Airtel and UNICEF partner to create "Pitch Night" in Rwanda

Providing young entrepreneurs a platform to present innovative business ideas

15 March 2017
Four Rwandan youth stand together and smile at camera
UNICEF/UN0301478/Houser

KIGALI, Rwanda – Pitch Night is an innovative initiative developed by UNICEF to motivate children and youth below 25 to pitch their ideas for projects on environment, health and education.

The objectives of Pitch Night will be to provide a platform to introduce emerging entrepreneurs to investors, potential clients, media and fellow entrepreneurs. This will also be an opportunity for children and youth to find innovative solutions to problems, with a special focus on education, health and protection issues. In addition to opportunities, the project seeks to provide mentorship to youths dreaming to become ICT investors and innovators, and to give them an opportunity to express themselves.

The theme of Pitch Night is “improving the lives of adolescents and youth in health, education and environment.”

The partnership between UNICEF and Airtel comes to life as Airtel Rwanda has positioned itself as a key player in the ICT innovation arena, where it seeks to develop solutions for issues in health, education and environment, always striving towards the development of Rwanda.

Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Airtel Managing Director Michael Adjei said, “Airtel Rwanda is pleased to be partnering with UNICEF to launch what we call an innovative project, one which will continue to provide solutions for Rwandan adolescents and youths as we move towards achieving the Vision 2020 goals that Rwanda committed to.”

“We are positive that the project we launch today will assist youths to build ideas that will help society, as the country is moving towards using home-grown solutions to tackle the country’s problems,” added Mr. Adjei.

Ted Maly, UNICEF Representative, noted that "Participation is an important component of children's rights. Our partnership with Airtel to launch Pitch Night brings the voices and ideas of Rwanda's youth to the forefront of development discussions."

To participate in Pitch Night, applications will be open from 15 March to 6 April 2017. Shortlisted applicants and their projects will be up on 6 April. The final Pitch Night even will be held in Kigali in early May 2017 in order to showcase the talented participants and their projects.

Participants can send their applications to rwandapitchnight@gmail.com

 

 

Additional resources

 

Curious how the Pitch Night competition turned out? Check out the full video to see who won, who got second place and some of the inspiring words from the guests and judges. 

About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

For more information about UNICEF and its work for children in Rwanda, visit www.unicef.org/rwanda.

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