductive health, gender equality, and sustainable resource use.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus formally recognised President Kagame’s role in championing a stronger international framework to enhance global health security during the closing of the inaugural WHO Pandemic Agreement meeting.
President Kagame has been at the forefront of championing a new treaty that would help establish better systems for alerting populations about potential pandemics, while also improving data sharing and the distribution of vaccines and personal protective equipment.
In recognition of his advocacy, WHO awarded President Kagame a certificate of recognition, which was received on his behalf by Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Ambassador Urujeni Bakuramutsa.
The recognition comes as WHO Member States adopted the world’s first Pandemic Agreement on May 20 during the 78th World Health Assembly, marking a historic milestone in global health governance.
The legally binding accord is aimed at ensuring a more equitable, coordinated, and robust international response to future pandemics, drawing from the hard lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis.
“This agreement is a victory for public health, science, and multilateral action,” said Dr. Tedros. “It ensures we can collectively better protect the world from future pandemic threats.”
He added that the agreement recognises the imperative to shield societies and economies from the severe losses experienced during COVID-19.
The Pandemic Agreement lays out principles and tools to boost global cooperation, including provisions to ensure equitable access to vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics. While reaffirming national sovereignty, it encourages governments to work together in the face of shared global threats.
Key next steps include negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system, a mechanism to ensure fair and timely distribution of pandemic-related health tools.
The WHO is also set to establish a Coordinating Financial Mechanism and a Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network to facilitate access to critical health products during emergencies.
The new accord becomes only the second legally binding treaty negotiated under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, following the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted in 2003.
In a candid interview on Sanny Ntayombya’s The Long Form podcast, Sebunya, who grew up under Idi Amin’s regime in Uganda, shared his journey from a politically turbulent childhood to leading one of Africa’s most influential conservation organisations.
He outlined a vision for the continent’s future, one where conservation is not merely about protecting wildlife, but a driver of economic prosperity for African people.
Born in 1965, Sebunya’s early life was shaped by Uganda’s political upheaval. His father, Sewankambo, a member of parliament and Pan-Africanist, was hunted by Amin’s regime, forcing the family to disperse.
“I didn’t grow up with all my siblings,” Sebunya recalled, describing how this experience promoted resilience and a broader African identity.
“I never saw myself as a typical Ugandan, nor tribal.”
His path to conservation was serendipitous, sparked by a chance encounter with Margaret Thatcher’s environmental debates in Strasbourg while studying French. This led to a master’s in environmental policy in the UK, despite his initial training in political science and sociology at Makerere University.
Sebunya’s critique of Africa’s conservation history is unflinching. He argues that the continent’s 8,000 protected areas, many established as colonial hunting grounds, alienated Africans from their land.
“Overnight, Africans became trespassers, poachers, not people looking for food,” he said, noting that post-independence governments perpetuated these frameworks. This colonial legacy, he contends, fuels perceptions of conservation as neo-colonialism, a sentiment echoed in a 2017 Guardian article where he described the sector’s non-African dominance as resembling colonialism.
Less than 5% of conservation NGOs in Africa are led by Africans, a statistic Sebunya finds “uncomforting” but is working to change.
At the heart of AWF’s approach is integrating conservation with community prosperity. In Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, AWF donated 27.8 hectares to expand gorilla habitat while establishing the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge, owned by the SACOLA cooperative.
Generating up to $500,000 annually, the lodge has funded community projects like housing for elderly widows and scholarships, directly linking gorilla survival to local wealth.
“No gorilla has been poached because they don’t need to harm them—that’s where the money comes from,” Sebunya explained.
AWF’s innovative bamboo cultivation initiative further exemplifies this, encouraging communities to grow high-value crops that attract gorillas, effectively expanding the park while boosting incomes by up to 700%.
Sebunya rejects the costly colonial model of militarised park management, which he estimates costs $3,000 per square kilometre and is unsustainable for African governments.
“A park like Serengeti is almost the size of Rwanda. How do you fence it?” he asked, highlighting the model’s failure, with 30,000 elephants lost annually and rhinos extinct in many countries.
Instead, AWF promotes a symbiotic relationship between wildlife and communities, arguing that animals like mountain gorillas would say, “Create a better relationship with my neighbors,” not “Bring a gun to protect me.”
Looking to the future, Sebunya sees Africa’s youth, 70% of the continent’s population, as key to transforming conservation.
“In five or 10 years, these young people will demand to run parks for economic aspirations,” he predicted, envisioning decentralised management where communities like those near Rwanda’s Volcanoes oversee their assets.
He cites rising human-wildlife conflict, as seen in Kenya and Botswana, as a challenge requiring private-sector solutions like insurable conflict mitigation. In Botswana, home to over 200,000 elephants, culling controversies spark protests in London and New York, not locally, where elephants threaten livelihoods.
“Until Africans value an elephant as much as a chicken, which pays school fees, we can’t protect them without benefits,” he said.
Sustainable financing is another priority. Sebunya criticises Africa’s reliance on foreign aid, noting that USAID funds 65% of Nigeria’s health sector, a dependency he calls unsustainable.
AWF’s partnership with the African Union, including the 2022 Africa Protected Areas Congress in Kigali, marked the first time African governments discussed conservation’s importance since independence. Proposals like the Pan-African Conservation Trust aim to secure African-sourced funding, reducing dependence on global donors amid rising defence spending.
“Africa cannot outsource its core platform for economic development—conservation,” Sebunya asserted.
Sebunya’s optimism hinges on aligning conservation with development. He warns that without an African model, large mammals face extinction within a century due to land pressure and climate change.
“We’re doing the same things Europe did, and it has no wildlife,” he cautioned, citing Lake Chad’s shrinking size as a driver of regional instability.
Yet, he believes Africa’s globally connected, educated youth will value natural assets like Victoria Falls or giraffes, which currently generate less revenue than artificial attractions in Dubai.
“This is their war—climate change,” he said, comparing it to his father’s fight for independence.
As AWF prepares for a private-sector-led future, Sebunya sees conservation as a global responsibility with African stewardship.
“If we cut down the Congo Basin, Europe will flood,” he warned, urging international support without ownership.
The financing package is backed by an $84 million counter-guarantee from the African Trade & Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), enabling the banks to provide larger guarantees beyond their usual limits.
BPR Bank Rwanda PLC led the financing effort as the Mandated Lead Arranger and Facility Agent on behalf of the consortium of banks, which also includes Bank of Kigali (BK), the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), and KCB Bank Kenya.
The project, jointly developed by the Governments of Rwanda and Qatar, is a flagship component of Rwanda’s Vision 2050, which aims to propel the country into upper-middle-income status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050.
The airport is expected to significantly enhance regional connectivity and logistics, aligning with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) goals of boosting intra-African trade.
Valued at over $2 billion, the airport is scheduled for completion by mid-2028. The guarantees issued by Rwandan banks, made possible through ATIDI’s de-risking solutions, will cover performance and advance payment obligations of the contractors, ensuring smooth project execution.
“ATIDI is proud to partner in Rwanda’s transformation and continental ambitions through this catalytic project,” said Manuel Moses, Chief Executive Officer of ATIDI. “The new airport is not just about infrastructure; it’s about unlocking regional value chains and ensuring Africa trades more with itself.”
Patience Mutesi, Managing Director of BPR Bank Rwanda Plc, said the bank is honoured to lead such a transformational financing effort.
“This collaboration with ATIDI and our partner banks reflects our firm commitment to financing national development priorities and enabling long-term value through strategic infrastructure.”
Rwanda, a founding member of ATIDI, continues to leverage the institution’s risk mitigation tools to unlock capital for critical sectors. ATIDI currently has a gross exposure of over $611 million in Rwanda, spanning agriculture, energy, construction, communication, and transport.
The New Bugesera International Airport is poised to become a major aviation hub in the region, expanding Rwanda’s capacity to handle growing passenger and cargo volumes while reinforcing its position as a gateway for trade and investment in Africa. Its first phase is designed to accommodate 7 million passengers annually, with a long-term vision to expand to 14 million passengers annually.
