Applications for the Cohort 8 of the Jasiri Talent Investor Program are open. Apply now!
Applications for the Cohort 8 of the Jasiri Talent Investor Program are open. Apply now!
Jasiri, an organization focused on tackling poverty in Rwanda and Kenya, is now accepting applications for Cohort 8 of the Jasiri Talent Investor Program. The one-year, fully funded program is designed to help high-potential East African entrepreneurs develop the skills and knowledge they need to launch and grow successful businesses.
Through the program, successful applicants will receive mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs and investors and access to resources, including business training, networking and financial support. Interested applicants must meet the following criteria to apply:
- Be citizens of Ethiopia, Kenya, or Rwanda with residence in their country or diaspora
- Be ready to pursue entrepreneurship as a full-time career and spend three months of residential intensive in Rwanda
- Be well informed and possess professional skills, with the ability to identify gaps and opportunities within the sector of interest
- Demonstrate problem-solving and value-creation abilities
- Be able to collaborate with equally ambitious peers within their cohort and co-found ventures from scratch
Interested participants will be taken through a comprehensive selection process including:
- Submission of the application
- Entrepreneurial assessment for successful applicants within seven days
- Innovation scenario assessment and pitch video for entrepreneurs that have passed the entrepreneurial assessment
- Psychometric test for entrepreneurs that have completed the innovation scenario assessment phase
- Selection conference to announce selected fellows to the program.
For more information on the program, visit Jasiri Talent Investor Program
To apply, visit Applications
Are you an entrepreneur eager to leverage AI for business growth? Apply for the Global AI Summit on Africa before 20 February 2025
Are you an entrepreneur eager to leverage AI for business growth? Apply for the Global AI Summit on Africa before 20 February 2025
The Global AI Summit on Africa, happening in Kigali, Rwanda, on April 3-4, 2025, is your gateway to AI-driven innovation, funding opportunities, and strategic partnerships. This inaugural event is organized by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Rwanda in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Rwandan Ministry of ICT and Innovation.
Themed “AI and Africa’s Demographic Dividend: Reimagining Economic Opportunities for Africa’s Workforce”, the summit is designed to empower entrepreneurs, startups, and industry leaders with the tools, knowledge, and connections to scale AI-driven businesses.
The summit is designed to benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including:
- Government leaders and policymakers
- Industry executives and entrepreneurs
- Investors and venture capitalists
- Academics and researchers
- Civil society organizations
- International organizations
Successful applicants will be offered the following
- Access to AI Innovation: Learn from industry leaders and discover cutting-edge AI solutions tailored for Africa.
- Investor & Funding Opportunities: Meet venture capitalists and funding partners looking to invest in AI-powered businesses.
- Networking & Collaboration: Connect with policymakers, tech pioneers, and fellow entrepreneurs shaping Africa’s AI ecosystem.
- Skill Development: Gain hands-on insights into AI applications, market trends, and growth strategies.
- Market Expansion: Discover opportunities to scale your AI-powered business across Africa and beyond.
Participation in this Summit is by invitation only. Interested individuals and organizations should request an invitation to join the event here.
Tips for Managing your Cash Flow
Tips for Managing your Cash Flow
Good cash flow management is a critical skill for every small business owner, and it is important for cash flow to remain positive for your business to thrive. Positive cash flow occurs when the money entering your business from sales and accounts receivable is higher than the amount of the cash leaving your businesses through expenses like rent, employee salaries, and other costs. Positive cash flow ensures your business can manage unforeseen circumstances. Negative cash flow happens when the cash you are spending from your business is more significant than your incoming cash into the business. This indicates trouble for the company. Without adequate cash flow, your business may underperform – canceling orders and ultimately needing to lay off employees. In Rwanda, 42. 5% of entrepreneurs are still operating, partially or fulltime, but only 35.8% are selling, while 57.5% of entrepreneurs are not operating at all at the moment as a result of negative cash flows.
Luckily, there are several steps your business can take to fix the harmful cash flow problems and get into a positive zone.
Here are some tips on effectively managing cash flow in your business.
Get invoicing right.
Invoicing is one of the essential pieces of the puzzle regarding cash flow management. Speed up your cash inflows by delivering your invoices quickly so that you receive faster payment from your clients. Consider investing in automated invoicing such as point of sale machines so that you can improve your turnaround times and minimize delays in sending invoices.
Keep your financial records up to date.
Update your financial records as often as possible. This can help you gain a clear insight into your business’s financial health, which will give you a more precise foundation from which you can forecast your future cash flow, make important decisions, and plan for high and low seasons.
Build a cash reserve you can rely on in tough times.
Building a cash reserve is very important, and it can be done once you hit the break-even point. Businesses face highs and lows – having enough cash to fund your working capital needs can be critical for its continued survival during a low season business.
Liquidate cash that may be tied up in outdated assets or overstocked inventory.
Businesses sometimes have unused equipment, outdated assets, or too much inventory, all of which can be put to better use as income. Equipment and inventory can lose value as new equipment is produced or as customer preferences change. Regardless of whether you sell below initial value, liquidating assets that will not be utilized can contribute to a healthy cash flow.
Consider implementing these strategies to improve cash flow management in your business.
Want to Start a Business? Here’s a Quick Guide to Taxes in Rwanda!
Want to Start a Business? Here’s a Quick Guide to Taxes in Rwanda!
All businesses in Rwanda are required to comply with the tax laws, including payment of taxes within a given period of time. As someone starting a business or who already runs one, understanding your tax obligations is crucial for compliance and smooth operations. The Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) provides essential guidance on taxation for new businesses. Here’s a simple breakdown of the taxes you need to know to keep your business legal and running smoothly in Rwanda.
Registering Your Business
- Business Registration: Must be completed within 7 days of starting operations through the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
- Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN): Assigned upon registration, required for all tax-related transactions.
- Electronic Invoicing System (EBM): Mandatory for issuing invoices.
Types of Taxes
- Income Tax:
- Personal Income Tax (PIT) for individuals.
- Corporate Income Tax (CIT) at a standard rate of 28%, with incentives for publicly listed companies.
- Micro-enterprises (≤ RWF 12M annual turnover) pay a flat tax based on revenue.
- Withholding Taxes:
- 5% on imports for commercial use.
- 3% on public tenders.
- 15% on gaming winnings.
- Value Added Tax (VAT):
- Standard rate: 18%.
- Registration required for businesses with annual sales > RWF 20M or quarterly sales > RWF 5M.
- Excise Duty: Levied on select products such as alcohol, tobacco, fuel, and luxury goods.
- Local Taxes & Fees: Includes property tax, trading license tax, and rental income tax.
Tax Compliance & Penalties
- Filing Deadlines:
- Annual income tax due by March 31.
- VAT filing: Monthly for businesses earning > RWF 200M annually, quarterly otherwise.
- Trading license tax due by January 31.
- Penalties:
- Late tax payment: Interest of up to 1.5% per month.
- Non-compliance with EBM: Fines up to 10 times the evaded VAT.
- Tax evasion: Punishable by fines and imprisonment.
Taxpayer Rights
- Right to fair assessment and appeal.
- Option to seek amicable settlement in disputes.
- Representation by a qualified tax professional.
For more details, visit the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA).
Common Mistakes You May Be Making as a Businessowner & How to Avoid Them
Common Mistakes You May Be Making as a Businessowner & How to Avoid Them
Small business owners have great ideas and solutions – after all, that’s probably what led you to launch a business; but sometimes, these ideas lack the proper execution that lead to success. While there may be several reasons a small business is underperforming, here are some common and avoidable mistakes small business owners make, along with tips for overcoming them.
- Not Taking the Time to Plan: Lack of planning leads to the production of lower-quality work. Here, you are trying to do everything at the last minute without clear targets or a path to those targets. Take some time to prepare a detailed business plan, and ensure it brings out what your products or services are, how will you earn income, how you will finance business costs, and many other details critical to its success. Having a business plan will provide you with a road map for your business, identify potential challenges, and outline what resources you will need to run your business. Learn more about how to prepare a business plan by clicking here.
- Trying to Do It All by Yourself: It is helpful to include people in your thought process as you are bringing your idea to life and choosing solutions to challenges that might arise. One mind provides the same range of answers and can keep an entrepreneur from gaining more knowledge that would better support the business. Rely on a team of diverse individuals, depending on the needs of your business for human resources, and delegate tasks according to their expertise.
- Overspending or Underspending: Overspending often leads to the accumulation of debt, and underspending overlooks essential factors that would need to be carried out for business success. These two factors hinder the idea’s viability and can lead to closing a business or never seeing it fully off the ground. Create a budget to project your business expenses and income for a given period, for example, the upcoming year or quarter. Review that budget against actual expenses to understand where you might have overspent or underspent on your business, giving you a solution to the problem.
- Forgetting About Financing: No matter how good an idea is, we need to think about where funds will come from to get that idea up and running and what will be required from us as business owners to access them. A business plan should outline how much start-up capital or financing you’ll need to launch or grow your business. Before approaching funders, make sure your business plan is clear and well-structured and that you have a short pitch prepared addressing why your business is a great investment to make. Seek formal financing wherever possible, such as loans from reputable institutions, government funds, or donor funds, to avoid high or unclear costs, unfair collection practices, and potential safety risks.
- Not Marketing or Advertising: The world learns about what we are doing through marketing and advertising. When your business is not advertised or marketed well, it loses out on potential clients. Depending on your target market, use a marketing channel that guarantees a wider reach and engagement from your target market. With increased digitalization around the globe, consider using online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which are popular in East Africa, to put your business products or services out there. Create a content plan for the week or month to ensure your target market is always informed of new products or services your business is providing. If you have enough capital, consider paid advertising for platforms that are most popular to your target marketing such as Facebook. Ensure you include your business contact information and address in your marketing materials to make it easy for your potential clients to find you.
- Losing Focus: Losing focus is the same as losing the heart of the idea. Most small business owners lose focus when they do not have a proper schedule for their daily, weekly, or monthly tasks for their business. Create a calendar with scheduled tasks, each with a start and end date. Having a calendar with scheduled tasks will help you to balance high-effort and high-priority tasks while tracking your progress against set deadlines for tasks.
For an idea or solution to excel, it needs proper planning and greater emphasis on all the points mentioned above. Putting all of them into practice will add more life to the idea and open more significant opportunities for the solution and its viability.
Are you a Startup leveraging AI to innovate responsibly in the Cybersecurity market? Apply for the Google for Startups Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity Program before December 3 2024.
Are you a Startup leveraging AI and Machine Learning to develop tech solutions? Apply for the Google for Startups Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity Program before December 3 2024.
Google for Startups invites applicants for the AI for Cybersecurity, a three-month equity-free hybrid program that supports growth-stage startups in solving problems using advanced technology, such as artificial intelligence, to grow and innovate responsibly in cybersecurity. The program is designed to provide startups with the essential growth skills, internationalization strategies and Google tools and products to help them scale.
Participating startups will receive the following benefits:
- Mentorship from Google teams
- Access to Google’s network of industry experts
- Strategic support in shaping the startup’s company product and strategy
- Equity free support
Interested startups must meet the following criteria:
- Demonstrate traction, ideally between Seed to Series A stage
- Have a scalable product or service with a significant total addressable market and defensible growth model
- Focused on leveraging AI to address cybersecurity challenges such as prevention, protection, research, and/or threat analysis and sharing.
To apply for the program, visit Applications.
Call for applications for the Anzisha Prize Fellowship program. Apply before 8 November 2024.
Call for applications for the Anzisha Prize Fellowship program. Apply before 8 November 2023.
The Anzisha Prize Fellowship program opened applications for young African entrepreneurs with businesses that have created job opportunities for youth in their communities. Through the program, successful applicants will be equipped with tools and resources to help them run successful businesses.
During the course of three years, the program will track the performance of the business and the entrepreneur. Businesses that demonstrate exceptional growth and initiative will be rewarded with benefits and services such as short courses, cloud services, and cash stipends. At the end of the second year, entrepreneurs will pitch their businesses for a chance to win their share of grand cash prizes valued at over $ 50,000.
The grand prizes are split into four categories:
- Job creation prize
- Revenue growth prize
- Storytelling prize
- Integrating systems and processes prize
The program is open to all young African entrepreneurs who fulfil the following criteria:
- Be between 15 and 22 years old with an ID document or passport to present as evidence.
- Be a national of an African country with a business based in Africa for African customers/beneficiaries
- Have an operational business
- Be a founding member or one of the founding members of the business
To apply, visit: Anzisha Prize Application
Do you have a solution with a significant positive impact on your community? Apply for Young Global Changemakers Recoupling Awards program funding before 31 October 2024.
Do you have a solution with a significant positive impact on your community? Apply for funding from the Young Global Changemakers Recoupling Awards program before 31 October 2024.
The Young Global Changemakers Recoupling Awards, a program that recognizes and supports youth entrepreneurs making a significant impact in their communities, invites applicants for its 2024 Award edition. The program aims to identify, celebrate, and empower young individuals whose projects foster social prosperity, directly support societies impacted by systemic inequities or climate change, and support the power shift towards citizens engaging in the civic space.
Interested applicants can apply to one of the following categories:
- Reimagine Business – To be eligible, your organization must be a viable social enterprise engaged in commercial activities with a positive social or ecological impact, aiming for financial self-sufficiency, and purposefully aligning business strategy with economic prosperity, social well-being, or environmental sustainability.
- Reimagine Social – Your project must align with a values-driven, not-for-profit mission, incorporate an operational strategy focused on social well-being and environmental sustainability, and be involved in one or more social or environmental activities.
- Climate Action Award – To be eligible, your project must follow a values-driven, not-for-profit mission addressing social or environmental concerns, focus on enhancing civic engagement and public participation, and implement a strategy that incorporates social well-being and environmental sustainability.
Applicants who qualify will receive various recognitions based on their respective eligibility criteria:
- All Eligible Applicants: Join the Young Global Changers Extended Circle, where they receive invitations to Global Solutions events, workshops, and more.
- Top 50 Applicants: Become the new members of the Young Global Changers community, with their projects showcased on the Global Solutions Initiative website.
- Top 15 Applicants: Receive a full scholarship to attend the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, including the following benefits:
- Two full days of preparation, workshops, and coaching sessions (May 3-4, 2025).
- Free admission to the Global Solutions Summit 2025 (May 5-6, 2025).
- Opportunity to present their projects to an international jury and a global audience.
- Networking opportunities with leading figures from academia, business, politics, and civil society.
- Fully funded accommodation for the duration of the Summit and Prep-Days (May 2-7, 2025).
- Coverage of travel expenses to and from Berlin.
- Post-summit possibilities for further engagement as part of the global network of Young Global Changers.
- Category Winners: The winner of each category will receive a €2,500 prize and additional support for their project.
For more information and application details, visit 2025 YGC Recoupling Awards
Coaching Masterclass on Pitching and Negotiation Skills
Are you struggling to perfect your pitch while your peers secure investments? Apply for a Coaching Masterclass to scale your Pitching & Negotiation Skills.
The 6-week Coaching Masterclass is designed for entrepreneurs and founders ready to confidently pitch their ideas, negotiate better deals, and secure the funding and opportunities they deserve. The Masterclass will help you transform your communication and negotiation abilities.
Participants will receive the following benefits upon completion of the Masterclass:
- Master the Art of Pitching: Learn how to confidently present your ideas and craft compelling stories that leave a lasting impression on investors.
- Negotiate Better Deals: Acquire effective strategies to close deals successfully and secure favourable terms for scaling your business.
- Overcome Communication Fears: Build resilience and eliminate fears related to public speaking, negotiation, and difficult conversations.
- Access Expert Insights: Receive tailored feedback and industry-specific advice from seasoned professionals, including insights from seasoned expert Tony Inganji.
- Accelerate Your Business Growth: Develop the skills needed to attract investment and expand your business opportunities.
This Masterclass is ideal for:
- Entrepreneurs, Founders, and Public Figures: Ideal for those in leadership or executive roles or anyone looking to enhance their business communication skills.
- Commitment to Growth: Applicants must be willing to fully engage in the program and apply the skills learned to real-world scenarios.
- Desire for Investment and Opportunities: Applicants should have a clear goal of securing investment or improving negotiation outcomes.
For more information and application details, visit our website: www.bit.ly/exclusivepitchclass.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with us at inganjilife@gmail.com or call 0787069490.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to leverage your communication skills to acquire funding for your business idea.
D-Prize Challenge 2025
Are you a start-up with a proven poverty intervention in need of funding? Apply for the D-Prize Challenge before 24 November 2024
D-Prize, a United States-based non-profit organisation, invites applicants for the D-Prize Challenge for social entrepreneurs with innovations to end poverty. Through the Challenge, D-Prize will identify effective interventions to support with seed funding of USD 20,000.
Interested participants should have innovations in at least one of the D-Prize focus areas, which include health, access to clean water, education, agriculture, livelihoods, energy and public services. Additionally, interested participants must fulfil the following to apply:
- Deliver an existing intervention with a need for high-risk capital that cannot be supported by your current revenue or donors
- Be operational for not more than 18 months and have raised no more than USD 30,000 in outside funding
- Application must be submitted in English (it does not have to be perfect, as long as it is enough to understand your idea)
For more information on the Challenge, visit Application Packet
To apply for the Challenge, visit: Application