Every large project that Rwanda has deemed strategic to complete has been called a ‘white elephant’ at some point in time by naysayers, armchair experts, donors or even all three simultaneously. According to them, these 'grandiose' projects serve no purpose other than wasting hard-earned taxpayer (or donor) money.
In pre colonial Southeast Asia, receiving a gift of a literal white elephant was both a gift and a curse because while these elephants were considered sacred and prestigious, they were also expensive to care for and impractical to use for labor. The person receiving the white elephant would often go broke feeding and caring for this exotic gift.
They were often more trouble than they were worth. While the practice of giving someone a huge mammal no longer exists, today the term ‘white elephant’ is used metaphorically to describe something that may have seemed like a good idea at first but turns out to be burdensome and not as valuable as expected.
President Kagame, with his dry wit, tells the story of the first ‘white elephant’, the Kigali Intercontinental Hotel and by doing so he reminds his audience of just how ‘out of the box’ Rwanda’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) strategy was when it started getting implemented in the early 2000’s.
Donors (and even members of the government) resisted the idea of building a five-star hotel, saying that it would be a waste of money, money that was better spent on building roads and repairing schools and health centers.
Confident that the five-star hotel would kick start the non-existent MICE sector, the Government ignored the donors and went ahead with the renovation of the then Hotel Diplomat and in 2004 a five-star hotel facility, under the InterContinental brand, was opened to great fanfare.
It’s my belief that that single hotel (now called the Kigali Serena) as well as the founding of Rwandair in 2002, laid the foundation of Rwanda’s tourism industry; the two ‘white elephants’ birthed an industry that in the first six months of this year, brought in $247 million as per Rwanda Development Board statistics while directly and indirectly employing tens of thousands of young people.
The next white elephant was the Eurobond-funded Kigali Convention Center (KCC). Built at a reported cost of $300 million and completed in 2016, KCC was thought to be a waste. Today, you’d be hard-pressed to visit the facility and not find almost every space fully utilized. And not only that, KCC helped birth the nascent domestic events industry.
The subsequent white elephant was the Kigali Arena (now BK Arena). Completed in 2019, at a cost of around $104 million, this 10,000-seater facility is starting to help Rwanda grab a share of the $500 billion sports industry. The renovation of the Amahoro Stadium (at $165 million) is just another step in this direction.
The investments in basketball have started to bear fruit at the national team level because for the very first time in our history, our men’s and women’s national basketball teams placed 3rd and 4th at the African Championships.
That, in the words of President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), Amadou Gallo Fall, is "a big deal”. The fact that the BK Arena is generating income beyond just a few sports events is a ‘big deal’. And lastly, the investment ecosystem that Amahoro Stadium and BK Arena is creating in Migina is ‘a big deal’.
On Monday, I was honored to be invited to the groundbreaking ceremony for the ‘Zaria Court’ . The $25 million facility, financed by a consortium of international investors, including Masai Ujiri, Toronto Raptors president and vice-chair and Giants of Africa co-founder and Denver-based property developer and businessman Andrew Feinstein, will include an 80-room boutique hotel, restaurant, rooftop lounge, fitness centre, wellness space, co-working area, and retail space.
Expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, this investment will not only spur even more investment in the former 'red-light district', it will create a template for what can be done across the country. For example, what’s stopping local investors from building something like Zaria Court around the planned Muhanga Stadium?
Those that call the facilities that Rwanda is investing in ‘white elephants’ simply don’t have a clue. What this government has been doing over the last two decades is to move strategically. First it ensured security for all by investing in law and order. Then it invested in transportation (Rwandair) and hospitality (InterContinental).
Then it was conference facilities (KCC) and then Sports facilities (BK Arena/Amahoro Stadium). All the while empowering young people and supporting a local private sector. The result? What we are seeing today. The thing that amazes me is that we are just at the launch phase. Can you imagine what it will be like with the new ‘white elephant’-the Bugesera Airport? Can you envision how that investment will transform the greater Bugesera District area? I don’t think we have seen anything yet.
The writer is a socio-political commentator