A printer, a laptop, and doors to open: A story of the Irembo Agent Network

On a busy street in Musanze town, tucked between small businesses and the steady movement of motorcycles and pedestrians, sits a modest kiosk that most people walk past without a second glance.

Inside, Umurerwa Aline spends most of her day moving between a laptop, a printer, and a growing community of customers.

She has been there long before the kiosk became what it is today.

At first, it was simple work. Printing documents. Scanning papers and helping people send emails or make photocopies. 

Then came IremboGov.

Today, over fifty people pass through her door daily. Some need banking services, others come for mobile money transactions, and many arrive seeking government services, such as marital status certificates, travel documents, and driving permits that once required long trips to district offices and hours away from work.

Aline handles them all.

In her community, she has quietly become the person people go to when they need help getting something done.

But when she speaks about her work, she rarely talks about the number of people she serves or how busy her days have become.

Instead, she remembers a young man who walked into her kiosk one afternoon looking visibly anxious.

He had received a job opportunity and needed a criminal record certificate before the deadline. He did not know how to apply for it online. He was unsure whether it could even be processed quickly enough.

Aline guided him through the process step by step.

A few days later, he returned. This time smiling. He had secured the job.

“To me, the work I do is not just about submitting applications,” she says. “It’s about opening doors for people.”

That quiet sentence captures something that years of digital transformation conversations often struggle to explain. 

Across Rwanda, thousands of similar interactions happen every single day, often unnoticed, rarely documented, yet deeply consequential in the lives of ordinary citizens.

Before the Click

Long before digital government services became part of everyday life in Rwanda, accessing public services could be exhausting.

For many citizens, obtaining a simple document meant waking up before sunrise, boarding buses across districts, standing in long queues, and losing valuable hours of work. A simple certificate could take weeks to secure and endless paperwork.

Government services existed, but for many people, especially in rural communities, they felt distant and difficult to reach.

When Irembo began digitizing government services through IremboGov, the vision was ambitious: make public services simpler, faster, and accessible to every Rwandan through technology. In theory, this was very doable

In theory.

As the platform expanded, one important reality quickly became clear.

Technology alone was not enough.

Not every citizen owned a smartphone. Internet access remained uneven in some communities. Many people were unfamiliar with online applications or lacked confidence using digital systems altogether. Even today, internet usage in rural areas remains below 20% (Nkurunziza, M., 2025), underscoring the continued importance of non-digital support channels in ensuring inclusive access to public services.

Without human support, thousands of citizens risked being left behind by the very transformation designed to include them.

That realization led to one of the most important yet least talked about innovations in Rwanda’s digital transformation journey: the Irembo Agent Network.

Building the Bridge

The network began with a straightforward idea: place trained, trusted individuals within communities to help citizens navigate digital government services. Not call centers. Not help desks. Local people who are present and accountable. 

What began as a small initiative gradually evolved into a nationwide network of community-based service providers. Across Rwanda, Irembo Agents became the bridge between citizens and digital services, helping people navigate applications, upload documents, understand requirements, and confidently access systems that once felt intimidating. 

But the network was doing something else, too.

It was quietly creating economic opportunity.

Unlike traditional employees, many agents operated as independent entrepreneurs. Young graduates, women, and local business owners transformed small shops and service points into gateways for digital services.

Some combined IremboGov services with mobile money businesses, printing shops, photo labs, cyber cafés, banking services, or retail stores. In many communities, these service points became small but important engines of local economic activity.

The network was not only expanding access to government services. It was also creating new forms of participation in Rwanda’s growing digital economy.

Building Trust from the Ground Up

In the early days, one challenge stood above all others: trust.

Many citizens were unfamiliar with online government systems and worried about making mistakes with official applications. Others still preferred face-to-face interactions because digital services felt unfamiliar and impersonal.

Irembo understood that agents needed to become more than system operators sitting behind computers. They needed to become trusted community figures.

Building that trust starts even before an agent serves their first citizen. Prospective agents undergo a vetting process that includes submitting business registration documents, criminal record certificates, and other verification requirements — ensuring that every service point is legitimate and operated by someone the community can rely on.

Training quickly then become the next foundation.

Before serving citizens, every Irembo Agent undergoes structured, hands-on training covering platform navigation, service requirements, customer care, fraud prevention, and citizen data privacy and protection.

Certification follows training, formally recognizing agents as qualified service providers. But the learning does not end there.

As new services and features are introduced, agents continue receiving refresher training, field support, and operational guidance through dedicated Territory Coordinators who work closely with them across the country.

But training is not limited to moments of change or new launches.

Every week, agents gather for refresher sessions to revisit best practices, sharpen their skills, discuss operational challenges, and share experiences from the field. These sessions help ensure that agents remain informed, confident, and equipped to consistently serve citizens, even as the demand for digital service delivery continues to evolve.

Behind every successful transaction is a support system most citizens never see.

The Impact Across Communities

Today, many Rwandans casually say, “There’s an Irembo Agent nearby.”

That convenience is easy to take for granted.

For parents, this meant obtaining school-related documents more quickly. For job seekers, it meant easier access to certificates required for employment opportunities. For business owners, it reduced delays that once slowed important processes.

And for citizens unfamiliar with technology, agents became patient guides through an increasingly digital world.

Today, the network has grown to more than 9,000 agents across Rwanda and continues to expand with a deliberate focus on underserved groups, including women, youth, and persons with disabilities. Irembo’s ambition is to make digital government services even more reachable by ensuring there is an agent within every 100 meters and at least three agents in every cell across the country.

Over time, the network is becoming something larger than a service delivery model.

It is the human infrastructure for digital inclusion.

The Challenge That Tested Public Trust

As the network expanded, new challenges emerged.

A small number of bad actors began exploiting citizens through fraud and overcharging. These incidents threatened not only public confidence in agents but trust in digital service delivery itself.

Internally, the issue was treated as a serious threat to the integrity of the entire ecosystem.

In 2024, Irembo responded by launching the NTUYARENZE Campaign, one of the network’s most important accountability and citizen protection initiatives.

The campaign focused on transparency, professionalism, and public awareness.

Official tariffs were publicly displayed. Agents received visible identification through branded jackets and badges. Citizens were educated about correct pricing and encouraged to report misconduct.

The impact was significant.

Reports of fraud and overcharging dropped sharply, with internal estimates reaching as high as 90%. More importantly, public confidence began to recover. Citizens could now more easily identify legitimate agents and access services with greater trust and clarity.

What appeared externally as a branding campaign was, in reality, part of a much larger effort to protect the integrity of nationwide digital service delivery.

The People Behind the Network

Perhaps the most overlooked part of the story is the people themselves.

Today, the Irembo Agent Network is made up of educated and capable individuals from different walks of life. Approximately 55% of agents hold bachelor’s degrees, while women make up 56% of the network. Around 5% of agents are persons with disabilities, reflecting an intentional commitment to inclusion and equal opportunity.

But behind every statistic is a human story. Like Aline, many quietly became those whom people go to when they need help getting something done.

More Than a Network

Most citizens interact with an Irembo Agent for only a few minutes.

A document is printed. An application is submitted. A payment is completed. Life moves on.

But behind those few minutes is one of Rwanda’s most important stories of digital inclusion.

Agents are found in busy town centres, small roadside kiosks, local shops, and communities where access to services once felt far away. Day after day, they quietly help Rwandans move with confidence in an increasingly digital world.

In many ways, the network represents something larger than service delivery itself.

It reflects a national vision of a Rwanda where public services are inclusive, responsive, transparent, and truly citizen-centered.

As Rwanda continues advancing toward a digital future, the Irembo Agent Network remains one of the country’s quiet success stories. Successful digital transformation is never only about platforms, systems, or technology.

It is about trust. 

It is about access.

And above all, it is about people.

REF:​https://www.newtimes.co.rw/article/27079/news/technology/rwandas-overall-household-internet-usage-reaches-30