Rwanda needs to grasp the golden opportunity and market the country’s investment potential at the 2nd East African Investment Conference slated later this month in Kenya. Thinking of the growing trend in the country’s economy, a lot has to be showcased to attract foreign investments, and this should not be left to Rwanda Development Board alone. The 2nd EACIC is expected to discuss topical issues like banking, agriculture and agro-processing, ICT, tourism and other hospitality industries. Over 2000 are expected to turn for the conference and will be drawn from over 30 countries worldwide. Rwanda being a new entrant in EAC and with the elimination of trade barriers after the recently launched EA Customs Union there is expected competition on both inward investments and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). Thus the country has to pro-active when it comes to attracting investors. It is also important for the investors in the country to embark on the government’s strong position to fight bribery and corruption if they are to win potential partners from the expected 2000 participants. Corruption is one of the biggest threats in business and is it is an overwhelming obstacle to sustainable development as well. The other distinctive feature that Rwandan participants must highlight in Nairobi is the huge investments opportunities which require huge sums of money. The question one might want to ask is: Is it possible to secure partners from other parts of region? Some of the abundant investment opportunities that need to be explored include those in banking, agriculture, tourism and infrastructural development. Others are the methane gas extraction, the growing of sericulture a project which calls for Public Private Partnerships. Ones take is that for Rwanda to compete effectively in this regional market, and also be able to attract FDIs, participants should brand and market every opportunity and a friendly environment for the investment available. Through branding potential investments in the country, one can develop high hopes to attract FDIs. This would serve EA member states better because FDI amongst Western countries are getting more limited as the world is in the midst of global financial crisis. Some time back Rosette Rugamba, the Deputy CEO in RDB in charge of tourism and conservation made a call to all Rwandans to brand the country as a strong tool to attract more tourists. This can also work to stimulate investments and to boost exports, but it calls for more campaigns, to educate Rwandans on the potential investments available in the country so that they can sell them to investors. Recently, Rwanda implemented 10 reforms for doing business a move that paves a way to achieving the ‘two digit’ figure in world ‘Doing Business’ rankings by the year 2010. Among these reforms, one major reform cited is the process of getting land titles at the National Land Office. This has been simplified and the time taken to acquire a land title has been reduced to about 9 days from 5 months previously. The government through Rwanda Development Board (RDB) injected Rwf283 million for a countrywide campaign to improve on its customer care service. The initiative is to mitigate the gap identified by research done by the On-The-Frontier Group (OTF), which indicated that poor services is a threat in Rwanda’s economic competitiveness ranking Rwanda the last in the region in terms of quality of customer service. If good customer service is embraced, Rwanda can fetch $40 million (Rwf22.6 billion) a year by 2012. All the above initiatives along with branding the investment potentials are strong tools that would turn Rwanda an investment destination in the region. The writer is a business journalist
