BPN (Business Professionals Network) is a Swiss non-profit organization founded by the Swiss entrepreneur and Philanthropist Mr. Jürg Opprecht in 1999. BPN is headquarted in Berne, Switzerland.

BPN supports Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) which demonstrate real potential of growth.

Our goal is to create sustainable jobs and to contribute to the country' s economy by generating added value. The key to this development are devoted entrepreneurs, who invest in their companies and develop them. That is BPN’s motivation to focus on entrepreneurs with real potential of growth.

Currently BPN works in Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Mongolia and Georgia.

BPN’s History in Rwanda

In 2008 and in 2010, two official BPN delegations visited Rwanda and gained a very positive picture of where Rwanda is heading to. BPN then decided to contribute to Rwanda's ambitious vision and targets.

BPN strongly believes in the future of Rwanda and launched its program supporting SMEs in Rwanda in October 2011. The Goal of the BPN program is to annually select and support twenty promissing businesses, consequently enabling the creation of new jobs.

The aim to increase value addition by using local resources and the people’s determination to contribute towards this development is clearly perceptible in Rwanda. Committed young people are looking for employment and they are willing to take entrepreneurial risks. A real Business culture and the means to undertake entrepreneurial action are often lacking which makes a systematic transfer of business knowledge a pertinent need.

As a native Rwandese who had been studying and working in Europe the past 25 years, Alice Nkulikiyinka intensely advocated for the foundation of BPN in Rwanda. After 15 years of working for renowned Swiss International companies in Europe, in the US and in Asia, she decided to move back to her home country Rwanda, together with her family. In April 2011, Alice Nkulikiyinka was hired as the BPN Country Director and has held the position since.