The government is set to create a new agency to spearhead the implementation of the recently adopted Smart Rwanda Master Plan.

The master plan, adopted by Cabinet earlier this month, outlines a five-year plan for the ICT sector in the country and takes effect beginning 2016. It focuses on digitising the economy and positioning ICT as one of the key exports of the country.

Officials at the Ministry of Youth and ICT say the implementation of the master plan will see several Rwanda Development Board staff move to the new agency.

The new agency will have an independent budget and will also outsource work to the private sector.

Didier Nkurikiyimfura, the director-general of ICT at the Ministry of Youth and ICT, confirmed the plans while speaking at an ICT joint sector review meeting recently convened to update stakeholders on the future plans in the sector.

Nkurikiyimfura said the plan draws orientation from the Smart Africa Manifesto that was launched during the inaugural Transform Africa Summit in Kigali in October 2013.

At the summit, heads of state and government present adopted a Smart African Manifesto that puts the ICT sector at the centre of socio-economic development and transformation.

Nkurikiyimfura said the master plan seeks to build on previous generations of the National Information and Communication Infrastructure plans drawn and implemented every five years beginning 2000 that have guided the ICT sector strategy.

Priorities

According to the plan’s concept note, the sector strategy took effect in 2011 focusing on aspects such as skills development, cyber security, e-Government and private sector development.

The plan outlines 67 priority projects with an investment value of more than $ 519 million (about Rwf385 billion), some of which are already underway.

"The accumulated economic benefit has been estimated at over $1 billion, which is a 142 per cent return on investment. By 2020, it is projected that ICT sector contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) will grow from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, while 100,000 new jobs will be created,” the concept note reads in part.

It is expected that increased innovation and mainstreaming of ICT across multiple economic sectors will drive more productivity and expand Rwanda’s export base, especially through business process outsourcing and creative industries.

Nkurikiyimfura said the proposed agency will undertake business and innovation, national economic digital transformation to facilitate other sectors adopt ICT and future planning focusing on research and development.

The business and innovation function will focus on exports promotion, harnessing opportunities for foreign direct investment in the sector as well as nurturing home grown ICT businesses.

The arrangement aims at facilitating existing indigenous companies in their competitiveness and growth to global player status with targets to have about 100 indigenous companies with market capitalisation of $50 million and 50 stock market list-able companies.

Speaking at a joint sector review meeting, the Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said the plan was well in line with the recent Transform Africa Summit’s commitments to rake in over $300 billion worth of investments in the Africa’s ICT sector by 2020.

In the previous financial year, ICT attracted investments worth $61 million to the country and is projected to contribute up to $120 million by the end of the current financial year.

Part of the expected investments will come from the operationalisation of Kigali Innovation City Project, which will be home to ICT-related firms, as well as the establishment of the ICT innovation fund.

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