One of the questions upwardly mobile individuals ask when in Kigali hovers around a startup hub. Norrsken House Kigali, founded in Rwanda in 2021, curates and hosts hundreds of companies. Some of these companies have raised significant capital and investments, and others have expanded beyond Rwanda. Norrsken aims to foster impact entrepreneurship through technology, providing networks and learning opportunities within their various houses.
Located on the historic site of Ecole Belge, Norrsken House Kigali is the region’s largest hub for entrepreneurs, featuring repurposed classrooms and a main building. This hub serves as a central place for entrepreneurs to access resources and support.
Norrsken is a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious foundation founded by Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of Klarna. The organisation has award-winning Norrsken House hubs in Stockholm (Sweden), Kigali (Rwanda), and Barcelona (Spain).
Norrsken operates five funds, including Norrsken VC and Norrsken Africa Seed Fund, which have collectively raised over seven hundred and fifty million dollars. These funds support exceptional entrepreneurs who combine profit with positive global impact, aligning with Norrsken’s mission to make a difference in the world.
The Norrsken HouseKigali is the port where the tech community comprising people of various nationalities can be found. A lot of the next set of tech innovations would be rolled out by Africans and Africa-based startups domiciled at the largest startup hub in East Africa; Norrsken.Some transformational stories emanating from Rwanda cannot be fully written or told through oratory;it has to be witnessed. Norrsken Kigali House is one of them.
Abraham Augustine, who is the communications and programmes lead at Norrsken Kigali elaborated more and gave more insights to Dolapo Aina; into the workings Norrsken House Kigali. Do read some excerpts.
What was the vision behind Norrsken being set up in Rwanda?
There was a promising opportunity to build something special in Kigali and expand the Norrsken movement. When all these elements came together, and bearing in mind that Rwanda had an ambitious policy to become a tech hub, it created the right environment. We are also exploring similar opportunities globally. Wherever we find the right homegrown people with the skillsets to execute the vision, we are glad to expand with the right people, resources and enabling environments.
What types of startups has Norrsken Kigali being able to attract under her roof?
What type of startups is Norrsken focused on and how many startups present at the Kigali hub?
All types of startups and entrepreneurs are welcome. We only ask that the focus is on building businesses that have a positive impact on quality of life and the natural environment. Presently, around three hundred tech startups, tech-enabled SMEs, as well as non-tech businesses and consulting outfits call Norrsken House Kigali home.
What are the start-up success stories that have been churned out from Norrsken?
This can be viewed from the global perspective which is Norrsken or from Norrsken House Kigali.From House Kigali, we have a number of notable companies including Huzaa (formerly Pesa Choice), Pindo, Fixa, and Eden Care.
Furthermore, having just completed our building phase with the opening of a new building on the Norrsken campus in Kigali, we are now entering a new phase of curating support for the ecosystem in Kigali and our diverse membership.It is important to note that we are not a programmatic innovation hub, which means that as an innovation hub, we do not focus on running an accelerator or an incubator, rather we bring together all these resources, stakeholders and partners in one space to organically catalyse entrepreneurial activity or activities. In that sense, we have startups as members, but also more established corporates, a few investment firms, management consultants and incubators like Jasiri by Allan &Gray Foundation, and the Healthtech Hub by Norvatis Foundation, as members.
We focus on curating the space, putting together community sharing and learning events like Founders’ Friday, Lunch & Learn, Open Mic Nights, Office Hours, etc. that help these different players interface with each other daily and through the special community spaces and events which we create.
How has the journey been so far? Triumphs, travails and challenges encountered?
It has been very exciting to build this and see the incredible energy from the budding community of impact entrepreneurs that we have been able to create, attract and inspire. Every other month, or week or quarter we get high-level visitors, heads of state, government officials, business executives from all over the world who come to be inspired and learn from our processes and vision.
And we keep seeing an emerging community of entrepreneurs devoted to their craft and to sustainable impact. And this is what is most important. We are not creating an impact-focused innovation hub because we feel like it. It is just one expression of how we are building a movement of entrepreneurs who centre the social impact of their work, not just the profit motive. This is the real goal
Do recall that we are only three years into operation and much of that time, we were actively under construction. The new challenges which are actively being tackled; is how to catalyse tangible entrepreneurial systems and inspire more partners with capital especially to partner with us to deliver targeted support without creating a negative dependency.
As I reiterated, our goal is not to provide training.So, even though we do SME support programmes like Women in Business; our primary goal and core focus is to be a catalyst as a hub of hubs that invites everyone to partner and build a community that wins together.
What makes Norrsken Kigali different from other incubating startup hubs on the African Continent?
As explained in the previous two responses, we have established one major way that we are different; which is that our goal is not to create yet another incubator. It does not mean that we would not if we see a clear need that we can fill, but it means that we focus on being an ecosystem catalyst and a community space for people to come and build, not for us to tell people how to build.So, we welcome incubators and accelerators who wish to host their programmes with us as opposed to going it alone.
The second major difference is that we are part of a global ecosystem. The House (whether it is Norrsken House Kigali, or House Barcelona, or House Stockholm) are just one pillar in the ecosystem. Other independent yet interlinked pillars are Investment funds like Norrsken VC (a European-focused venture investment fund); Norrsken22 (the African-focused growth stage investment fund that we are often confused as); Africa Seed fund (an early stage fund for startups); Norrsken Launcher (a fund that helps researchers commercialise promising technology);and not forgetting Norrsken Accelerator (a global Stockholm-based Accelerator that invests in the best solutions globally including in Africa). There are also initiatives like Norrsken Africa Week, Impact Week, Impact 100, Founders Friday and Norrsken Mind.
Are there collaborations amongst start-ups under the Norrsken umbrella and how is Norrsken fostering such collaborations?
As a catalyst, we are proud to say that a good portion of the startups at the house have been part of incubation cum accelerator programmes run by our members like Jasiri and Healthtech Hub Accelerator. While we do not select for these incubation partners, we are happy to provide the space and community that lets them do what they do best.
Furthermore, our initiatives like the monthly Founders Friday, Lunch and Learn, quarterly member breakfasts, and open mic nights, as well as number of member-hosted events, do create the atmosphere of collaboration. One thing that is important to emphasise is that entrepreneurs are usually self-directed and highly motivated individuals, so we do tend to not disrupt that flow of positive energy by interfering and imposing ourselves. Rather we encourage sharing, bring people together and let them create magic.
What projects are in the pipeline?
We have just expanded our capacity so we are looking forward to welcoming more startups from all over Africa, and especially the East Africa region. We are currently in the second cohort of our Women in Business programme for tech-enabled SMEs which is being run in partnership with support from the Swedish International Development Agency, and we are looking forward to rolling off more partnerships and collaborations in the near future with several respected partners who are interested in supporting the impact entrepreneurship movement and community that we are creating.
So, it is an exciting time to join Norrsken Kigali, as a community member, startup, large corporate looking to host their tech team in a space that actually supports productive work. Or even as a partner who wants to contribute tangible support, especially capital, strategically. Now that we have completed the physical construction phase, we are doubling down on the ecosystem catalyst stage of our mission.
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