Rwanda is today significantly more known in the investment world as well as in the international academy, thanks to President Kagame’s relentless efforts.

The President was yet again at it last week in the City of London and at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

The City of London’s investment arm together with the Department for International Development facilitated an investors exposure meeting for Rwanda and Tanzania.

A powerful meeting this was – in attendance were leading investors and international development leaders, including British Minister for international development Baroness Shriti Vadera, the President of the African Development, Dr Donald Kaberuka.

Also present were investors in Rwanda, including Nkosana Moyo of ACTIS, the owners of Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR).

Besides conventional investment approaches, various options for supporting development processes that incorporate private-public partnerships were discussed at length.

What were the overall accomplishments of this visit? The New Times put this question to David Himbara, Office of the President.

These visits according to him are invaluable but difficult to quantify because they accomplish what a whole ‘army’ of public relations people and promoters would achieve over a longer period of time.

"Such occasions put a continuous spotlight on Rwanda as a real investment destination while permitting Rwandan leadership to put its case to the world as it were,” he said.
Investment opportunities in such sectors as banking and financial services, energy, information technology, tourism, agriculture, and mining are put on the "investment global table”.

One might also ask what investment and receiving an honorary degree of laws at the University of Glasgow have to do with each other.

(The President was granted the honorary degree by the university last Wednesday).

A lot indeed, says Himbara.

According to him, such degrees are not just given but result from recognised international leadership and relationships between the institutions that grant them and those that receive them.

"The University of Glasgow and other Scottish Universities are contributing significantly to training Rwandans, thereby contributing to the creation of a skilled workforce in our country.

The link becomes very clear in that sense – you cannot have investment without a workforce that is knowledgeable and skilled – period,” he said.

Visits such as those to the University of Glasgow are therefore vital – our President gets recognised for his work in Rwanda and Africa and mobilises human resources for future Rwandan development needs.

During his London address, Kagame highlighted investment challenges, not only facing Rwanda but the African continent as a whole, and suggested some of the remedies.

"The challenge in Africa is to build effective institutions and adopt the right mindset to undertake this work.

In the case of Rwanda, I have requested that we expand the definition of institutional development to include the question of mindset,” the President said in a speech in which he emphasized the need for mindset change both in developing and developed countries.

"Successful public administration requires a different mentality that incorporates commitment, shared purpose, rapid decision-making and generally a sense of urgency in implementation,” he added.

In his quest to sell Rwanda and Africa at large to multinational companies and the business world, Kagame admits that Africans themselves are yet to do enough to attract investments, but also blames the west for not having the right attitude in their dealings with Africa. 

"Africa for example is often approached as a place for pity, charity and aid, disregarding its stable economic growth and huge potential.

Instead of a place for serious investment and high returns, Africa tends to be seen as a continent for ‘social responsibility’,” the President said.

He added: "Costly and ineffectual technical assistance replaces genuine building of capacities that would transfer real skill and talent to local people.”

The President assured the investors and development partners that his government had undertaken a complete overhaul of our business legal framework.

"Essentially, all key areas identified by the World Bank’s "Doing Business” are now subject to review and improvement.”

Himbara said of the President’s consistent call for investment flows into the country. "Businesses are beginning to come in for instance in banking, tourism, mining and in other sectors.”

"Of course it is never enough; you need more,” he said.
It is therefore imperative that our local policy implementers execute what is required to make the much needed investments in our country a reality, as well as local investors to partner with international colleagues by entering viable business ventures with them.

The Rwanda Investment Promotion Agency (Riepa) should be ready to provide even more red-carpet services as the country breaks into the business world .

The general public too needs to realise this urgency of fast investments and move at the same pace with the President and his team.

For instance, we do not need to be told that good customer care benefits our businesses.

Let’s all proudly contribute to our country’s development in the spirit of ‘Team Rwanda’.

Ends