Regional retailer, Nakumatt Holdings, will soon start sourcing more local products to support Rwandan producers, the firm revealed yesterday.

Atul Shah, the Nakumatt Holdings managing director, said the firm is committed to supporting local and regional businesses by stocking commodities sourced from the region.

"Besides further deepening the value of the regional formal retail trade space through branch expansions, Nakumatt will play a key role in fostering meaningful regional integration,” Shah said.

He was speaking following the opening of retailer’s new outlet at Merez Centre in Kagugu yesterday, bringing its chain’s branch network in Rwanda to three branches.

Shah said Nakumatt is planning to increase the range of goods imported from the region, especially popular brands such as Akabanga hot chili sauce, Sabana chili sauce and Nyungwe honey, as well as products like Arabica coffee and macadamia oil.

"Such unique Rwandan products will be stocked in Nakumatt branches in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Similar initiatives will be undertaken to ensure the stocking of unique products from other East African countries within the Nakumatt network.

"We are restructuring business to continue playing a pivotal role in the regional retail space by providing a market platform across the region for local produce,” Shah added. There has been an outcry among local producers, with many accusing retail chain supermarkets and big hotels operating in the country of ignoring locally-made products in favour of those imported from other countries.

Nakumatt opened its first supermarket (Nakumatt UTC) in Rwanda in 2008 followed by one at the Kigali City Tower in 2011 and "has continued to enjoy steady growth in a fast developing nation”. The opening of the Kagugu branch means the Kenya-based retailer now has 64 outlets across the region, with three branches in Kigali, 47 outlets in Kenya, five in Tanzania and nine in Uganda.

Rwanda registered a 7.3 per cent growth rate in the first quarter of the year before slowing down to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). The performance in both quarters was driven by high growth in the industrial sector, of 10 per cent, and services and agriculture sectors, which grew by 7 per cent each.

The economy is projected to expand by 6 per cent this year and 6.5 per cent in 2017, in what would be one of the highest growth rate in sub-Saharan Africa and globally. Rwanda has also continued to show business attraction progress and is ranked 56th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index 2017. Rwanda is the second easiest place to do business in Africa after Mauritius.