Many foreign firms taking part in the ongoing 2018 Rwanda International Trade Fair have expressed interest in registering their business in the country, it has emerged.

Business Times has established that hardly a week after the opening of the three-week exhibition, eight foreign companies have already registered their business with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

"Previously, foreign companies participating in the expo wishing to set up shop in Rwanda would do so at the end of the expo but this time around many are keen to register much earlier,” said Ephrem Karangwa, the Head of Trade Fairs and Investments at PSF.

Eight have registered so far, he added.

Innocent Dorkenoo, the chief executive of IK Dorkenoo Creation, a Ghanian fashion brand that specialises in classic afrocentric clothing, is one of those that have already registered.

He hailed the country’s business friendly laws and general environment. ‘You want to operate in an environment that promotes business, where there is no bureaucracy when it comes to registration,” he told Business Times.

It takes about six hours to register a business in Rwanda, a country ranked by the World Bank as the second easiest place to do business in Africa after Mauritius.

Mamdouh Karim, a leather product producer from Egypt, is another that has registered his business with RDB.

"Rwanda has a big market for leather products,” he said. "I also like the fact that when you go to open a business you are not given excuses and asked to come back another day.”

Both investors said they were mainly attracted by the prevailing peace and security in the country.

"When I was coming to Rwanda my family was happy that I was coming to a safe country and that for me was a vote of confidence in Rwanda and an assurance that I can go on and have a business here,” Dorkenoo said.

RDB has a stand at the expo, in Gikondo, and anyone wishing to open their business can register their enterprise from there.

Martin Gasasira, the in-charge of export promotion at RDB and the team leader of the agency’s crew at the expo, said many foreign participants at the annual trade fair who have expressed interest in registering a business in Rwanda or have already done so, cite the country’s business-friendly environment as the main factor behind their move.

The annual fair has played a key part in helping to attract foreign businesses to Rwanda, he said.

"For example, Azam, Matellas Dodoma and many other big companies operating in Rwanda at the moment first came in through the expo and then made a decision to invest in the country,” he said. 

During last year’s exhibition, RDB registered 97 businesses, 29 of which were by foreign participants. But, contrary to the trend this year, almost all of the foreign businesses registered at the end of the exhibition.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw