Meet Norrsken House Kigali — East Africa’s Largest Hub for Entrepreneurs
This is another piece from a series of articles where I advocate for amazing startups or initiates that stimulate and groom entrepreneurs around the African continent. The first article on this series was about Talent City, in Nigeria and now we’ve come to Rwanda, Kigali to be specific.
You may be wondering — why do I do that? Why spend time and energy familiarising myself with the dynamics of different startup ecosystems in order to publish articles such as this one?
Easy. First, I often do this as I wonder about the different demographics we could expand to one day and the support systems in place. Secondly and equally relevant for me, is my belief that we’re all products of our surroundings.
I’ll use the Goldfish Theory to illustrate this further:
The theory states that the growth of the goldfish is primarily dependent on the size of its tank/ environment. When in a small tank, its growth will be unnoticed. When left in a pond, it grows bigger and if placed in a river, it becomes bigger than we could ever have imagined.
I strongly believe it’s the same with humans. So if your goal is to build an amazing startup — your location may serve as a trap or a catalyst.
If you’re in one of the destinations we operate, surely you’ll find at JABU the perfect environment to maximise your potential and build something immensely relevant. If not, my hope is that one day you stumble into an article like this one and be able to find your river.
Back to the article…
Norrsken House Kigali
A space where people can forge meaningful connections, spur innovation, and grow their businesses to create scalable economic and social development. The hub houses a mix of start-ups, incubators, VCs, accelerators and corporates, forming an ecosystem that enables entrepreneurs to tackle the world’s toughest problems.
Norrsken announced last year that its launch would be done in two distinct phases. The first, which happened already in December 2021 would welcome approximately 250 entrepreneurs and the second aims to house an additional 750 entrepreneurs by the end of this year.
Despite being a geographically small country, Rwanda has a massive potential to become one of Africa’s leading innovation hubs that can’t be ignored. The Kigali House is the first of the 25 hubs Niklas Adalberth, Norrsken’s founder, wants to open over the next decade all with the aim of providing
It’s African presence is also denoted by a seed fund and Norrsken22, a $200 million tech growth fund for African startups.
What you’ll find at the hub
- State of the art meeting, conference and workshop rooms,
- Skype booths & quiet area,
- Event space,
- Team areas,
- Outdoor seating,
- Inspiring interior design and architecture,
- Massive network of like-minded people, of course.
About the Norrsken Foundation
Founded in 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden, Norrsken describes itself as a non-religious, non-partisan, non-profit Foundation with a strong belief in Effective Altruism. This is achieved by providing support and investment to both for-profit and non-profit organisations with a huge potential of impacting the society positively.
Connect with the Hub on Linkedin or subscribe to their newsletter to receive updates first hand. Who knows, they might be opening in your town soon!
