URUGWIRO VILLAGE - President Paul Kagame, on Wednesday night, received a delegation of 32 students and two lecturers from the Stanford Business School, at Village Urugwiro.

The President shared with the delegation Rwanda’s aspirations, dreams and struggles to shake off the past and step into the dawn of a better future.

The students, who are on a global study trip as part of Stanford Graduate School of Business’ Global Management Program, had the opportunity to field questions to the President on a range of issues including Rwanda’s past, the economy, Vision 2020, fighting corruption and promoting regional integration among other issues.

"We know quite well that the scars of our history will not just fade away. Nonetheless, we understand that we cannot accept to be hostages of our tragic history if we have to shape a better future,” President Kagame said, in reaction to a question on the effects that the country’s history may have on Rwanda’s progress.

President Kagame told the students that Rwanda’s challenges in achieving its goals are seen in the context of where the country is coming from.

"We are coming from the base; we had to build everything from scratch by mobilizing means and building capacity,” Kagame said. "When we talk of means, this poses the biggest challenge, because this means aid and handouts, and most of the time all these come with repulsive conditions.”

The students chose to visit both Rwanda and Kenya for their global study because they are particularly interested in learning about East Africa, with an emphasis on comparing and contrasting the economic landscape and range of business opportunities in both countries and also to understand how government and fiscal policies impact on Rwanda’s ability to compete regionally and globally.

The students met with officials from the Rwanda Trading Company, Rwanda Develpoment Board (RDB), Private Sector Federation (PSF), Partners in Health, Crystal Ventures and Gahaya Links. 

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