Global young business leaders in investment drive

The Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO) has pledged to increase their investment in the country as well as help attract foreign direct investments from its members. The organisation’s representatives made the remarks shortly after meeting President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro, yesterday. An eleven-member YPO delegation is in the country for a week to follow up and assess the various projects run by YPO-Rwanda Action Forum (Raf). “YPO members are engaged in various projects in Rwanda, especially in the areas of agriculture, and ICT. We want to increase investments in this country because of the favourable business conditions Rwanda offers,” said YPO member, Yariv Cohen. The World Bank’s Doing Business Report 201 4 ranked Rwanda second-best place to do business in Africa after Mauritius. The annual World Bank report, which assesses country-by-country performance in ease of doing business, shows that Rwanda moved 22 places, to 32nd out of 189 countries globally. Cohen noted that YPO also focuses on contributing to the development of Rwanda through provision of resources and expertise to businesses. “Among our team, we have investors from shipping, manufacturing, agricultural processing and are looking to establishing local presence and learn more about Rwanda. We want to do a lot of projects and bring more of YPO members and invest in this country and use Rwanda as base of their operations,” Cohen added. YPO and Rwanda YPO is a global network that connects 20,000 chief executives of leading companies generating $6 trillion and employing more than 15 million people in 120 countries. Formed in 2008, the Rwanda Action Forum, with 30 members currently focuses on priority areas, including agriculture, ICT and education. The chair of YPO-Rwanda, Emery Rubagenga, said that they want to see more business entrepreneurs from YPO coming to invest in Rwanda. “YPO members are from different countries across the globe and represent different established companies so it is an opportunity for them to explore potential areas of investment in our country,” he said, adding that the delegation called on the Head of State to present to him the progress report regarding the implementation of YPO projects in Rwanda. “The projects are very important to our economy because they create jobs and improve on the population’s livelihood.” The global young presidents are engaged in projects and partnerships such as geospatial data project, maize storage, Ikerezi and women empowerment through health and lifestyle. Synergies Others are Enablis, Agaseke craft partnership, educational radio, YPO Rwanda investment Committee and YPO doing business in Rwanda network. RDB shares four projects with members of the YPO Investment Committee that include Ikerezi – Production of essential oils, Rabi – Sale of pre-cooked and packaged agricultural projects, mainly beans, Sopar – offers a local solution for quality feed and Hotel Vision in Kiyovu, Kigali. YPO was founded in 1950 by manufacturer Ray Hickok, who at the age of 27, inherited his family’s 300-employee company in New York. He and other young presidents began meeting regularly as a way to become better leaders by learning from each other. This founding principle still guides the organisation to-date. YPO members are required to “graduate” from the organisation at age 50, with many joining World Presidents’ Organisation, or WPO, a group founded in 1970 by 200 former YPO members to sustain their YPO experience. Originally called World Business Council, the group changed its name to World Presidents’ Organisation in 1991 to reflect its rapid growth in membership and global reach. RDB lauds YPO RDB Chief Executive Valentine Rugwabiza said Young Presidents Organisation is impacting on the country’s information and communication technology setting in a way not felt before. “As the largest group (about 20,000) of CEOs around the world, we are truly feeling the strength of YPO in Rwanda. Spanning from agriculture to entrepreneurship, these CEOs are using business to impact the lives of many Rwandans,” Amb Rugwabiza said. “We are pleased to see YPO’s engagement in child nutrition, agricultural production and skills development. These are areas that can significantly improve livelihoods of Rwandans,” she added. Amb. Rugwabiza said there is a shared vision that has been exemplified by the group’s recognition of the country’s efforts through the YPO’s Global Leadership Award that was previously awarded to President Paul Kagame. “Our discussions today focused on reviewing what YPO has achieved in the past year, as documented in their 2013 year-end report that was handed to President Kagame. We also discussed future opportunities ranging from projects in the energy sector to e-procurement in ICT. We are happy to see the relationship between YPO and Rwanda continue to grow for the benefit of all Rwandans.”

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Global young business leaders in investment drive