The election on Friday afternoon by the Private Sector Federation (PSF) assembly for a new chairman and two deputies was between Benjamin Gasamagera and no one.

Members seemed to suggest that being leader of the private sector is a job only a few of them could really do; two out of the three positions up for grabs were won easily by unopposed candidates.

As was widely expected, Gasamagera, proprietor of Safari Center, was unchallenged to attain his first full three-year term during which he’ll mainly continue to battle the same old challenges currently bedeviling the country’s private sector.

By 3pm, staff members of the Private sector Federation secretariat, the organisers of the election, were still registering participants to raise a quorum for an event that should have started an hour earlier.

The voting assembly of 115 delegates had by 6:00pm finished choosing their chairman and two deputies who included Mugabo Claver, a Bugesera-based businessman who was elected in absentia, also unopposed, into the position of first vice chairman.

Earlier in the electoral process, the presiding officer, an official from the national electoral commission, had warned the assembly and potential candidates that the rules prohibited fighting and any form of violence in the heat of competition.

It’s a regulation he needn’t have bothered to stress on a night that generally lacked competition and members were bracing for the final unopposed victor when two ladies decided to vie for the position of the second vice chairperson in the process heating up the Serena hotel ballroom.

First, a gentleman stood and nominated a lady from Northern Province for the position and like other nominees before her; she might have thought victory was hers only for Scorpio Ramazani Khoury, founder and CEO of Made in Kigali to declare her candidature, sending the ballroom into uproar.

Competition, after all is a good thing and it was easy to see why as supporters of both ladies drew the battle lines.

A foreigner who doesn’t speak Kinyarwanda, Ramazani’s rival, a lady named Opportune’ thought those weaknesses would provide her an opportunity to steal victory but after the last ballot was tallied, the numbers were in favor of the Fashion Guru whose company Made in Kigali is already a household name.

Ramazani was elected second vice-chairperson of the assembly with 74 votes.

New term, old problems

Gasamagera will relish his Friday victory which was backed by 107 votes out of a possible 115 because it’s going to be his first full three-year term having come in as a replacement in July 2013 after the resignation of Faustin Mbundu.

Both Rwanda’s Vision 2020 and EDPRS II call for a private sector led economy and Gasamagera’s new term which ends in 2017 is expected to have helped steer the country closer to that goal.

According to the 2013 PSF sponsored Business Investment Climate Survey (BICS), hardships in accessing finance, unreliable electricity supplies, tax administration woes and limited skilled labor top the main challenges.

But in his acceptance speech on Friday, Gasamagera said while he faces major challenges, there were also plenty of opportunities to exploit.

"Rwanda’s private sector has come of age and while we are not yet where we want to be, we are proud of what we have so far achieved,” said Gasamagera.

He told the assembly that his new term in office will focus on strengthening associations and improve the professionalism and capacity among members. Strengthening the private-public partnerships (PPP) is also something Gasamagera said he’ll be concentrating on explaining that for the private sector to solve most of its critical challenges, government, civil society and other stakeholders role was needed.

Gasamagera will also be looking forward to tapping into his second deputy’s international connections.

During her nomination speech, Ramazani said she wants to contribute towards improving members’ capacity to access and compete on the international market a pledge that boosted her chances of attaining victory.

Speaking after the election on Friday, Gerald Mukubu, the acting Chief Executive Officer of PSF said Gasamagera’s reelection will ensure continuity of efforts that they have been investing in finding solutions for challenges.

"Since June 2013, we have been working with Gasamagera and his reappointment means the assembly has confidence in what we have been doing and now want to continue to achieve more together with the new board,” he said.

Who’s Benjamin Gasamagera?He’s a 48-year old business man, proprietor of the Safari Centre, manufacturing sanitary material

Lost parents in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis

Obtained a degree in Computer Science in China and studied international transportation in Switzerland

Previously worked with Danzas Ltd, an international freight company as a Chief Operations

Manager which gave him an opportunity to work in various countries including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the UK and Morocco

In 1998, he started Safari Center with US$ 10,000 the initial objective of developing business ideas for sale

First elected Chairman PSF in June 2013 to replace resigned Faustin Mbundu