Maxinet Group Rwanda, an affiliate of Maxinet Group limited has finalised business partnerships with South Africa’s RAIZCORP and Business Partnership International (BIP) to support the development of Rwanda’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Patrick Kagabo, the CEO of Maxinet Rwanda said in an interview with Business Times that the partnerships will help Rwandan entrepreneurs to  learn some lessons from these companies in regard to business incubation and growth, given the fact that they have wide experience in this field.

"We try to identify strategic partners who have experience in SME development and learn from their success stories and avoid mistakes they did in their formative stages,” Kagabo said.

Raizcorp will provide business incubation and training services to SMEs while BIP will set up a capital venture fund where businesses will directly access funds.

Every SME will be allowed to tap between $50,000 and $500,000 for the growth of their businesses

These partnerships are a result of the working relationship between Maxinet and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

"Our main objective is to create a middle class in Rwanda through job creation, facilitating business growth increasing accountability and tax compliance,”Kagabo said.

The centre for business solution is also considering a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in order to get to the rural community.

Currently, there are more than 10 companies that have applied for the business incubation exercise that will start in October. This comes two months after the launch of the SME toolkit.

Maxinet Group which is the sole certified partner of IFC in managing, localising and distributing the SME toolkit in Rwanda offers an expertise in trade transactions, public relations, brokerage and foreign company representation.

The toolkit also provides the SMEs with services such as accounting and finance, business planning, human resource management, marketing and sales  among others.

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