On Friday 23 September,the Embassy of Rwanda in the Netherlands hostedan investment seminar in the posh surburb of Wassenaar, near The Hague.

The Rwanda Investment Seminar was an initiative of the Embassy, in collaboration with the Rwanda Chamber Foundation (RCF).

The purpose of the Seminar was to create awareness within the Dutch business community, of the abundant investment opportunities available in the Rwandan market, with the view to attracting potential investors to Rwanda.

In order to achieve this objective, key officials from both governments made presentations on the policies of both countries. Additionally, representatives of Dutch multinationals gave their first hand experiences in the Rwandan market.

Further, a four-persone delegation from Rwanda elaborated on investment options in various sectors. To provide the glue for future collaboration, enabling institutions provided various financial instruments and other incentives availableto facilitate future sustainable partnerships.

In her opening remarks, the Ambassador of Rwanda to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E.Immaculée Uwanyiligira, highlighted the recent realignment of Dutch foreign policy as it pertains to development cooperation.

This new policy, she revealed, emphasizes, among others, economic diplomacy and the creationof an enabling environment which fosters an increasing role played by the private sector through international trade and investment.

She pointed out that this new policy is exactly in line with Rwanda’s own policies and thrust to energize and invigorate the private sector, which Rwanda has identified to be one of the critical engines for development.Ms. Uwanyiligiraunderlined that the convergence of both countries’ policies creates tremendous synergy poised to generate an impetus for closer colaboration within the two countries’ business communities.

Among the speakers were H.E. FransMakken, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Rwanda, who provided an overview of Rwanda’s investment environment, the regional perspective, the opportunties and challenges¸as well as the role of the Embassy in fostering cooperation under the new policy.

Mr. Simon Smits, the Director General of Foreign Economic Relations in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, (EL&I),further elaborated on the new Dutch development cooperation policy and emphasized his government’s commitment to engage with Rwanda.

On the same subject, Mr. Joost Bolt from EVD International, an office within the same Ministry, provided details on various government instruments available to assist the private sector, both in the Netherlands and in Rwanda, chief among them: the Private Sector Initiative (PSI) for foreign businesses, the Match Making Facility (MMF) to match foreign and Dutch businesses; and the ORIO program for large scale government projects in developing countries.

Mr. Bob van der Bijl from the Netherlands African Business Council (NABC), delivered a presentation on the role of the NABC in linking Dutch entrepreneurs with the African entrepreneurs.

He praised the initiative of the Embassy of Rwanda and pledged NABC’s support for future initiatives and follow up activities.

Key among the speakers, were representatives of Dutch conglomerates operating in Rwanda, namely: Heineken and Rabobank. Mr. Sven Piederiet, the CEO of Bralirwa/Heineken, provided an overview of Bralirwa’s history, its partnership with Heineken, and the long-term, profitable cooperation between the two companies that have yielded profits for the two companies and also for shareholders in its initial public offering (IPO) on Rwanda’s stock exchange.Mr.Piederiet gave a positive demographic outline of the consumer market in Rwanda and encouraged other companiesto invest in Rwanda’s dynamic emerging market.KLM was also represented in the audience.

Mr. Paul van Apeldoorn, Chief Commercial Officer for BanquePopulaire du Rwanda/Rabobank, gave an orientation of the financial sector and emphasised that Rwanda’s financial sector was stable and provided a variety of services for investors.

He also mentioned interesting aspects of Rwanda’s financial sector, such as the mobile banking, whichhe pointed out, were better developed than those in the Dutch financial sector.

Mr. Co Meijer, Managing Director of Kadaster International, described the success of his company, which recently completed a land registration project in Rwanda.

Investment opportunities in Rwanda

A four-person delegation travelled from Rwanda to participate in the Seminar. The delegation included Mr. James Mpunga, Director of the One Stop Shop, Rwanda Development Board (RDB), who gave the audience a flavour of the main reasons to invest in Rwanda;Ms.AlphonsineNiyigena, First Vice Chairperson, Private Sector Federation (PSF), who gave an outline of Rwanda’s nascent private sector;Mr. James Sano Deputy Director General, Water and Sanitation; Energy Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA), who gave two presentations on Water and Sanitation as well as the Energy Sector;and Mr. Alex Kanyankole, Deputy Director General, National Agriculture Export Board (NAEB), who gave a summary of investment opportunities in various sub-sectors in the Agriculture sector.

The event was attended byapproximately 100 participants, more than three quarters of whom were business leaders. This tremendous enthusiasm and interest demonstrated by the Dutch business community represents a positive momentum, which the Embassy will build upon to create tangible investment projects in the near future. 

A concrete resolution that resulted from the Seminar was to plan a trade mission early in the coming year 2012.

Embassy Projects
Discover Rwanda Magazine

The Embassy used the occasion to introduce two projects commissioned by the Embassy. Just hot off the press, the Discover Rwanda magazine was a result of collaboration between the Embassy of Rwanda in the Netherlands with Your World Publishers.

The magazine contains tourisms oriented information as well as investment information. 

Its sister magazine in the Dutch language, Ontdek Rwanda, will be available on newsstands across the Netherlands for the next three months. Discover Rwandawill also be available as a downloadable Apple applet on the online Apple Store.

University of Groningen Research Study on Dutch FDI in Rwanda

The Embassy also commissioned an academic study at the beginning of the year, to examine opportunities for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Rwanda as it pertains to the Dutch companies.

The study was carried out by students of the University of Groningen by six students, four of whom travelled to Rwanda in March/April for three weeks to collect data. The Results Book was published in June 2011. 

The Embassy used this opportunity to introduce this Results Book to the business community, which is an invaluable resource for companies wishing to critically examine the Rwandan market by sector.

Ends