Jovani Ntabgoba brings Data and Start-Up Expertise to N-Frnds Rwanda Team

Earlier this year, Jovani Ntabgoba joined the N-Frnds Rwanda team as the Director of Business Development and Marketing.

Along with building partnerships with the government, public sector partners and large enterprises, Jovani manages a range of programs that use N-Frnds’ platform to drive and deliver solutions such as mAgri, supply chain automation and financial inclusion.

Jovani manages N-Frnds’ Youth Entrepreneurs Program (YEF), giving young people practical hands-on experience in driving technology adoption with rural customers, agribusinesses and farmers. This program is funded by the Private Sector Driven Agricultural Growth (PSDAG) program, implemented by RTI International and funded by USAID. He is also the country lead on a new Irish potato value chain financing project in partnership with SPARK and funded through Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR).

Jovani is a native Rwandan entrepreneur with experience working as a data scientist, telecom engineer and as the former General Manager of kLab, helping IT startups raise funding. Most recently, Jovani worked as the Machine Learning Researcher at Future Architect Inc. in Tokyo. He helped bring IT solutions to financial institutions and retail businesses.

“I’m excited to join the N-Frnds Rwanda team. The N-Frnds platform helps Rwanda achieve its economic and development goals by digitizing value chains, providing e-Government solutions and ensuring that all Rwandans have access to information and financial services through their existing mobile phones,” said Jovani.

Jovani holds a Master’s Degree in Project Design from Miyagi University in Japan and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Rwanda (KIST).

Jovani is also very active in the Rwandan community. Before moving to Japan, he served as a committee member of the Noza Serivisi (a Rwandan government task force to improve service delivery), Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture’s ICT4Ag, AfriLabs, and the Rwanda Government Nanotech Center of Excellence.

Now that he’s back home, Jovani looks forward to getting involved in the community again.