Utexrwa targets 500 hectares of mulberry trees in Kigali L’Usine Textile du Rwanda (Utexrwa), the only textile company in Rwanda, is targeting 500 hectares of mulberry trees in Kigali City within the next one year. According to Raj Rajendran, the Company’s Managing Director, this will help boost the production of silk, through provision of raw materials. The crop from which a silkworm eats to produce the silk fibre is currently being cultivated at a range of about 285 hectares across the three districts of the Rwandan capital. The 500 hectares will represent a 75 percent increase of the total area where the silk producing tree is planted. The 500 hectares of mulberry trees are expected to produce 750 tonnes of cocoons and 125 tonnes of yarn, on average per year. Silk yarn is drawn from the cocoons of mature silk worms that are spun and woven into fabric. The projections follow the training of trainers in sericulture under the partnership between Kigali City Council and Utexrwa, which saw six trained. Commercial courts’ recordings to be digitalised The coordinator of the Rwanda Investment Climate Project (RICP), Dr. James Ndahiro has said that the country’s commercial courts will by September employ digital recording. This will improve the capacity for interactive court sessions. Ndahiro said that by May, the supplier of software and hardware equipments will have been identified. Omari Issa, Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) recently said that the delay was caused by the procurement process in the country. The ICF is a private-public partnership focused on improving the Africa’s investment climate by removing obstacles to domestic and foreign investment and promoting Africa as an attractive investment destination. In Rwanda, through RICP, ICF is working on improving capacity in the newly established commercial courts, building capacity in the Rwanda Commercial Registration Services Agency and improving land titling and registration system in the country. Rwandatel registers 280,000 subscribers Rwandatel, the country’s second telecom company owned by Libyan African Portfolio (LAP) Green and the Social Security Fund of Rwanda (SSFR) has registered over 280,000 subscribers. The company’s Public Relations Manager, Cleophas Kabasiita said that the company will be rolling out more products, which are in transit and they will be on the market very soon in order to attract more clients. Management also attributed the increasing number of subscribers to better network and service delivery to the unexpected number of subscribers within its infancy of operations. It is the only mobile operator in Rwanda offering a wide range of telecom services such as GSM, CDMA and 3G mobile services. Rwandatel has a target of 600,000 subscribers by June and double of that by end of the year. CMAC trains students on investment importance Capital Market Advisory Council of Rwanda (CMAC) trained the students of the School of Finance and Banking (SFB) on the importance of investing on the markets. The training is the second CMAC has offered to SFB students on the role of the capital markets and plans to cover other universities. The Deputy Executive Director of CMAC, Olivier Kamanzi said that it is an obligation the markets authority, being part of the financial sector, to train students in business courses like finance and accounting. SFB students and staff were urged to investing in markets since this does not require huge sums of money. CMAC also seeks to teach the general public about the benefits of investing through the capital markets which include savings that accumulates through investing in securities listed in the capital or stock markets. PSF trains 40 on corporate restructuring The Private Sector Federation (PSF) trained 40 companies from different sectors on corporate restructuring and supply chain management. The objective of the training was to create a comprehensive understanding of the process of enterprise restructuring and turnaround in the context of economic transition. Corporate restructuring is the way government improves the performance of the undertakings while retaining public ownership. The two day training workshop was facilitated by Prof. Dr. Jayashankar from Maastricht School of Management of The Netherlands. Micro leasing needed in financial institutions—IFC The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group that invests directly in companies and guarantees loans to private investors, wants financial institutions to embrace micro leasing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development. According to Brian Kirungi, IFC’s Team Leader and Legal Specialist, micro leasing would reduce current barriers affecting those that have little or no access to finance for establishment or expansion of their businesses. He said during a workshop was organised by the Association of Micro Finance Institutions (AMIR) in collaboration with IFC-Rwanda Leasing Development Programme and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB)that Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) are better placed to offer micro leases due to their presence in rural areas. According to the AMIR Chairman, Faustin Zihiga, the initiative improves operations of MFIs, since it is another level of micro financing. Atete Rugege Karimba, the IFC’s Leasing Programme Operations Analyst, explained that micro leasing is more affordable for the poor and a more effective way of giving finance. A micro lease would range between Rwf75,000 – Rwf2,500,000, the minimum value for leasing. In case of an asset, it gives people with little or no property an opportunity to own an asset that can be used as collateral. Ends
