The need to bring smart city solutions to residents of Kigali has driven the Rwandan startup Inuma Technology to build a portfolio of solutions designed to bring the concept of the smart city to Kigali’s residents. Inuma which was founded in 2017 has eschewed the usual startup practice of focusing on, and becoming a leader in, one vertical, and instead developed a host of products with a common goal – of providing smart and “radically helpful” solutions to Rwandans.
Its portfolio focuses on smart city solutions, and includes Inumastore, a drop-shipping service linking Amazon.com with Kigali; Inuma Smart House, which is creating Connected Homes with a smart assistant; Inuma GPS, fleet services, asset management, and wildlife tracking solution; and Inuma Cybersecurity, an offensive cybersecurity programme. It is even developing self-driving cars, which it will begin piloting in Kigali this year.
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Albert Niyibizi, head of sales and marketing at Inuma said that “all of these are built from the ground-up without any third-party inputs,” Initial uptake of some of these solutions has been quite impressive. Inumastore, for example, has already made around 300 deliveries, with a customer satisfaction of 4.7 out of five on Google, and Niyibizi said other products are also seeing strong growth.
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“The first and only gap we saw was just the inability to build our own systems. Many systems used by hospitals or financial institutions are built by foreign engineers at a pharaonic price, and their daily maintenance is another story,” Niyibizi said. By developing solutions locally, Inuma is looking to overcome this challenge. Self-funded thus far, the startup plans to take on venture capital this year in order to grow.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry