VILLAGE URUGWIRO - Business Professional Networks (BPN), an organisation created by Swiss philanthropist Jurg Opprecht, will soon start operating in Rwanda with an aim of supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Opprecht revealed this yesterday shortly after meeting with President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro.

"We have been discussing with the President the prospects of starting operations in Rwanda and when I get back I will speak to the Board of Directors and discuss the circumstances under which we shall start operating here,” he said during an interview.

According to Opprecht, Rwanda will become the fourth country where the non-profit organisation that mainly targets developing countries after Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua and Benin will operate.

The State Minister for Trade and Investment Promotion Vincent Karega, who also attended the meeting, said that Opprecht, a prominent hotelier in his native country, was happy with the policies in the country especially those encouraging SMEs.

"Their coming to Rwanda will be a major boost to the realisation of Vision 2020 into which we are striving to promote SMEs as a tool to promote self sustainability among Rwandans,” the minister said.

According to Opprecht, the idea of starting BPN was born out of his experience on a visit, 10 years ago, to Kyrgyzstan which had just got its independence from the Soviet Union.

He observed the state of poverty and unemployment in that country and noted the absence of a middle class.

That during this experience, he noted that people preferred partnerships to aid and other forms of assistance that were being handed out to poor countries, which were not sustainable and were ineffective in reducing poverty.

Opprecht is the owner and chairman of the real estate company TIAG and a partner and investor to several small and medium enterprises. He also owns The Lenkerhof Alpine Resort, one of Switzerland’s top five hotels.

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