Explore more than business opportunities with Harvard

Rwanda’s fortunes continue to grow by the day. Renowned Michael E. Porter, Professor at Harvard Business School, recently met with Private Sector Federation officials, an umbrella organisation for private business leaders in Rwanda, to share with them the secrets of excelling at business. He addressed business leaders on competitive business strategies and international competitiveness, invaluable information that Rwanda and its private sector are hungry for. Porter, who has published tens of books and other publications about competitiveness and social care, is a global name for companies and executives who wish to grow their businesses in a smart manner. As an expert, Porter challenged business and government leaders to always have a “strategic” approach to whatever they do. Then there is the issue of what institution Porter is representing. Harvard Business School is synonymous with brightness, with research and researchers; cooperating with man and institution is wealth unimaginable, for Rwanda is tapping directly from an information source that is extremely rich. It is up for the private sector and the government to utilize Harvard’s partnership considering the primary business challenges and opportunities in Rwanda. In the country’s Vision 2020, it is clearly spelt out that the economy has to be private-sector driven. This is a task ahead of Private Sector Federation (PSF). Indeed this is a task that is hard for PSF to handle alone. That’s why the Private Public Partnership (PPP) is key in this endeavour. Porter for instance advised government to encourage the private sector to build strategic clusters to enhance mass production to reap economies of scales. Now that Rwanda has joined a massive economic bloc, the East African Community where there is already stiff competition and lots of innovations, it is up to the leaders of the private sector to take advantage of the Harvard partnership to chart ways of maximum regional exploitation. The government of Rwanda could also explore possibilities of having Harvard-trained human resource, so that the partnership is maximized, and the country reaps in a more permanent way the fruits of this partnership.