Torque, an emerging ICT firm dealing in online management for wholesale distributors, is set to represent Rwanda in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Seedstars World Competition after emerging top in a regional startup competition.

 The ICT firm, owned by Jean Niyotwagira, beat 13 other start-ups, to secure a place to compete with other 29 startups from across the world with a chance to receive up to $ 500,000 in equity investment.

The young CEO attributed the feat to hard work and vowed to represent the country well in Geneva.

"We worked hard for this win. The competition was stiff.”

Last year, Rwanda was represented at the same competition by Aphrodice Mutangana, the founder of FOYO, a health solutions firm.

Despite not winning at the international level, Mutangana says after representing the country in Geneva, it gave him an exposure that has helped his firm grow.

"Before being crowned a local winner, many people either misunderstood what FOYO m-health was about or simply ignored it. However, the application has now received exposure both in Rwanda and globally.”

The second place in the competition was claimed by African Renewable Energy, which provided mobile renewable energy solutions, while Rusumo Data, which provides farmers with information needed to optimise their harvest, came third.

The competition, organised by Seedstars World, aims at supporting start-ups and building a network for entrepreneurs was first held last year.

The preliminary competitions were organised in partnership with K-Lab, Rwanda’s tech hub, the Office, a Kigali-based   co-working space, Educat, a development partner in education, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

 Alisee de Tonnac, the chief executive of the international initiative, said that the global competition will be held every year to support upcoming start-ups and provide them a chance to interact with investors and networking opportunities among the entrepreneurs.

"Seedstars World will hold its worldwide competition every year and grow exponentially to all the corners of the world and put all the fast growing startup scenes on the map. Indeed, our goal is to create a network for quality entrepreneurs around the world and help entrepreneurs, accelerators/incubators, co-working spaces and investors to interact with one another,” Tonnac said in a statement. .