Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, yesterday paid a courtesy visit to the Rwanda Development Board, where she met with senior government officials. She is leading a 9-person delegation of senior women business leaders who are in the country for four days. The visit is the first all-women’s investor mission to Rwanda and to Africa, which has been organized by Invest Africa US, with Mrs. Blair leading the delegation on its behalf. Later in the afternoon, the group listened to pitches from a number of local business entrepreneurs. Clare Akamanzi, the RDB Chief Executive Officer, alongside representatives of cabinet ministries, and agencies took them through Rwanda’s economic growth trends and development strategy along with investment opportunities in Rwanda in tourism, ICT, agriculture and manufacturing. The delegation consisted of top business women including, Barbara Ann Bernard, founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Bahamas-based asset management firm, Wincrest Capital, Fatoumata Ba, a Tech Entrepreneur and Venture Capital Investor, currently the founder and executive chair of Janngo and Managing Partner of Janngo Capital, based in France and Cote D’Ivoire. Others include, Christina Juhasz, the CIO and founding partner of WWB Asset Management, a subsidiary of Women’s World Banking, based in the United States, Raja Jandhyala, the founder and president of YAATRA ventures, an investment platform that develops solutions for complex economic challenges with partners and deploys capital in value-added infrastructure investment opportunities in key value chains for productivity and growth based in the United States. Others are, Noelle-Claire LeCann, an impact investor and the Managing Principal of AlphaSource Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisory where she manages a team of investment professionals focused on environmental and social impact investing based in the United States; Aubrey Hrubry, the Founder and a Partner of Baylis Emerging Markets, a specialist private equity investor in African Markets based in the United States, and Mary Fanaro, the CEO and founder of OmniPeace Foundation based in the United States. Other members of the delegation include, Tunuka Gray, the Deputy Head of CrossBoundary’s East Africa investment advisory team, based in the Nairobi, Kenya office, and Julie Hinks, Special Projects Director at Symbion Group, an investor in the power sector in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
