How do factors like road infrastructure, foreign exchange fluctuations, Foreign Direct Investment or local climatic conditions affect the fortunes of a wood furniture dealer in Muhima?

Why should a Rwandan owning a Tours and Travel business relate with, say, the Ministry for the East African Community or Civil Society or the immigration directorate?

It is the need to address these and other such concerns that led to a workshop for representatives from the local eco-tourism and wood furniture sectors.

Coordinated by the German Agency for International Corporation (GIZ), the week-long training culminated in the award of certificates to participants at the Nobleza Hotel in Kicukiro on Friday.

The training drew participants from the public sector on the one hand (RDB, the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), and owners of Small and Medium Enterprises drawn from both the tourism and wood furniture clusters, on the other.

Understanding value links

Participants from each of the sectors were oriented with the entire value chains in their respective sectors.As expected, owners of Tours and Travel businesses turned up in large numbers.

Anny Batamuliza, the Vice chair of the Rwanda Tourism Chamber and Director General of New Dawn Associates, a local Tours and Travel company, was one of them.

"It was important for me to attend the training because it’s talking about value links in the tourism sector and we’re focusing on eco-tourism. We looked at how we can create sustainable value chains from the eco-tourism point of view to the hospitality industry,” she explained.

"We learnt about how to create sustainable eco-tourism packages, and found out the links that were missing, and how we can work together in partnership to develop a proper working schedule and how to narrow the skills gap,” she further explained. "Of course we still need more support from the government, but support is not only one way, so we need to partner and work together, more especially in standards procedures, food safety and hygiene,” she concluded.

The training was carried out by way of open and candid discussions. An issue would be raised, and from that issue participants discussed the potential problems or risks involved, suggest possible solutions, and point out who should be the responsible person or organization in solving the problem.

Participants were further brought up to speed on the workings of an industry value chain. For instance, investors and practitioners in the eco-tourism segment learnt that, apart from the Rwanda Development Board, the Rwanda Safari Guides Association (RASAGA) and the Rwanda Environment Management Authority as regulatory bodies, for instance, they also need to partner with other stakeholders like the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Private Sector Federation (PSF), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions for eco-tourism, district authorities, the private sector, and the diaspora, among others.

Similarly, participants from the wood furniture sector came face-to-face with the diverse public and private linkages that together form the wood furniture value chain. They learnt that the wood furniture industry was not all about felling trees and processing them into furniture.

There are other aspects and other players like the timber brokers/sellers, cost and quality of transportation, wood certification, wood furniture imports vis-a-vis local production, drying facilities, cost of energy and imported machinery, labour force availability, and competition from substituting materials like plastic and metal furniture, among others.

Some of the major sub themes discussed included; The need for entrepreneurship development, and for support to tour operators to develop innovative products, product diversification, hotels and restaurants, demand, and the place and role of tour operators.

Members also discussed the prospects of developing partnerships, up-scaling and branding of historical sites, and the need to develop an up-to-demand food value chain from farm to plate.

Funding, development of accommodation facilities along the Congo Nile Trail, incorporation of tea tours (with SORWATHE) in the Volcanoes National Park package, and the need to develop innovative and creative training for tour operators were among the other key issues discussed.

One member mooted the development of a centre of excellence for technical capacity of hotel staff according to international standards.

Representatives from the wood furniture sector also took time off to acquaint themselves with the wood furniture value chain.

"This is something good for us. Being part of this workshop has been an open door to us, where we were able to learn, ask questions and to meet other industry players so as to build and nurture this value chain,” explained Francine Havugimana, the Vice chair, Chamber of Tourism, in charge of Hospitality and owner of the Impala Hotel in Kigali.

"At the moment, Rwanda has a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) strategy where we have all these big international conferences and visitors coming to the country.

Recently we had the World Economic Forum, and now we’re waiting for the AU summit so as you can see, Rwanda has big potential, but we’re still working towards attaining international standards in terms of food, for instance. All these big international hotel brands that are coming in the country, I think that they will have food on a certain standard. So the value links will help us sit and identify those standards and then work together with the different stakeholders towards meeting them. It’s an opportunity to our sector, but also it’s an opportunity to the entire community, because new jobs will be created. It was a very interactive session where we were able to ask questions freely and also share our ideas among the two core groups.”

Batamuliza, whose tour company, New Dawn Associates offers several community and eco-tourism packages across the country said: "There are other specific areas where we need partnership with the government, like how to market ‘Brand Rwanda’, and the advocacy and lobbying for it. We created a brand, Remarkable Rwanda and this was two years back, and everybody in the tourism industry and hospitality sector needs to promote this brand. The brand needs to be in people’s minds, people need to think and talk about it everywhere so that it becomes a part of them.

Our standards need to be environmentally friendly because that’s the new trend around the world. Most clients will choose a hotel specifically because it’s environmentally friendly rather than one which just has lights and tiles,” she said during one of the group discussions.

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