Rwanda’s drive towards the achievement of Vision 2020 should not isolate the role of women. They truly have a vital role to play in the economic prosperity of this country and region.

The First Lady, Jeannette Kagame during the first ever regional round table of women entrepreneurs from East Africa said Government emphasis of economic empowerment of women in the private sector as a national economic driver can pave way for economic growth.

This was not because it was a women forum but because they have a role to play in the economic development of the East African Community (EAC).

Mrs. Kagame therefore urged them during their discussions to clearly demonstrate the place and the role of women entrepreneurs in regional trading and in the business world as a whole.

The First Lady however said that a combination of Government emphasis and understanding of the private sector in the economic drive can build the women entrepreneurship structure.

"The governments don’t make money but businesses do, so women entrepreneurship structure can start up businesses which generate income.”

That is supported by Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, an economist who stressed that for the past 10 years the number one vector for global growth has been women.

And that woman now own 46 per cent of the private businesses in the U.S., demonstrating daily just how tough, innovative and commercial women can be.

Economists urge that the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades.

And that the women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technologies or the new giants.

Vicent Karega, State minister for investment promotion also stressed that women have a role in the economic drive if empowered through capacity building and support of law.

That is supported by economists arguing that as the society’s beliefs of the women role fades over coming years, women will have great scope to boost their productivity and incomes.

Therefore, Governments should embrace the potential of women.

This portrays how much vital entrepreneurial women are to the economic prosperity of the economy.

Research for example shows that the explosion in women-owned businesses explains why women’s companies now employ more people than America’s largest 500 companies combined.

The chairman Private Sector Federation (PSF) Vincent Bayigamba also called upon the business communities to support women entrepreneurs for their can bring about economic development and prosperity.

"We must help them in their economic endeavors in order to include them in nation building,” Bayigamba said.

Yes, economist research according to British Weekly shows that since 1970, women have held two out of three new jobs. And that, the arrival of this new workforce has done more in encouraging global growth than increases in capital investment and improvements in productivity.

"Over the last 10 years the increase in women [in the workplace] in developed countries has made more of a contribution to global growth than China has.”

Therefore as our target reach greater heights of development, women power in the work force needs to be addressed by empowering them.

Ms Janet Nkubana the managing director of Gahaya Links also described women as an economic force that shouldn’t be excluded because they have the purchasing power; they are good managers and entrepreneurs.

This according to a number of observers has been described as era for women that we have already entered. They referred to it as the age of ‘womenomics’; the economy being thought out and practiced by women. And that this era is not as some would claim a passing fad, but rather a lasting trend.

This is true with Vincent Karega’s calling of women to employ men in their businesses so as to have diversified views in different areas.

He noted that there are still challenges faced by women in their bid to fully attain gender equality.

A Chinese economist says that women are not exploited enough: they are the world’s most under-utilised resource; getting more of them into work is part of the solution to many economic woes, including shrinking populations and poverty.

And that every day, 420 women go out and start their own businesses, which is twice the rate at which men do so. And these businesses are growing revenue, profits and jobs faster than business as a whole.

The success of women-owned businesses is cause for rejoicing. It benefits the economy and it benefits women. It even benefits men, who are more likely to be hired by women than women are by men, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research.

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