NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Carlos Mureithi

For five years, Sweden’s Norrsken Foundation has helped social tech entrepreneurs in Africa and elsewhere solve societal and environmental challenges by investing in their ideas financially.

In one of its newest enterprises, the nonprofit is building the largest startup hub in east Africa, in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

The hub, called Norrsken House Kigali, plans to host 1,000 entrepreneurs by the end of this year. To attract them, it is banking on the relative ease of doing business in Rwanda and the country’s quest to position itself as a proof-of-concept country.

Photo courtesy of Pete Linforth.