Rwanda’s business community will, on May 16-17, hold interactions with their international counterparts during the Africa CEO Forum, a meeting that is expected to facilitate investors to forge partnerships and strike deals.

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The forum’s 11th edition will bring together 2,000 business executives, investors, and policymakers from Africa and beyond under the theme, "At the Table or On the Menu? A Critical Moment to Shape a New Future for Africa.”

The forum is one of the largest gatherings of business leaders, investors and policy makers in Africa.

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The New Times’ Alice Kagina sat down with Francis Gatare, the CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to discuss business and investment expectations from the forum.

Below are excerpts:

Rwanda is gearing up to host the 11th edition of the Africa CEO Forum, what did you table to host it?

As you know, we hosted the Africa CEO forum before in 2019 and our partnership with Jeune Afrique to host it was very successful. They enjoyed the experience and the partnership, and they were committed to bring it back it.

So, it was not surprising when we approached them because we have a relationship that goes back many years and they understand our capacity.

When you look at the conference facilities, hotels, Rwanda Convention Bureau and the caliber of event organizations that are fully established in the country, as well as the skill set, were convincing enough to have it here.

What were the outcomes of the 2019 edition?

The year 2019 was disrupted by the pandemic and many of the initiatives which had started quickly were put on hold in 2020 and onwards. The whole world went to a standstill in a way that we could not realize the benefits of the 2019 forum.

However, hosting the forum for the second time in a more sustainable way and forward-looking environment, we are very optimistic that the outcomes will be more meaningful and sustainable.

What can the business community expect from this forum?

As always there are many layers of expectations. We want to continue to promote Kigali as a place of choice for major international conferences and demonstrate to visitors the ease of traveling to Rwanda with our uniqueness of a visa-free regime. People don’t know that until they reach the airport.

We want to also create a platform for dialogue between the private sector and government. The development of Rwanda happens at the intersection of these two parties. We have embraced, for a long time now, the notion of public-private partnerships which is the driver of the progress made so far.

Business executives and government officials are going to be discussing how each can collaborate to make successful business ventures and contribute to the economic development.

Lastly, these events act as a platform to showcase the business opportunities in our country. The private sector is excited to engage and create partnerships with international counterparts, and share the know-how of doing business in their respective countries.

This is an opportunity to take business development in our country to another level.

For long, there have been calls for diversified offerings of experience in Rwanda. What are you doing for participants to have moments beyond the conference, and how can the private sector leverage on that?

We are creating opportunities for the private sector to hold events outside the main conference area, such as dinner reception with discussions around energy, technology, and agribusiness, among others.

We want the Rwandan private sector to take the lead on this, and PSF [Private Sector Federation] is organizing their members to do so.

The forum comes on the back of increased investments that Rwanda continues to attract. What are the major drivers of investments and how can the business community align?

The first and foremost avenue our country offers is in services, whether it’s health, education, retail, financial services and others.

The hospitality sector is increasingly growing, and light manufacturing and logistics in special economic zones and industrial parks, as well as technology intersection with different sectors will showcase as investment and partnership opportunities.

Investors are attracted by a host of incentives including the ‘Manufacture and Build to Recover Program” (MBRP),’ any update on that?

There are various initiatives that the country put in place to facilitate post-pandemic recovery and some programmes were aimed to offer project financing, while others were channeled into the hospitality, transportation, and construction sectors.

All these had a transitional character and many of them are phasing out as we begin to embrace more sustainable and normal economic activities. We are promoting a competitive business environment.

However, the government is always willing to have discussions for unique projects that require its intervention within the public-private partnership framework.