The Minister in the President’s Office in charge of ICT, Dr. Ignace Gatare, has called upon university students to always be innovative as they strive to improve the national economy.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of the country’s online market, www.guhaha.com an ICT innovation by two university students, Peter Ntigurirwa and Joseph Hategekimana.

In 2009, the two students embarked on the project of how goods in Rwanda could be sold and bought online to clients abroad and in the country.
The newly launched online market will provide electronic transactions and home delivery.

"Online services, including internet-based online markets, have proven to be an undisputable engine of our modern global economy. The success stories of eBay and Amazon.com are widely illustrative through innovative and customer oriented services,” Gatare said at the launch of the project at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.

"We are confident that this kind of private innovation will create more job opportunities while facilitating trade and business transactions at regional and international level.”

According to the Minister, using online markets and other online services will have a significant impact on environment protection, energy and transportation costs.

The minister reminded the gathering that digital business is needed and relies on innovation and adaptability to the ever-changing cyberspace environment.

He added that in order for Rwanda to reap from ICT development and investment, his ministry’s policy encourages such innovations, entrepreneurship and private business development which utilize competitive advantage brought by ICT.

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