In 1995, Marie Grace Iradukunda’s parents returned to Rwanda from DR Congo, though most of her extended family members stayed there, while others lived in Uganda.
Born later in 1998, Iradukunda found it hard meeting and interacting with her family because of their different backgrounds. And as she grew up, she found it challenging to connect with them.
This, she says, left her stranded in her quest to know more about her family’s background, and also made her feel detached from her family and culture as well.
"I found it really hard to connect with their culture and history which made me feel detached from my family, origin, culture and lost heritage,” narrates Iradukunda.
As time went on, Iradukunda realised that the problem was not unique to her. In Africa, she realised, either one was trying to connect with someone else from a different culture or explore new traditions and places but didn’t know how.
This, according to her, led to a lack of genuine connection among people and places in Africa and dissuaded different populations from exploring African cultures and places.
"On the other hand,” she continued, "We lack African representation in the gaming industry which was influenced by western culture and lack of African historical and cultural documentation.”
Iradukunda says those factors fuelled her valour to find a solution to the issue. She then decided to start a company called "Huuza” which means "Connect” with an aim of generating genuine connections among people and places by creating African historical and cultural-inspired interactive games.
She says she was cognisant that games provide a concise way for people to learn while also having fun.
Iradukunda started developing card games in April this year while undergoing the JASIRI Talent Investor, an entrepreneurship development program that selects, develops and invests in aspiring entrepreneurs.
While there, she says she met ‘brilliant minds’ like Joshua Yuhi Kamugisha and Alfred Mambo Wanjau, who believed in her vision and decided to join her team.
The program then helped them to fully develop and implement the idea.
"Our games are in two categories, that is, conservation and culture,” explains Iradukunda. "On the conservation side, we have a battle collection which covers different types of animals, trees and other environmental aspects. On the side of culture, we have a glimpse collection which covers different aspects in culture and helps people to learn more about their culture, and immerse themselves into them.”
Some of their card games include "Battle of Animals” and "Glimpse it.”
Both games, according to Iradukunda, mainly help people to genuinely connect with each other, places they are visiting and build deep connection and understanding of their culture.
"For instance,” she said, "when creating ‘Battle of Animals,’ I wanted to help people to connect with animals. The cards contain fun facts about animals, where they can be found – something that triggers a player to explore more about them.”
With ‘Glimpse It,’ Iradukunda said the game helps a player to immerse themselves in the Rwandan culture by getting to know more about Rwanda’s traditional fashion, utensils and music instruments while also having fun.
"At Huuza,” she added, "We create content and see where it can fit in the games approach we need. After that, we design it depending on the message we want to convey and then go ahead and print the cards.”
Iradukunda asserted that people are realising that ‘Glimpse it’ is helping them to learn and connect with their friends, family members and loved ones, declaring that it is fun seeing the games one can relate to in terms of culture.
Currently, Huuza is operating in both Rwanda and Kenya, helping people to know and embrace their own cultures through games. Their games can be found in different bookshops and gift shops across the countries.
Iradukunda revealed that the company is also designing other types of games and working on their online versions to cater for smartphone users.