House of Dawda eyeing Rwanda

Rwanda’s central position in the Great Lakes Region and the good investment climate has become an investment bait. Now multilateral corporations are rushing to invest in the country.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Rwanda’s central position in the Great Lakes Region and the good investment climate has become an investment bait. Now multilateral corporations are rushing to invest in the country.

Latest on the list is the House of Dawda, one of the biggest entrepreneurs in the East African region. The company owns the Britania Allied Industries, Manji Foods and Uganda Pharmaceuticals.

"I will invest not less than 25 million dollars (about Frw14 billion in (Rwanda),” Hasmukh Dawda, the chairman House of Dawda revealed in Kampala recently after returning from Rwanda where he was on a business trip.

Impressed

"I was highly impressed by Rwanda’s pace of development after the 1994 Genocide. Rwanda has made a steady progress. We are planning to set up a factory there,” he said in an interview with the New Times in Kampala.

According to him, it makes business sense to invest in Rwanda.

"It’s much cheaper to produce in Rwanda and supply Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo markets.”

"I was struck by the system in Rwanda .The people are welcoming and I think Rwandans have taken an individual decision to develop their country. People in Rwanda are not asking the government to do things but are committed to supporting the government—something that is rare in the region, he said.

Adding: "There is less corruption and bureaucracy. Rwandans have a feeling of belonging and action, something that still lacks in Africa as a whole.”

His company will also invest in housing and property development in Rwanda under the flag name—Harp Housing Limited.

The company plans to setup affordable, unique and captivating bungalows, commercial buildings and apartments in Rwanda like it has done in Kenya and Uganda.

Ends