The Rwanda and Kenya business forum is expected to be launched today by President Paul Kagame at a function due to attract over 200 top executives from the private sectors of the two countries.

It is a significant development and Amb. Valentine Rugwabiza, the minister for East African Community affairs, believes it’s an opportunity for members of the private sector to explore business opportunities between two countries that enjoy warm diplomatic ties.

There will be over 200 participants in the large Serena Hotel conference hall, including a delegation of 34 business executives that travelled from Nairobi, led by Kiprono Kittony, the chairperson of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI).

Kittony’s delegation will join over 150 of their counterparts from the Private Sector Federation, whose membership comprises not only Rwandans but also Kenyans already operating in the country.

Today’s event is a follow-up of an earlier breakfast session the President had with members of KNCCI in Nairobi in February.

Kenya is East Africa’s largest economy and the leading source of foreign direct investment to Rwanda with an estimated over $440 million in registered businesses in the past decade.

The theme, "Expanding business opportunities beyond borders,” is important, according to Amb. Rugwabiza, who said the forum is an offshoot of the ongoing regional integration efforts aimed at improving inter-connectivity among the East African partner states for easier trade.

Both Rwanda and Kenya are part of the Northern Corridor Integration initiative that includes Uganda and South Sudan. The initiatives aim at easing trade on the route that connects Kigali to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where over 40 per cent of the country’s imports are received.

A forum like this bringing Kenya and Rwandan investors together is seen as a great step toward actualising the desire for a more active regional private sector to work closely with governments and enhance benefits from the existing political will of the current governments.

"This will be a forum like no other; it must go beyond the usual meetings and coffee breaks to deliver real results for the benefit of our two countries,” Benjamin Gasamagera, the chairperson of Private Sector Federation, told Saturday Times.

Gasamagera and his Kenyan counterpart Kittony flanked Amb. Rugwabiza at a media conference at the Ministry of East African Affairs, yesterday.

They said the expectations are high and that, rather than focus on problems, they will be encouraging participants to develop a nose for business opportunities presented by their countries and issues would be addressed along the way.

Today’s discussions will mainly focus on seven pockets of business where participants will be encouraged to brainstorm on possible investment ideas and how to actualise them. The areas include tourism, real estate, energy and extractives, agriculture, manufacturing, ICT and transport.

Apart from gracing the formalisation process of the new forum, Kagame is expected to engage the business executives, counsel and encourage them to be more reliable development partners by investing to create jobs, fight poverty and break the region’s external dependency.

Partners, not rivals

The new business forum is also a chance to encourage members from the two countries to stop regarding each other as rivals but as partners to complement each other to become more competitive.

Gasamagera said there is a lot that the local private sector can glean from their Kenyan counterparts and the forum will provide them with the opportunity to share.

Through the forum, members can also engage governments to break barriers to easy trade.

One of the biggest barriers experienced by Rwandan traders seeking to do business in Kenya is the cost of travel; the road connecting Kigali to Nairobi through Kampala is a long and bumpy drive which takes a whole day.

To save time and energy, many Rwandan travelers often opt for air travel but the sticky issue is that flight fares are still prohibitively high to most businesses.

Ideas have been floated for a code-share deal between RwandAir and Kenya Airways to increase competitiveness and ease air travel fairs.

But this is an ongoing conversation between the two governments; an early victory has been seen in form of RwandAir launching flights on Entebbe-Nairobi route and next is the Kigali-Nairobi-Juba route.

"As business people, the cost of travel is a critical factor, we welcome closer partnerships between Kenyan Airways and RwandAir that would lead to cheaper flights but also maintain competitiveness,” said Kittony.

Competition is the keyword as long as it’s fair and all players are making money; a good example was Kittony’s revelation at yesterday’s press conference that the majority of his 34-member delegation from Nairobi actually traveled with RwandAir to Kigali.