Rwanda can be central Africa’s investment hub- investors

An American-Slovak investment group, Bay View, has pledged to remain firm and committed to the continued investment in Rwanda for the development of mineral resources, industrial development, human resources along with the enhancement of the health sector of the country.The group that currently owns a Cassiterite exploration and research concession in Kibuye, is eyeing spreading their investments into the distribution, service and eventual assembly of construction and agro equipment and other related products and services. Speaking to The New Times, the group’s Rwanda’ country manager, Bill Quam, revealed that their next target could be to venture into assembling construction and agro equipment and the production of fertilizers. “Rwanda offers one of the best investment conclusive climates in central Africa and doing business in the country has been eased by a set of reforms that favor investors,” Quam said. The Kigali-based equipment could assemble the Locust line of Way Industries loaders for the mining, public infrastructure and agriculture sectors and export them to Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda “We were attracted by Rwanda because the country is politically stable and its leadership is keen on attracting investments” Quam said “With all the instability in Central Africa, our group believes Rwanda offers security to our investments”. “You know, Slovakias GDP comes mainly from the manufacturing and services sector, the countrys industry plays an important role in its economy. This is the approach we intend to use here” Quam revealed Slovakia’s main industry sectors are auto and electronics manufacturing with a strong engineering base. Since 2007, it has been the world’s largest producer of cars per capita. The group will be looking to attract world class manufacturers to set up assembly plants in Rwanda. The entrepreneurs said that many potential investors in the developed world lacked factual knowledge about investment opportunities in central Africa. In 2003, the group’s president, Rod Marshall, attended a Rwanda investment conference in Boston, USA. “We hope to transfer knowledge to the local employees and staff through an education programs so that they can take care and grow with our businesses” “The Rwandan economy is considered as a rapid growing economy. The country is being transformed to a market-driven economy”. “Major economic reforms are nearly complete, the economy is booming in private sector hands and foreign investments are rising”. In the 2010 World Bank’s Doing Business report, Rwanda was the world’s top reformer, based on the number and impact of reforms implemented between June 2008 and May 2009. It now takes an investor in Rwanda just three days to start a business. Imports and exports are more efficient, and transferring property takes less time thanks to a reorganized registry and statutory time limits. According to the World Bank, investors have more protection, insolvency reorganization has been streamlined, and a wider range of assets can be used as collateral to access credit. The key areas of reform considered by the report include starting a business, employing workers, getting credit (legal rights), protecting investors, registering property, closing a business and trading across borders. Rwanda sees the Doing Business Report as a major tool that will attract investments to the country whose business environment is making significant strides. Ends

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Rwanda can be central Africa’s investment hub- investors