Our SMEs also need business skills to excel

Editor,Allow me to react to article by Aline Akintore, published yesterday titled, “Here is what I think.” First of all, let me appreciate the good job done. This is a very informative article that is worth discussing in a cabinet meeting.The author mentioned two important points that I will build on. The role of academia and SMEs that have little to invest, very true! But do you think our SMEs only have little in terms of funds to invest? Our SMEs also need the technical and business skills to excel in IT entrepreneurship. This is why Nokia was able to conquer the markets abroad for quite a while until competition became very stiff and so forth. As our proverb states, ‘Ijya kurisha ihera imbere y’urugo’ lets go imbere y’urugo straight to our academic institutions like Kigali Istitute of Science and Technology (KIS) that have a big role to play in this arena. I know it works hard to develop skills of many young Rwandans. However, if we want to surpass the odds, we need more than formal education; more creativity, critical thinking and sponsorship is necessary in such a leading institution, our students at the ICT center at KIST need to be taught more than opening and closing a computer CPU. Research done by our computer-engineering students at KIST and N.U.R needs more attention; this is why MIT does what it does today. If we want to come up with our ‘N’- Rokia. Our IT companies need better regulations to enforce business ethics. Moreover, many more have disappeared because of different reasons. I believe that in developing our human capital, supporting innovation, strong collaborations and supporting our creative minds underlies great opportunities in the tech industry; there is no such a word like impossible today but this has to be supported by firm policies and regulations, which Rwanda is good at, at the drawing board. Kenya and the blooming software industry is a good example we can learn from. There is no doubt that Rwanda would benefit from such successful business innovations sprouting from IT.Samvura, USA

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Our SMEs also need business skills to excel