In August this year, Tigo in partnership with Non-profit organization Reach for Change launched for the first time in Rwanda an initiative that aims at identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs with solid ideas on how to improve the lives of children.
After a one -month campaign calling out all Rwandans with innovative ideas to apply, we received a staggering 1300 applications; 10 strong applicants made it to the semi-finals, following an extensive filtering process that involved Tigo & Reach for Change staff, as well as external experts.
After interviews and reference checks, 6 pitched their ideas to a panel that faced the extreme hard task of choosing 3 winners.
“Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the pillars of our organization and we are particularly keen on this initiative, which is part of a global program. Tigo Rwanda has attracted strong proposals in a highly competitive process.
A jury including Radegonde Ndejuru DG First Lady Office Imbuto Foundation, Zaina Nyiramatama Executive Secretary Child Commission Rwanda, CEO Reach for Change Sara Damber & myself unanimously decided on the top 3 awardees; these incredible individuals not only won our hearts but also impressed us with the soundness and potential of their projects.
They’ll now receive salary funding of $25,000 a year for up to three years in order to focus and fulfill their objectives,” said Tigo Rwanda CEO Diego Camberos.
The Tigo Reach for Change new Social Entrepreneurs for 2012 are Jean Ntazinda, Kayisire Jacques and Sekamana Archimede.
The initiatives that they will be implementing will focus on providing respectively very affordable solar lights for children in rural areas, empowering orphans economically with vocational training and loans and the use of football as a tool to increase self-esteem and unity.
The ‘Tigo Reach for Change’ partnership focuses on identifying and supporting local social entrepreneurs with solid ideas on improving the lives of Rwandan children.
The three awardees will now join a three-year incubator programme where they get support to transform their ideas into sustainable ventures.
In addition to this, they will receive salary funding of USD 25,000 a year for up to three years, as well as mentoring and professional advice from senior employees of Tigo.
Reach for Change is a non-profit organization established in Sweden and co-founded by Kinnevik, the founding company of Millicom.
The search for social entrepreneurs first began in Sweden in 2010, followed by Russia in 2011, before embarking in that same year as a pilot project for Africa in Ghana.
Ghana has recently reported an improvement in the livelihoods of over 140,000 children.
Tigo and Reach for Change officially begun the search for social entrepreneurs across all Tigo’s African operations in August of this year with its first launch in Rwanda, followed by Tanzania, then Congo DRC , Ghana, Chad and finally Senegal in the week to come.
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