Minister tips ICT industry to drive growth

The growth of information communication technologies will increase employment and boost the country’s competitiveness and economic growth overtime,” Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the youth and ICT minister, has said.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Nsengimana speaks at the event as Uwineza looks on. The New Times / I. Ngoboka

The growth of information communication technologies will increase employment and boost the country’s competitiveness and economic growth overtime,” Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the youth and ICT minister, has said.Nsengimana added that this would also ensure provision of quality services and products. He was speaking at the launch of Techno Brain, an international software development company, at Umubano Hotel in Kacyiru, Kigali on Tuesday.A modern IT laboratory, with fully-equipped ICT infrastructure, was also unveiled during the event.Yvette Uwineza, the Techno Brain country manager, said the facility was one of the efforts by the firm to contribute to the country’s growing ICT sector.The firm, which started operations in June last year, employs 20 Rwandans and is expected to recruit over 100 more in the coming months. It recently won a tender to train the Rwanda Development Board staff in ICT use. Rwanda’s ICT landscape has evolved greatly in the last 10 years, especially after the laying of the fibre optic cable and the introduction the National Data Centre and e-governance services, as well as the rise in mobile telephony penetration. The International Telecommunication Union 2012 report ranked Rwanda as one of the developing nations with vibrant ICT markets, along with Bahrain, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia.