President Paul Kagame’s key-note address at the UK-Rwanda Trade and Investment forum in London in October, last year, has yielded early results with a consortium of 40 investors in the country on a three-day exploration mission for trade and investment opportunities.

The mission, comprising businesspersons from the UK, Hungary and the Netherlands, was organised by the Eastern Africa Association that brings together UK firms with business interests in countries of the Eastern region, including Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

In London, Kagame invited investors to the country, saying "You are guaranteed high rates of return and improvement of our people’s well being. I look forward to working together for the development and prosperity.”

They came. And yesterday in Kigali, Rwanda Development Board and other government officials addressed the investors, briefing them on existing investment opportunities in housing, infrastructure, mining and transport sectors.

John C Small, chief executive of Eastern Africa Association, said the mission has been organised in partnership with Developing Markets Associates (DMA) which organised the London meeting last October at the end of which it was agreed interested investors would visit Rwanda.

"With a membership of 400 firms, we are the voice of foreign investors in this region and what we are doing is to bring the horse to the water source,” Small said.

RDB chief executive Francis Gatare, who attended the London meeting last year, welcomed the investors, saying the purchase power of Rwandans continues to improve as poverty levels in the country continue to drop.

"That, coupled with an attractive doing business environment is good for investment,” said Gatare who added that Rwanda is also investing in regional infrastructure projects such as the standard gauge railway to improve connectivity to the 141 million people EAC market.

Trade and industry minister Francois Kanimba said although UK has been Rwanda’s leading development partner since 1994, its investments in the country remain minimal calling for more efforts to double them.

According to Clare Akamanzi, RDB’s chief of operations, only 19 British investments are currently registered in Rwanda worth $120 million and urged the delegation to bring more investments to double the current portfolio.

In 2014, Rwanda attracted $500 million worth of investments which Akamanzi said they want to see doubling through more investment attraction efforts.

Attractive incentives

Roger Martin, the director of DMA, told The New Times that he hopes the visit will inspire many of the delegation members to return with investment plans in Rwanda.

But such decisions are likely to be based on what the investors will have seen or heard during their stay in Kigali and in yesterday’s meeting with government officials, the newly amended investment code was one of the major highlights of the day.

Officials were notified of several incentives, including the proposed seven year tax holiday for certain investments as one of the attractive offers to be expected when the new investment code goes into force, soon.

The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Christian Rwakunda, specifically encouraged the investors to come and invest in housing, where he pointed out that the country is under pressure to supply thousands of affordable units every year to keep up with the fast urban population growth.

Investors were also encouraged to invest in Rwanda’s section of the standard gauge railway, whose cost is more than $1.2 billion, according to official estimates.

Nipool Shah, a member of the investment delegation representing Dunhill Consults, said his firm is specifically interested in Real estate development and added that they will engage officials for the finer details of how they can get involved.

"I liked what I heard, the incentives on offer as well as the market are strong enough for an investment,” Shah said.

Stefan Urbanski, the director of studies at RIPA International, a firm that specialises in capacity building for governments, said they intended to find gaps especially in areas of capacity building.

"I am sure that for a fast-growing economy like Rwanda’s, investing in capacity building is vital to build more efficiency,” said Urbanski.

Akamanzi said the visit is a precursor for investment and that they’ll keep in touch with the investors to ensure that the mission delivers some tangible results.

However, there were also concerns raised by some members of the delegation. One regarded what the government is doing to meet its energy generation targets to ease cost of electricity.

Another concern was about an allegation of an intricate tax administration system run by the Rwanda Revenue Authority as well as too much pressure on a few taxable firms because of a small tax base.

In response to energy demands, PS Rwakunda said government is on course to achieve its target of more than 560 megawatts with a number of ongoing projects expected to be completed as well as plans to import electricity from neigbouring Kenya starting this August.

On tax administration woes, Akamanzi assured investors that plans were underway to create an independent tax tribunal through which tax payers can lodge their grievances and expect objective redress.

The delegation which has been in the country since Wednesday leaves tomorrow morning.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw