**Rwanda Aims to Unify its Startup Ecosystem with Innovate Rwanda** On March 12, Rwanda's Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT) launched Innovate Rwanda, a digital platform designed to connect startups, investors, talent, and ecosystem support organisations across the country. The platform was unveiled on the sidelines of the Innovative Fintech Forum in Kigali, the country's capital. According to Esther Kunda, the director general of the innovation and emerging technologies directorate at MINICT, the platform aims to address the information scarcity problem in Rwanda's young tech ecosystem. Rwanda has over 70 active startups and several incubators and hubs, including Norrsken, but information about these startups and investors has been fragmented due to the ecosystem's immaturity. Kunda stated that entrepreneurs starting an idea often struggle to find the right support for their stage of development, whether it's ideation or scaling, or who is offering the right support or funding. Innovate Rwanda aims to fix this issue by providing a platform where founders can create profiles to showcase their ventures, discover relevant support programs, access funding and partnership opportunities, and connect with ecosystem organisations that can help them grow. The government is also taking steps to support the startup ecosystem through a new public procurement regulation that positions the government as a direct buyer and often the first customer for Rwandan-based companies. This move is expected to provide startups with a stable revenue stream and help them scale their businesses. In an interview, Kunda explained that MINICT wants to fix the fragmentation that holds back the country's startup ecosystem with Innovate Rwanda and why the government would rather let companies test emerging technologies than wait until it has all the rules figured out. The creation of Innovate Rwanda was inspired by the ICT Ministry's goal to enable collaboration and coordination of the innovation ecosystem. Kunda noted that ecosystem support organisations often struggle to provide information about the different programmes they offer, and startups may end up duplicating efforts or becoming over-mentored and over-trained. The platform aims to address these issues by providing a centralised hub where startups can discover relevant support programs, connect with ecosystem organisations, and access funding and partnership opportunities. By unifying the startup ecosystem, Innovate Rwanda hopes to create a more supportive and collaborative environment for entrepreneurs to grow and succeed.