Tigo and Reach for Change Award 3 Social Entrepreneurship initiative winners with $75,000 each.

In August this year, Tigo in partnership with Non-profit organization
Reach for Change, launched, for the first time in Rwanda, an initiative  that aims at identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs with  solid ideas on how to improve the lives of children.

After a one -month campaign calling out all Rwandans with innovative  ideas to apply, we received a staggering 1300 applications; 10 strong  applicants made it to the semi-finals, following an extensive filtering  process that involved Tigo & Reach for Change, as well as external  experts. After interviews and reference checks, 6 contestants pitched  their ideas to a panel that faced the extreme hard task of choosing 3  winners.
Corporate Social Responsibility is one of the pillars of our organization  and we are particularly keen on this initiative,  which is part of a global program.

Tigo  Rwanda has attracted strong proposals in a  highly competitive process. A jury including  Radegonde Ndejuru DG First Lady Office  Imbuto Foundation, Zaina Nyiramatama Executive Secretary Child Commission Rwanda, CEO Reach for Change Sara Damber  & myself unanimously decided on the top 3  awardees; these incredible individuals not  only won our hearts but also impressed us  with the soundness and potential of their projects. Theyíll now receive salary funding of $25,000 a year for up to three years in order  to focus and fulfill their objectives,î said Tigo  Rwanda CEO Diego Camberos.

The Tigo Reach for Change new Social  Entrepreneurs for 2012 are Jean Ntazinda, Kayisire Jacques and Sekamana Archimede. The initiatives that they will be implementing focus on providing respectively very  a ordable solar lights for children in rural areas, empowering orphans economically with vocational training  and loans and the use of football as a tool to increase self-esteem and  unity.

The Tigo Reach for Change partnership focuses on identifying and supporting local social entrepreneurs with solid ideas on improving the lives of Rwandan children. The three awardees will now join a three year incubator programme where they get support to transform their  ideas into sustainable ventures.

In addition to this, they will receive  salary funding of USD 25,000 a year for up to three years, as well as
mentoring and professional advice from senior employees of Tigo.
Reach for Change is a non-profit organization established in Sweden  and co-founded by Kinnevik, the founding company of Millicom.

The search for social entrepreneurs first began in Sweden in 2010, followed by Russia in 2011,  before embarking in that same year as a pilot  project for Africa in Ghana. Ghana has recently  reported an improvement in the livelihoods of  over 140,000 children.

Tigo and Reach for Change officially begun  the search for social entrepreneurs across all  Tigo’s African operations in August of this year  with its first launch in Rwanda, followed by  Tanzania, then Congo DRC , Ghana,  Chad and  finally Senegal in the week to come.

About Tigo
Tigo is part of Millicom International Cellular  S.A (MIC) which provides an ordable, widely  accessible and readily available cellular  telephony services to more than 43 million  customers in 13 emerging markets in Africa  and Latin America.

About Reach for Change 
Reach for Change is a non-profi t organization established in Sweden and
co-founded by Kinnevik, the founding company of Millicom. The vision of Reach for Change is to mobilize a global movement of smart, brave and  passionate change agents, building a better world for children. Reach for Change identifi es and supports social entrepreneurs in Europe, Africa and Asia.