Nat Hollands
A long valley road winding through green hills in South Kivu, seen from a high ridge.

Nat
Hollands

I bring people together to make projects happen.

DRC365 no. 84, the escarpment, South Kivu, March 2016 Entrepreneur, operator, leadership coach

I'm an entrepreneur, an operator and a leadership coach. For over 15 years I have led teams and built businesses in fragile contexts and emerging markets, from Haiti to Rwanda. I love working with entrepreneurs and helping their businesses thrive.

I have worked across a lot of industries: emergency response, water, energy, transport, food, hospitality and now AI. The common thread is people. I find the right ones, get them around the same table and help them get the thing done.

It is less about selling and more about sharing. I would rather build something with you, show you how it works and watch you run with it. I'm also a father and a husband, a musician and a bit of a geek, living in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

How I work with people

  1. Leadership coaching

    I work one on one with founders, owners and the people who lead their teams. We look at your plan, what is eating your time and what would move the business forward. Then we fix the first thing.

    For entrepreneurs and leaders

  2. Building with AI

    Simple tools and automation that fit how you already work: bookings, inboxes, reports, the jobs nobody has time for. I build a few with you, then train you and your team to run them yourselves.

    For owners who want their time back

  3. Bringing in the team

    When a project grows past one person, I bring in my partners at Both Hands. We each have our own skills. Mine is AI integration and building the tools.

    For larger projects

Ventures

Businesses and organisations I have started or owned.

2026 to now

Both Hands

Co-founder

An AI studio. We design and build AI systems for organisations and train their teams to run the work themselves.

2020 to 2026

Kinvest Impact Foundation

Co-founder and Executive Director

Market innovations in rural Rwanda: solar-powered market hubs, electric transport for farm produce and leadership development. Later, AI tools and training across the group.

2016 to 2021

Calafia Cafe

Co-owner and Managing Director, Gisenyi, Rwanda

A cafe in Gisenyi, on Lake Kivu. I ran operations and growth and built the systems to track how the business was doing.

2017 to 2019

Moto Energy Solutions

Founder and CEO, Rwanda

Bringing together the right people and know-how for companies innovating in East Africa, using local design and talent to build products for the local market.

2019 to 2021

Fixr

Founding partner, eastern DRC

Crisis management, consulting and market insight for organisations working in eastern Congo.

A person carrying a load across a long, broken wooden bridge into the forest.
DRC365 no. 93. The third bridge. After 7 days of travel you reach this bridge, too weak to carry vehicles. The only crossing into Pangi.

The road so far

  1. 2009

    A classroom in Magog. High school teacher, close to 300 students over two campuses. I wrote my own course.

  2. 2010

    Haiti, after the earthquake. I went for two months with an emergency team, then came back for two years of rebuilding. On my first day I started posting one picture a day.

  3. 2013

    Chad, the Philippines, the Central African Republic. Emergency response. Setting up bases, teams and supply lines from nothing, fast.

  4. 2014

    Eastern Congo. Over two years coordinating a clean water programme across a consortium of agencies. One picture a day for all of 2016.

  5. 2016

    Rwanda. From aid to business: a cafe, an energy company, a corporate turnaround, then a foundation building markets with farmers.

  6. Now

    Eastern Townships, Quebec. Working with entrepreneurs, building with AI and bringing people together around good projects.

A man digging beside a raised four-by-four as the car is backed over an old wheel hub to lift it.

Make do and mend.

On my return journey the car had a flat tyre. The jack was broken so we had to find another way. The villagers were only too happy to help. Backing the truck over an old wheel hub gave us enough lift to change the tyre.

DRC365 no. 127, Friday fix, May 2016

Track record

Projects I have led or helped make happen. Open any line for the detail.

One picture a day

In 2016 I posted a picture from eastern Congo every day. These are a few frames from that year, with the words I wrote at the time. Pick one.

No. 354

Project well done

Music

I write songs and play guitar and bass. I come from a musical family. Every album from both bands is in one Spotify playlist.

Bonaventure

Album, 2012

A rock band. A self-titled album released on 12/12/12, and the EP Lost in a Crowd.

Spotify Apple Music

Maybe Gray

With Jimmy

Songs I write and record with my friend Jimmy. A third album, Novembre, is in the works.

Spotify SoundCloud