Indian, Zim companies open shop in Rwanda

Three Indian firms and one Zimbabwean investor have opened shop in Rwanda. The companies with interest in the education, information communication technology, health and energy sectors are targeting to create over 70 job opportunities initially. They are Mahatma Gandhi University, Lab Systems and Novel Energy Limited from India and Zimbabwean-based firm, A.N Chaudhary Medical Services. The investors were attracted to Rwanda by the Rwanda Development Board (RBD) India representative Clarence Fernandes. A.N Chaudhary Medical Services’ Amar Chaudhary told The New Times in an interview on Wednesday that the firm would focus on providing health services in rural areas of the country “in order to make Rwanda a self-sufficient country.” Chaudhary added that they also train Rwandan aestheticians besides employing local paramedics. Chaudhary was part of the 22-man delegation from India who attended the ‘Rwanda Calling 2014’ International Business Forum that showcased investment opportunities in the country at the Kigali Serena Hotel on Monday. The ‘Rwanda Calling’ initiative that is being promoted by RDB aims at attracting investors from across the world to Rwanda. Ankush Chhabria of Novel Energy said the firm will construct a hydropower plant that will produce almost one megawatt and set up a 70-kilowatt biomass project in coming months. He said the $2.5m (about Rwf1.7b) biomass project will use agricultural waste materials like husks to produce renewable energy. Yogendra Yadav, a forensic services manager at Lab Systems, said they will support the fight against Internet and mobile phone crimes. “Rwanda and the region at large don’t have any facilities to document forensic evidence of such crimes that would help in administration of justice,” he explained. “We will use our expertise and technology to track cyber crimes for government institutions and private firms and produce evidence admissible in courts of laws. Varun Gupta, a business development officer at Mahatma Gandhi University, said they will establish a branch of the university in Kigali. “When we start operations, our students will be able to benefit from the rich university exchange programmes with our two Indian and US-based campuses to acquire hands-on skills,” he said. Over the last 12 years, 64 Indian businesses worth $259m have been registered in Rwanda, according to RDB statistics. Last year, Rohan Developers Pvt Ltd, a Mehta Group company based in India, announced plans to inject billions of dollars in the real estate industry. Also, government last year signed a $371m (about Rwf241b) energy agreement with Indian-based company, Punj Lloyd, to generate 100MW from peat energy in the Eastern Province.

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Indian, Zim companies open shop in Rwanda