Yvette Ishimwe, TEF Alumna Recognised as Innovative African Business Leader
Founder and CEO, IRIBA Water Group, and 2016 TEF Alumna, Yvette Ishimwe, has been announced as one of the finalists at an international award targeted at Innovative African business leader
What had initially started as an experiment with treating nearby lake water with an ultraviolet water purifier at the age of nineteen, has since grown to become a company that delivers cans of clean water by bicycle to hundreds of families in her community with a rapidly growing customer base.
Her business was borne when Yvette came face-to-face with the challenge of accessing clean water for home use when her family had just relocated from Kigali to Kayonza District.
Following her recognition as a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, she was bestowed with a Young Leaders Award in 2017 for her commendable efforts in providing innovative solutions for household water shortage in Rwanda.
Very recently, Yvette was announced as one of ten entrepreneurs – half of whom are female –selected from over 12,000 applicants across all 54 African nations and passed multiple stages of judging and evaluation.
In her home country Rwanda, only 57% of the entire population have access to safe drinking water within 30 minutes of their location. Her organization Iriba Water Group, offers water treatment systems to institutions and individuals to help them access safe drinking water.