RWANDA’s budding consultancy industry lacks the necessary capacity to influence private sector growth, which is needed to drive the economy to middle income status by 2020, experts say. Davis Mukiza, a Business Consultant, said that strengthening the capacity of consultants would stimulate growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), hence driving private sector growth.“A consultant is a source of knowledge and that knowledge should be expansive enough to provide solutions to challenges or questions that would be raised in their area of specialisation,” he told Business Times. However, Jean Marie Vianney Makuza, the Chairman of the Rwanda Organisation of Professional Consultants (ROPC), attributes weaknesses in the consultancy industry to lack of coordination by industry players.With such weaknesses, he says, consultants have limited chances to influence change in organisations or individuals. Consultants still face a challenge of lack of sustainable incomes since they depend on contracts which are periodical, thus impeding them (consultants) from making long term investments that would rather translate into increased turnovers, he said.“We want to approach financial institutions to discuss how they can design products that would suit us as consultants,” he noted Rwanda heavily depends on foreign consultants, which underlines the limited capacity of local consultants. Local industry players say that foreign consultants are expensive, suggesting that any initiative aimed at developing consultancy would ease pressure on local firms. “We have started building the capacity of consultants and I am optimistic that in the next three years, Rwanda will be relying on local consultants and I believe with our efforts to identify young talents from universities, they will do great work for us,” Makuza added. Gerald Mukubu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Private Sector Federation (PSF), says there is need for consultants to form associations.“I think when all consultants come together under one association, it will be better to build their capacity, lobby and access financing,” he said
