017: Henri Nyakarundi -- Powering Your Social Impact Business with Multiple Income Streams

Young African Entrepreneur

Today’s guest is Henri Nyakarundi, the CEO of ARED Group. You can connect with him @henrinyakarundi on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram and at his website www.henrinyakarundi.com. Henri grew up in Burundi to Rwandese parents. A self-described indifferent and rebellious student, he was expelled twice from high school. Henri only stumbled upon the world of entrepreneurship after he moved to the US for university. He launched several businesses which all failed before he set up a successful trucking business. But, burnt out from the trucking business and reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, Henri packed his bags and returned to Africa. He moved to Rwanda to test the market for a solar-powered kiosk which would be used for charging phones and became the core product of ARED Group. The kiosk was a hit and has gone through multiple iterations to adapt to it bottom of the pyramid customer base. ARED Group sells multiple services on its kiosks, providing Internet connectivity, collecting data for NGO and corporate partners, in addition to offering its mainstay service of phone charging. Because as Henri stresses in our conversation, when you’re targeting customers with limited disposable income, you need multiple revenue streams. ARED Group has won the Siemens Empowerment Award, Africa Forum 100 Innovation for Sustainable Development Award, and the SEIF Social Entrepreneurship Award. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Henri who is a charismatic thought leader in developing social impact business for bottom of the pyramid customers. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Henri Nyakarundi.