Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) has partnered with Katapult accelerator headquaterd in Norway to support impact-tech startups in Africa.
The partnership seeks to support the best impact tech entrepreneurs across Africa in terms of strengthening the scaling ecosystem for startups and channeling global and regional capital towards impact investments.
The project is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it will also support tech startups in Rwanda and other parts in Africa, as well as an investor network, through accelerator and investor training programmes.
According to Rishon Chimboza, TBI’s executive director for Africa, He’s delighted that TBI is partnering with Katapult to support Rwanda’s agri-tech startups, and to build an investor network to help these businesses thrive and grow.
“Scalable businesses can play a vital role in Africa’s economic future, and given the right support, with public and private sectors working together, they can grow rapidly.”
Tharald Nustad, founder and owner of Katapult, said the aims of the project was to help create new jobs, drive economic development and provide capital for new and innovative solutions for food security in Rwanda and the wider region.
“The timing for scalable tech solutions is now, and with fast growing urbanisation, a tech savvy young population, we are ready to build the future of tech business from Rwanda,” he said.
“We both share the belief that building rapidly scalable businesses in collaboration with both public and private parties is one of the best ways to solve the grand challenges the world is facing.”
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change was founded in 2016 with an intention to support political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive and prosperous societies in a globalized world through developing policy and advising governments, the institute has been working alongside the government of Rwanda since 2008
Katapult is an early stage impact investment and accelerator vehicle, focused on highly scalable impact tech startups. The company currently has 15 African companies in its portfolio, and is now expanding into the Rwandan market with an agri-tech accelerator in Kigali as the first part of its partnership with TBI.