Lauren Nkuranga

Lauren Nkuranga is an advisor and expert business, investment, and development in Africa. Lauren works with governments, companies, funds, and entrepreneurs to build ethical businesses and increase investment to accelerate growth and development in Africa.

Lauren serves on a variety of boards, including as the Board President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Rwanda, founding the AmCham’s Rwanda chapter in 2019; and on the board of Rwanda Innovation Fund, the Government of Rwanda’s investment vehicle to support Rwandan and African startups.

Lauren serves as Vice Chairman of the Board at Rwanda Farmers’ Coffee Company, known by its brand name, Gorilla’s Coffee, the largest coffee roaster in Rwanda.

Lauren is the founder of GET IT, Rwanda’s largest fresh food distribution company, serving the country’s major hotels, restaurants, and national airline. Lauren continues to serve as a board director with GET IT.

Lauren has served as the Chief Advisor to the Chairman & the CEO at the Rwanda Development Board, the Rwandan government’s main body that oversees private sector development. In this role, she focused on privatization, attracting investment into priority projects, and leading RDB’s governance. Before her time in Rwanda, Lauren worked for Nike, Inc., including 2 years in Rwanda with the Nike project Girl Effect.

Prior to working at Nike, Lauren worked in strategic communications, with clients including Intel and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Previous to communications, Lauren worked as an advisor on impact investing, as well

as working as user interface and design consultant.

The Rwanda Development Board named Lauren Women Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. Lauren has a B.A. Political Science and Anthropology with distinction from Yale University and an M.Sc. in Global Finance, jointly conferred by NYU Stern School of Business and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.