Clarisse Iribagiza (born 28 January 1988) is a computer scientist in Rwanda. She is the CEO and co-founder of the mobile technology company HeHe Limited and she is one of the

UNCTAD The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...

's seven "eTrade for Women Advocates from the developing world". She was previously the winner of the East African entrepreneur reality TV show '' Inspire Africa'' Season 1.

Biography

Iribagiza attended the

University of Rwanda University of Rwanda is a public collegiate, multi campus university based in Kigali, Rwanda. Formed in 2013 through the merger of previously independent education institutions, the University of Rwanda is the largest education institution in R ...

’s College of Science and Technology and she attended a short

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) incubation program. She founded her company whilst still an under graduate. Her company has grown to have two million customers. The company works with local suppliers and they get access to an on-line store for their goods, inventory maintenance and they receive digital payments from their end customers. HeHe Labs has partnered with GirlHub in an initiative that aims to inspire ambition in Rwandan girls. They teach them about not just ICT, but technology and design in general and in critical thinking. Iribagiza was one of the "20 movers and shakers of Africa" named at the continent CEO Summit in 2012 and the following year Jeannette Kagame, the First Lady of Rwanda recognised her as one of the Imbuto Foundation's "Celebrating Young Rwandan Achievers". In 2017 she was named as one of OkayAfrica's 100 Women. Irabagiza sits on the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

's Presidential Youth Advisory Group. L to R Claudia de Heredia Helianti Hilman Nina Angelovska Patricia Zoundi Yao and Xiaofei Yao

On 24 September 2019 the

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...

announced seven "eTrade for Women Advocates" from the developing world. Irabagiza was named and the others were

Nina Angelovska Nina Angelovska (born 13 July 1988 in Skopje) is a Macedonian politician and the former Minister of Finance in North Macedonia. She is also an entrepreneur, UNCTAD eTrade for Women Advocate and president of the Macedonian E-commerce Associatio ...

, Nazanin Daneshvar, Xiaofei Yao, Patricia Zoundi Yao, Claudia de Heredia and Helianti Hilman. It was announced on the periphery of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

in New York but Irabagiza was one of two who did not attend the award ceremony.

Other awards

* Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30 for 2015 * An Italian think tank, LSDP (Lo Spazio della Politica) named Iribagiz among their top 100 global thinkers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iribagiza, Clarisse Living people Rwandan businesspeople 1988 births Rwandan women Computer scientists