Press release: Rwanda & Israel Connect
The Embassy of Israel in Rwanda, in partnership with Impact Hub Kigali, will kick off on December 7th, Rwanda & Israel Connect, an immersive one week virtual event to support the exchange of knowledge and promote collaborations between the two countries.
The event will be held on 7 – 11 December 2020 and will include a series of virtual sessions focused on learning from the experience and best practices of Israel, exploring the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Rwanda, and promoting connections between entrepreneurs and innovation players in both countries.
The event will be open to all players in the Rwandan and Israeli innovation ecosystems, including entrepreneurs, hubs, incubators, and academia. Confirmed speakers from Rwanda include Kigali Innovation City, ICT Chamber, Zipline, DMM Hehe, CMU-Africa, African Leadership University and Westerwelle Startup Haus, among many others. From the Israeli side, speakers include Pears Foundation, Tech7, MadeInJLM, MassChallenge, Netafim, Volcani International Partnerships and HUJI Innovate.
The event will also feature engaging sessions aimed at co-creating ideas and building capacities. There will be, for instance, a miniHacks session bringing together university students in Israel and Rwanda to meet and ideate solutions to water, transport and health challenges. In the framework of this week, Impact Hub Kigali will also facilitate a workshop on Design Thinking for Social Innovation, aimed at training local innovators on creative and user-centered approaches to tackle pressing development challenges.
Ambassador Ron Adams says “This program comes in a timely fashion as Israel is looking at more ways to connect to Rwanda through innovation, and it complements our vision to open a hub for Israeli and Rwandan entrepreneurs. Rwanda and Israel share many similarities and the opportunities to collaborate are endless. We hope this event will be a crucial step in making these connections more real.”
Impact Hub Kigali stressed there is an opportunity for Kigali’s ecosystem to learn from the experiences of Israel but also that there are plenty of innovations and business opportunities to showcase to the Israeli counterparts interested in the country and region. “We’ve curated this one-week event in such a way that it offers an engaging and creative virtual space for entrepreneurs and innovation players to connect, share experiences and explore opportunities to collaborate. We hope this program will be one of many”, says Mafer Betancourt, Managing Director at Impact Hub Kigali.
The program will be free to attend for participants and is open to everyone. For more information and links for registration, visit: https://kigali.impacthub.net/rwandaisraelconnect/
Implementing partners
Embassy of Israel to Rwanda
The Embassy of Israel to Rwanda is dedicated to promoting diplomatic relations, economic growth and friendship between the State of Israel and Rwanda.
https://embassies.gov.il/Kigali
Impact Hub Kigali
Impact Hub Kigali (IHK) is a community-based innovation hub in Kigali, Rwanda, offering a unique ecosystem of resources, inspiration, and collaboration opportunities to grow positive impact. IHK is part of a large social innovation network in the world with +100 open hubs in over 50 countries.IHK provides a co-working space, curates community events, and facilitates innovation programs and Design Thinking workshops. IHK also supports the ecosystem as a whole through knowledge sharing platforms, ecosystem tours and mapping exercises.
https://kigali.impacthub.net/
Support partners
The program is implemented with the support of Pears Program for Global Innovation, Empower Africa, and Liquid Telecom Rwanda.
Press Contact: Chris Mugisha ([email protected])