Local beverages maker, Isimbi Industries Ltd, is in the process of setting up a factory that will transform grapes into wine and soft drinks. Its proprietor told The New Times that he, along with other undisclosed business partners, have invested Rwf1.2 billion to transform a predominantly agrarian venture into manufacturing. This comes at the time Rwanda is implementing the Made-in-Rwanda policy to address key challenges manufacturers face, among them low quality, pricing, high cost of production and access to markets. The policy is also expected to strengthen collaboration between the public and private sectors to spur industrial growth and economic transformation. Yet, in Huye, where Isimbi Industries is implementing its project, the nascent industrial zone is still struggling to attract investors. Part of the solution to this challenge, which certainly crosscuts in all industrial zones in the countryside, including in secondary cities is to encourage the formation of local business networks. Policymakers ought to accelerate the formation of the Local Investment Opportunity Network also known as Lion—a group of local citizens who come together to help fund and support local businesses. This should be done by encouraging the local communities to take shares in investment ventures within their area. We have in the past also highlighted that one of the weaknesses with local investors is that they are still behind when it comes to mergers, each wants to go it alone instead of pooling resources together to have a larger portfolio that can go after bigger projects for the export sector. Combining efforts can spur investments in various sectors from manufacturing, mining to agro-processing and agriculture—depending on the resources in the given community. Specifically, it hugely benefits agriculture, which was previously geared towards local consumption, and help accelerate change in shift toward agro-processing that targets regional and international markets.
