University of Rwanda
giih@ur.ac.rw Kigali, Rwanda
12-month incubation

Startup Incubation

Structured 12-month incubation at GIIH for selected ventures — mentorship, technical training, UniPod maker space, seed funding, and a pathway to the acceleration platform.

About Startup Incubation

Startup Incubation at the Grid Innovation and Incubation Hub (GIIH) is a structured 12-month program for ventures that have passed through boot camp selection or demonstrate strong early-stage potential.

Hosted at ACE-ESD within the University of Rwanda, GIIH incubates idea-stage and growth-stage ventures with mentorship, technical training, peer networking, prototyping support, and pathways to seed funding — in partnership with the World Bank, IUCEA, and Sida.

Who it is for

  • Top concepts selected after an innovation boot camp
  • Early-stage founders with a validated business concept ready for structured incubation
  • Teams committed to a 12-month venture-building journey at GIIH

What to expect (12 months)

Incubatees are hosted at the Grid Innovation and Incubation Hub for 12 months before graduation to the acceleration platform. The program combines coaching, workspace, technical skills, and funding readiness support.

Six pillars of incubation

  1. Personal growth and leadership — Vision, resilience, and strategies to overcome social, psychological, and structural obstacles.
  2. Business growth and mentoring — Business model evaluation, organic growth strategies (invest, create, perform), and delivering a unique selling proposition.
  3. Peer networking — Learning from fellow entrepreneurs through presentations and constructive feedback.
  4. Technical training — Marketing, people and productivity, costing, stock control, buying, recordkeeping, governance, and financial planning.
  5. Access to UniPod — Co-working space, computers, prototyping laboratory, and maker space.
  6. Seed funding — Market validation seed funding and business coaching for selected incubatees.

Program outcomes

  • Structured mentorship and business coaching throughout the cohort
  • Prototyping resources and maker-space access via UniPod
  • Support to validate, roll out, and scale solutions with industry and research partners
  • Pathway to GIIH’s acceleration platform after graduation

How to join

Places are offered to ventures selected after boot camp or through direct GIIH intake. To express interest or learn about the next cohort: