Irembo, a Rwandan technology company that is digitising public services, was internationally recognised with the ITU Telecom World Award for the Best Business Model out of 150 participating global small and medium enterprises(SMEs).
Organised by the ITU -the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies- the award is one of the three categories of prizes that the agency gives to SMEs for their most promising solutions and making innovative use of ICTs for social impact. This year’s ITU Telecom World conference was held in Budapest, Hungary.
"Innovation is often understood to have a component of ICT, however, there are many forms of innovation including business model innovation which is what often leads to sustainable innovations. Our work in Rwanda is a testament of our collaborative and fruitful partnership with the Rwandan government to that end. It was great that RISA and RURA were also there to receive the award with us.” - Faith Keza CEO, Irembo
The award recognition comes with the recent launch of the electronic Criminal Clearance Certificate that was added among the fully digitised services on IremboGov enabling people to apply and get certificates directly sent to their emails.
Organised annually by the ITU, this year's Telecom World event was hosted by the Government of Hungary. It brought together an influential audience of key policy-makers, regulators, industry experts, investors, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs and innovators. It provided a unique global platform for connecting developed and emerging markets to explore digital technologies and innovations and their potential to transform lives positively. It aims at among other things: boosting international visibility for innovative ICT products, technologies, and solutions, as well as encouraging high-level debates led by experts on the core issues affecting the ICT sector.
"Irembo is grateful to the vision of ITU of bringing SMEs and innovation-led companies to the forum with giant players in technology. We are very humbled and honored to receive the ITU global award in recognition of our contribution to Rwanda so far as we continue to disrupt the Government to Citizen services in Africa. " Pierre Kayitana - Director of Operations, Irembo
Through IremboGov, Over 8 million Rwandans and foreigners have been able to access public services seamlessly. At the moment, Irembo is also focused on re-engineering its services to improve user experience and get even more services online.