MASAKA-KICUKIRO - President Paul Kagame, yesterday, reiterated government’s commitment to continue supporting investors who show willingness to establish businesses in Rwanda because the government and the citizens need them.

Speaking at the ceremony to unveil a US$37m (Rwf 21,154,750,000) state-of-the-art processing plant owned by Inyange Industries Ltd in Masaka-Kicukiro District, President Kagame said that the government, as a mediator to link citizens and the investor, will do everything to ensure that the ‘processes’ runs smoothly.

"It’s not enough to have such a huge investment, you have a state-of-the-art factory here but the process is something else, without passion fruits, pineapples and all these things required, the factory would be nothing,” Kagame said.

"This factory is there for the people-for them to produce enough of what this factory requires to make sense for the investor or the people who produce. As a third partner, the government is interested in making these two ends meet”.

Kagame added that the government’s role is to ensure that the whole process works to the benefit of everyone - helping citizens deal with the challenges in producing what the factory requires while at the same time helping investors gain from their investment.

"It is a very interesting partnership in merging-the citizen, the farmer that is, the business and the government. In the end, we will be creating a situation that is of a win-win nature,” Kagame said.

He commended Inyange Industries for taking the courage to venture into such a huge investment of a very high standing, adding that the investment should set the pace for other investors and individuals to venture into business in Rwanda.

The President said that today it is easy for businesses to pay off because all sectors are inter-dependent on each other, which makes it easy for all parties to benefit while raw materials can also be obtained nearby.

He cited the example of a factory that relies on raw materials produced by individual farmers bought at a reasonable price, making the agriculture sector benefit, in turn improving the incomes of farmers.

"This shouldn’t just be a moment where we can come and happily launch this factory to start operations,” President Kagame observed. "It should also be a moment to reflect on the kinds of things that we should be doing to realise this continued development and growth in all activities and in all areas that will make a big change in our country.”

The Minister of Trade and Industry Monique Nsanzabaganwa observed that the Inyange plant is a ‘model factory’ and an example of the industries the country is targeting.

"It is not only a modern factory, but it also focuses on producing quality products. This is an industry which has managed to grow by 10-fold since its establishment in 1999,” Nsanzabaganwa noted.

According to Jean Bosco Kanimba, the Managing Director of Inyange Industries, the state-of-the-art agro-processing plant has the capacity to produce 6,500 litres of Mineral Water per hour, 5,000 litres of bottled juice per hour and 5,500 litres of tetra pack-aseptic juice per hour.

New milk cooler capacity machines will boost its milk processing from 5,000 litres per day to 50,000 litres in the first year. In the second and third years, it will increase to 65,000 litres and 100,000 litres respectively.

"There has been an increase of more than 10-fold in the production capacity compared to our old plant in Gikondo. This increase in capacity does not only help us fulfil the local demand but also gives us the opportunity to extend our products to regional and international markets,” Kanimba said.

He said that the products of the company which employs 192 fulltime employees and 77 part-time have already attracted regional demand in neighbouring countries including Uganda, Burundi and DR Congo.

In a bid to utilise the production capacity of the plant, Inyange will also be importing raw material like milk and fruits from neighbouring countries like Uganda and DR Congo.

Ends