INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM COORDINATOR JOB

Job description for TECHNICAL TERMS OF REFERENCE: RECRUITMENT OF THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM COORDINATOR

Background

The Government of Rwanda, through the Ministry of ICT & Innovation, has developed its first national innovation strategy, the Rwanda Innovation Strategy (FY 24/25 – FY 28-29). This strategy seeks to fulfill a vision for Rwanda as Africa’s nurturing ground for scalable and impactful innovation. It will do this by strengthening competitiveness, improving efficiency in the innovation ecosystem, and optimizing for impact. 

To improve efficiency, the situational analysis revealed systemic redundancy, a lack of collaboration between key actors in the innovation ecosystem, and resource misalignment, hindering the ecosystem’s growth and socio-economic impact in Rwanda. Unifying and fortifying the ecosystem is crucial for progress. The strategy swiftly identifies and addresses vulnerabilities to improve overall efficiency. Examples of outputs designed to improve coordination and collaboration in the ecosystem include an open data hub, annual state of innovation report, development of innovation and investment platforms, and communication of opportunities to innovators.

We are looking for an Ecosystem Coordination Lead to deliver these outputs and others under the Rwandan Innovation Strategy that will lead to a stronger innovation ecosystem in Rwanda.

Job Summary

The Ecosystem Coordination Lead is responsible for a team that will build a central data hub, platforms for entrepreneurs (ie: InnovateRwanda), integrations with other platforms (ie: Startup Central), and ecosystem coordination through the content and community management. 

The vision is for a central data hub on innovation that:

• Reduces reporting burden on entrepreneurs with one venture profile share with multiple stakeholders
• Provides a source of truth on the entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Can be used to prepare regular communications materials about the ecosystem
• Empowers data-driven policy making on the innovation ecosystem
• Links entrepreneurial progress and larger economic indexes
• Serves as the data source for multiple potential use cases including an investor dealroom
• Can build the skills sets to later focus on open data initiatives for innovators

The lead would also guide community and content management resources to ensure the data is used and communicated to recalibrate the innovation ecosystem, including guiding enhancements to innovators communication platforms like Innovate Rwanda.

Responsibilities

• Drawing from the Innovation Strategy, refine and further develop the plan for ecosystem coordination
• Ensure the data for innovation project meets its stated objectives of a central data hub for innovation
• Ideate, co-create, and execute on the development of new platforms for ecosystem coordination (ie: investor dealrooms, funding and opportunity portals, open data APIs, etc)
• Guide the community and content management teams to develop engaging and useful content for innovation ecosystem stakeholders (innovators, investors, academia, etc)
• Engage with donors and other funders on the sustainability of the ecosystem coordination team
• Develop progress reports and presentation on the status of ecosystem coordination for high-level government officials

Qualifications

• Strong understanding on innovation ecosystems
• Demonstrated experience working at or supporting startups in Rwanda
• Experience leading and building teams
• Proficient in project management
• Strong background in data, communications, and content development
• Excellent communication, written and verbal skills
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously
• A creative and results-oriented mindset
• Bachelor’s Degree

Application deadline: All interested applicants must submit their CVs and Motivation Statement to [email protected], mentioning the position in email subject by Sunday, September 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM.

Duration: 1Year

Job Type: Full Time

Job Location: Kigali / Rwanda

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