Business round-up

BRALIRWA unveils ‘Turbo king’ Just after celebrating 50 years in existence, the beverage company BRALIRWA, has now unveiled a new beer called ‘Turbo King’. According to Alexander Koch, the Commercial Director of the company, ‘Turbo King’ will be commercially launched within the next two weeks. “Our consumers needed a strong beer, richer in colour with heavy ingredients and now here we have it,” Koch said.BRALIRWA is jointly controlled by the Heineken Company with a 70 percent stake and government with a 30 percent. Its range of brands includes; Primus, Mützig, Amstel, Guinness, Heineken and is the license holder of the products range of the Coca Cola Company in Rwanda. The new brand, ‘Turbo King’, is a high quality strong brown beer with 6.5 percent alcoholic content. Officials said that it is a full-bodied beer, with a pleasant taste and it will be distributed in 72cl brown bottles stamped with a black, red and yellow label exhibiting a powerful lion. “The 72cl bottle of ‘Turbo King’ will be sold at Rwf 800, and will be distributed in the whole country just after the grand launch,” Koch told reporters at BRALIRWA’s main plant in Rubavu. In 2008 over $6 million was invested in its Rubavu based brewery, to increase capacity and further improve quality. The production capacity is currently 1.100.000 hl per year and over 130 million of bottles are produced annually under the highest quality controls. RRA clarifies ‘MAGERWA fee’ at Gatuna border post If goods are not handled by MAGERWA officers no single payment should be made to the authorities at the border posts, Rwanda Revenue Authority has said. This follows complaints by a section of traders, importing goods from neighbouring countries in the region through Gatuna border. Traders say they are charged depending on the size of the merchandise. “I have personally written to stations about the issue, encouraging our clients who are charged to report to us or even refuse to pay. If MAGERWA has not done handling, no payment is expected to be made to them,” Eugene Torero, the Commissioner General in charge of Customs told Business Times on Thursday. According to a source within the business community who claims to have been charged, MAGERWA officers at the Gatuna border, demand payment from traders while goods of those who do not comply are confiscated. “We are confused because it is not clear whether we are supposed to pay this money or not,” the source told Business Times on condition of anonymity. The traders also say those who bring goods through the Kagitumba border are not charged at all. However, Torero explained that MAGERWA is entitled to a fee if they handle the goods during the inspection even if they do not store the goods. Hotel classification for EAC standardisation to end in december Though classification of Rwandan hotels, to meet the standards of the East African Community (EAC) is set to close by the end of this year, many of the local hotels have not met the basic requirements to be classified. Only seven hotels, have submitted the requirements to be classified and 50 hotels are expected to be classified by the end of this year. EAC classification of hotels paves away for a single tourism destination. In an interview with the Tourism Inspection Officer, Frank Murangwa, said that the deadline to submit a list of essential items for classification is end of October. “We had targeted early this month, to have a list of classifiable hotels, but because classification involves a lot of work, we decided to push the deadline to end of this month,” he said. In a move to help hotel owners to work on basic items for classification about 100 hotel proprietors across the country were trained. BRD awards best performing MFIs In a bid to promote good management of Micro – Finance Institutions (MFIs), the country’s investment bank, the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) rewarded four MFIs that have exhibited good management skills in their operations. The winners include Duterimbere IMF Sarl, COOP-EDU, CAPEC Rubengera and Rwanda Microfinance limited. The institutions won brand new Toshiba laptops at a ceremony held at Nyandungu, La Palisse Hotel. The move follows efforts by government to strengthen operations of MFIs in order to encourage the culture of saving. In an interview with Business Times, Jack Kayonga the Acting Managing Director, BRD said that rewarding MFIs supplements government’s decision earlier this year, to boost their operations in order to increase their penetration country wide. “A small portion of the Rwandan population is able to access the financial services and products. The government is investing a lot of money through micro-finance institutions to increase penetration so as to provide the needed financial services,” Kayonga said. He also noted that BRD is holding discussions with stakeholders in the industry to agree on conditions set by government through the Central Bank, for them to access finance from the institution. Nakumatt to open up more outlets in Rwanda Nakumatt, a leading departmental store in Rwanda is set to open-up more outlets. This was revealed by the company’s Managing Director, Atul Shah, during an interview with Business Times. According to Shah, Nakumatt is still keen on expanding its operations beyond Nakumatt City Centre. A number of property developers have been approached and officials say the management is reviewing at least two potential sites within Kigali and its suburbs. “Rwanda is a fast growing country and its political and economic stability is a sure plus for any discerning investor,’ said Sha adding that; “Space and facilities permitting, we shall most definitely open up other outlets.” Nakumatt opened its doors in Kigali last year, promising to invest $7m (about Rwf3.5 billion) in a world class supermarket. Minister urges RBS to update laws The minister of trade and industry Monique Nsanzabaganwa has called upon Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) to update its laws. The call was made last week during the minister’s visit to the bureau. Her visit was meant to assess the improvements the bureau has made since her last visit last year. RBS is charged with developing and implementing standards, establishing proper test laboratories, control the quality of imports and exports as well as local traded products and services among others. The minister pointed out that the existing laws under which RBS is run, were put in place four years ago, and in order to improve the efficiency in the institution, there should be changes to facilitate smooth operations. Ends