December 2023 Magazine

THE UNDISCOVERED TALENT THAT COMPANIES HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! DECEMBER | ISSUE #7

REMOTE TECH CONNECTING CONTINENTS, INSPIRING FUTURES

2024 IN - FOCUS FREE Interns for Founders!

From Teacher to QA Engineer PAGE 7

The Power of Cross-Border Career Paths PAGE 15

Defining The Next Adventures For Talents PAGE 18

S E G

The DNA of Future-Ready Workforce PAGE 18

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A P +

2023 was a special year at Innov8POD! We had tremendous growth in different aspects as we continue to empower undergrad and graduate talents to secure remote roles and gain the first two years of experience, while also educating employers on how best to optimize the collaborations with the talent.

This year, we launched this magazine to increase the visibility of the talent, and the results have been amazing! The essentials of showcasing the critical skills and competencies that the talents possess has built their credibility and also empowered many employers to consider our new talent pipeline for the very first time.

We are super thrilled for many more milestones that we aim to achieve in 2024.

For now, check out what we accomplished @Innov8POD in 2023!

Happy New Year!

Alida Rwabalinda CHIEF EDITOR

What’s Inside?

02 EDITOR'S NOTE

04 2023 SCORE CARD Accomplishments In Numbers

07 QA ANALYST: CEDRICK BONHEUR From Teacher to QA Engineer

10 AUTOMATED PUBLIC BUS SERVICE IN KIGALI Cohort 4: Team Genius

13 QA ANALYST: DIANE VIOLINE UMUHOZA Solving Problems for Non-Luxury Car Owners

15 AFRICA EXCELLENCE UNLEASHED The Power of Cross-Border Career Paths

16 DIGITALIZED VEHICLE CLAIM PROCESS IN RWANDA Cohort 3: The Solvers

22 WHERE TO STAY Cohort 4: Team Champions

23 THE DNA OF FUTURE-READY TECH TALENT Powering Digital Careers

25 NURTURING OPPORTUNITIES 2024 Strategic Priorities

18 FULL STACK DEVELOPER: PATIENCE IGIRANEZA Solving Public Transportation Problems

19 DEFINING THE NEXT ADVENTURES FOR TALENTS The Value of Partnerships When Starting Out

20 SAFE MEDICAL DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN RWANDA Cohort 3: Tech Geeks

Find a Remote Tech Team talentech.app facebook.com/innov8pod

instagram.com/innov8pod

youtube.com/@Singapore_Girl

linkedin.com/in/alidarwabalinda

Embark on Your Digital Career Journey innov8pod.com/innov8podincubator We welcome your ideas, views and contributions.

Email us at info@alidarwabalinda.com

DECEMBER 2023

2023

SCORE CARD Remote Tech | 4

DECEMBER 2023

IN NUMBERS

350+

170+

Incubator Applications

Community Learners

45+

5

Cohorts Completed

23+

Intern Hires

Learners Graduated

50% Female Interns

3

Partner Schools

95% Africa-based talent

USD $50,000+ Combined Intern Salaries

Remote Tech | 5

DECEMBER 2023

COHORTS 3 & 4

Graduates

Remote Tech | 6

DECEMBER 2023

CEDRICK Bonheur Position: QA Analyst

What did you learn in the Career Readiness Incubator?

During the incubator, I learned how to manage software projects following the agile way of working. I also learned how to collaborate remotely using tools such as Slack, Notion and Miro.

The structured format of the incubator allowed my team to apply product management concepts to build a digital product.

All of this was very new to me but I had weekly review sessions with the product coach who provided actionable feedback.

What advice will you give to people who want to pursue a career in Tech?

If you want to start in tech, you want to be able to show your skills by building your product portfolio.

The best way to do this is to join an upskilling program @ Innov8POD, because in the university or school we have learned all the knowledge but we didn’t apply it in the real world.

P A P H E N T ED A H HAPPE T A WH

NED

IN COHOR? T

I N C OH O R T 4

Remote Tech | 7

DECEMBER 2023 What is your background and specialization?

I graduated with the Bachelor Degree in Computer Science. Before I joined Innov8POD, I worked as a teacher and then I transferred and worked as a data entry analyst at a microfinance company.

How will you apply the learnings you had with Innov8POD to your current work or position?

The practical knowledge that I have acquired in the incubator introduced me to the role of QA engineer, which is a perfect fit for me. It is a challenging role for me, which is very detailed oriented but I am looking forward to learning more.

CEDRICK Bonheur Position: QA Analyst

P A PENE H T A D WH 4 I T N P A PENE H R O C H O T A D ?

WH 4 I N C OH O R T Remote Tech | 8

DECEMBER 2023

Demo Day Presentation

Remote Tech | 9

DECEMBER 2023

Genius Tech Team

Product Designer:

Web Developer: Rene SONGA

Miriam NTACYONAYIGURIYE

Full Stack Developer: Patience IGIRANEZA

Product Lead: Vanessa NIYOMUBYEYI

QA Lead: Cedrick BONHEUR

Go App Automating public bus transportation in Rwanda Remote Tech | 10

DECEMBER 2023

The Problem In recent years, Rwanda has emerged as one of fastest growing countries in technology. However, there are still existing issues in transportation, as passengers waste time while waiting for buses.

This becomes so difficult for the Government of Rwanda and RURA. In addition, transportation companies find it difficult because they don't have an easy way to monitor passengers queues and buses.

The Solution The solution is to develop a revolutionary system for automatically assigning buses to routes based on passenger queues and implementing real-time GPS-based bus tracking to provide information to passengers and operation managers like Emma.

Go system features

System Diagram

Real-time bus tracking Buses are assigned to routes automatically according to passengers’ queue Estimated bus arrival times at bus stop Route status (Event, closed, high traffic, etc.. ) Customer support integration Automatic reporting

Prototype

Go App Remote Tech | 11

DECEMBER 2023

Continuous Upskilling

Is A Learning Journey

Remote Tech | 12

DECEMBER 2023

Scan to learn about my experience!

What is your background and specialization?

I am a graduate of Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science with option of Industrial IT At INES-Ruhengeri. I have a 6 months of experience in Data Entry at Horizon SOPYRWA and teaching.

How will you apply the learnings you had with Innov8Pod to your current work or position?

The knowledge I gained from Innov8POD can be applied to my current job through working together as team when I will be at home by making surely I communicate with my teammate and I have to be on time while working on remote.

What Did You Learn in Innov8pod?

When I joined INNOV8POD Incubator program I have acquired a lot of things: Leadership skills, Time management, team work above all I have learned how to use new collaboration tools like Slack, Notion, Agile, Zoom, and Miro.

What Advice Will You Give to People who Want to Pursue their Career in Tech?

To those who want to pursue their career in Tech, I advice them to join Innov8POD so that you can evaluate the different roles and determine which one that best matches with your skills. I am thrilled and honored to have had this opportunity and contributing to its continued success. Thank you so much for our best coach Alida and whole team I really appreciate for having me.

Diane Violine Umuhoza QA Lead Remote Tech | 13

DECEMBER 2023

Africa Excellence UNLEASHED

Remote Tech | 14

DECEMBER 2023

The Power of Cross-Border Career Path Tech product management (PM) is essential for companies building in the digital economy. Yet confusion remains about PM career paths, which frustrates talents especially those who are starting out.

On top of that, there are lots of talents who posses the critical skills or have the ambition to upskill, but don’t know where to begin because of this career path is not defined in the industry or country in which they live in. .

Here are 5 reasons why cross-border work experience is a crucial skill in 2024 and beyond: 1. Builds Credibility: A talent who sits in Rwanda and works on a tech project for a Singapore-based company, for example, gets to learn the ropes and adapt to the complex and high pressure context of the PM career path.

2. Learns Problem-Solving: PM essentially teaches smart work. It encourages understanding a problem, validating and implementing a solution.

3. Keeps You Competitive: Working in a distributed team across different timezones sparks creativity on how to get things done and be more intuitive 4. Opens doors to global roles: Understanding how things work differently across different countries makes you relevant and opens up opportunities at multi national companies 5. Empowers team members: Understanding the dynamics of working in different markets, with different ways of working, allows you to set realistic goals and empathize with challenges that team members face.

Remote Tech | 15

DECEMBER 2023

Team Name: The Solver

Central Claim Network The Problem

Leoncie Uwingeneye Product Designer

How might a car owner of a non-luxury car in Rwanda, find a garage to fix Her/His car and get reimbursed on time?

The Solution Central claim network connects car owners with garages and insurance companies

Violine Diane Umuhoza QA Lead

Feature Prioritization Car owner , insurance company and garage Login Car owner claim Submission Car owner can track claim document Insurance company can review and preapproval car owner claim Garage submit an invoice for car repairs to insurance Insurance company is able to approve the garage invoice: through the system

Libert Gihoza Front End Developer

Christian Munezero Back End Developer

Clementine Uwase Product Lead

Remote Tech | 16

DECEMBER 2023

Nurturing Opportunities Remote Tech | 17

DECEMBER 2023 What learnings did you acquire in the incubator program and how did you apply it to your current job?

I learned a lot from the incubator program, including how to analyze a project, gather information in research, identify user pain points, journey mapping, create a system diagram and more. This is helping me to deliver a better software product reflecting the users’ needs.

My experience in the incubator

What advice will you give to people who want to pursue their career in tech?

I can advise them to keep forward, working harder and keep learning. I would like also to advise them to join Innov8POD to acquire new skills.

What were the problems you were trying to solve?

My group and I were trying to solve the issues related to public transportation, where it is difficult to monitor the buses and passengers at the bus stop which leads to long passenger queues.

Can you tell me about the problem validation and Journey mapping?

The result of the survey revealed that passengers waste a lot of time waiting for buses because the transport companies have difficulty resolving this because they don’t have real data access to the passenger queue at bus stops.

Scan to learn about my experience!

Patience Igiraneza Full Stack Software Developer

Remote Tech | 18

DECEMBER 2023

FORGING ALLIANCES: BUILDING THE NEXT ADVENTURES FOR TALENT THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS Partnerships between companies, educational institutions, and government bodies are becoming instrumental in creating employability for the young workforce.

One of the key learnings in 2023 is the benefit of leveraging established brands to bridge skill gaps and cultivate talent that is global ready.

We started with private universities and multinational companies. This approach challenged our business model while we tried to find the optimal ways to (1) find projects for the talents and (2) match the talents to the right projects.

This approach provided us with sponsorships necessary to operate the upskilling program with a study-now, pay-later option.

We continue to think deeply on the types of partnerships we forge, so that we can provide the best options for the talents. It is important that the typical roadblocks to starting a career in tech are addressed upfront, and level the playing field for the talents that already have a lot of barriers to overcome.

Remote Tech | 19

DECEMBER 2023

Safe Medical Data Management System (MDMS)

The Problem How might chronic disease patients receive treatment from private hospitals that have one source of their medical history?

How might private hospital medical professionals treat chronic diseases and effectively track patient medical records?

Mariam Umutesi Front End Developer

Yves Muhoza Back End Developer

Yollanda Umutoni Product Designer

The Solution

MVP Solution - Medical Professional MVP Solution - Chronic Patients Bienfait Mwumvaneza QA Lead

Happy Hora Product Lead

Feature Prioritization System features (patients) Patient registration: Form to collect and entry data in system Data security and privacy Patient dashboard Data security and privacy Patient dashboard Alerts and Notification Search functionality

Team Name: Tech Geeks System features (Doctors) Doctor registration: upload/update and organize details of Patients Search functionality Secure Communication and Collaboration upload/update and organize details of Patients Integrate with external systems such as laboratory information systems, radiology imaging systems Data backup and Disaster recovery (Administrator)

Remote Tech | 20

DECEMBER 2023

I feel honored to have been selected as one of the new participants in the Inn8vPOD. The program lasted for 8 weeks and was conducted online. We effectively utilized various digital tools such as Miro, Slack, and Jira to facilitate daily communication and timely project delivery.

Yollanda Umutoni Product Designer

I learned a lot from the Incubator program, including how to analyze a project, gather information in research, identify user pain points, journey mapping, create a system diagram and more

Patience Igiraneza Full-Stack Developer

I have acquired a lot of things: Leadership skills, Time management, team work above all I have learned how to use new tools of ICT like Slack where we can chat and communicate with each other, notion, a gire, zoom, google meeting and Mirror where we can have access and do our task at the same time with different users.

Diane Violine Umuhoza QA Lead

The opportunity to join Innov8POD Incubator was truly incredible for me. We learnt all about product development, agile ceremonies, product design, system process flow mapping, product road mapping.

Most importantly, I created a viable user friendly product.

Bienfait Mwumvaneza QA Lead

Remote Tech | 21

DECEMBER 2023

Where to Stay Find Your Dream Rental

The Problem How can university students be able to find reliable student housing before starting college, to save time in the search process to save time and enabling better budget preparation?

Olga Uwiringiyimana Product Lead

Pacifique Niyonkuru Web Developer

Pray Eddy Shimwa QA Lead

Yvonne Uwase Product Designer

The Solution Team Name: Champions

Feature Prioritization Personal info Terms of agreement Housing types Duration Cost Search Contact Landlord

Detailed property page with high-quality images and comprehensive description Grid or list view of housing listings with clear images and basic details Dashboard with easy access to property listings and tenant inquiries cards with images, details agree or not agree button status: available, suspended, not available or rented edit, update, or deactivate listings as needed create listing

Remote Tech | 22

DECEMBER 2023

The DNA of Future-Ready Tech Talent Africa's burgeoning tech landscape is fueled by a unique blend of cultural richness, digital prowess, and entrepreneurial spirit. For aspiring tech talents and visionary startup owners/businessmen, understanding the DNA of Africa's future-ready workforce is the key to success.

Digital Prowess of the Youth: Africa's tech-savvy Millennials and Gen Z are propelling the continent into a digital era. Their innate affinity for technology positions them as indispensable assets for anyone aiming to navigate the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Entrepreneurial Drive: The surge in entrepreneurial ventures across Africa showcases a workforce with a knack for innovation. For startup owners and businessmen, tapping into this entrepreneurial drive is a strategic move to infuse fresh ideas and agility into their ventures.

Sustainable Tech Mindset: Africa's tech talents are embracing sustainability. For businessmen seeking tech talent, aligning with this sustainable mindset ensures a responsible and forward-thinking workforce, essential for the success of any venture in today's global market.

Resilience in Tech Innovation: The resilience ingrained in Africa's history extends to its tech workforce. Aspiring tech talents and businessmen alike can rely on this resilience, ensuring the ability to navigate challenges and contribute to the dynamic and competitive tech industry.

Remote Tech | 23

DECEMBER 2023

Top Priorities for 2024

In-Focus Remote Tech | 24

DECEMBER 2023

In - Focus Innov8POD charts an ambitious course for 2024, focusing on two key priorities to create employability for graduate and undergraduate talents.

1. Digitalizing Talents, Schools, and Employers Building on successful engagements with over 400 talents, 5 schools and employers, Innov8POD's core mission for 2024 is to digitize this growing ecosystem so that the engagements can be self-service. This initiative, beginning in East Africa and expanding to the US and Asia, aims to create new talent pipelines for startups, small businesses and large companies.

2. Strategic Partnerships for Scaling Vision Innov8POD identifies three strategic partner groups crucial to its mission of facilitating opportunities for 100 talents by Q1 2024: Collaborating with other upskilling providers to equip talents with AI, Web3, Cloud computing and other in-demand skills.

Identifying co-working facilities for reliable work arrangements for Africa-based talents.

Adding graduate talents to the network for broader talent pool Innov8POD's 2024 roadmap underscores a commitment to bridging the gap between talent and companies, and facilitating opportunities to gain the first two years of work experience.

Remote Tech | 25

DECEMBER 2023

A New Dawn Has Come

Remote Tech | 26

DECEMBER 2023

PROMO:

www.talentech.app

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DECEMBER 2023

PR O M O :

T E CH T A LEN T D EM A N D F O R IN D O N ES IA S M ES Indonesia has witnessed phenomenal growth in recent years, leading to an exponential increase in demand for tech talent. As the industry continues to thrive, there is an unprecedented demand for automating and digitalizing small businesses Join the next incubator cohort and start working with companies in Indonesia!

Remote Tech | 28

DECEMBER 2023

@SINGAPORE_GIRL C u r io u s a b o u t li f e in S in g a p o r e , w o r k in g r e m o te ly a n d li v in g a b road?

C h e c k o u t th e la te s t v id e o s before you p ack your bag s

Remote Tech | 29

DECEMBER 2023

GO GETTER

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