Private sector members to meet President Paul Kagame

Members of the business community will meet President Paul Kagame Tuesday, next week to discuss pertinent issues in the private sector. Officials of the Private Sector Federation (PSF)—an umbrella organisation which represents the interest and needs of the business community, say the annual meeting dubbed, ‘Presidential Investors’ Roundtable’ will tackle the challenges investors encounter in the country and the way forward to improve the general investment climate. “It is another opportunity for investors to also showcase their investment projects in the country,” said Antoine Rutayisire Manzi, the PSF Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Growth. He explained that the meeting with President Kagame emphasises government’s commitment towards private sector growth as an economic engine. Manzi also said that the event can be considered as being part of the entrepreneurship week organised by the PSF, having not attended the global entrepreneurial event in Macedonia last month. The national week started Wednesday with the PSF organising a VIP annual dinner at the Gikondo Expo Grounds. The dinner was intended to have guests share experiences and discuss challenges. PSF officials say that it was also a way of thanking the federation members for their contribution towards Rwanda’s growing economy. There are currently about 46 VIP members while more are yearning to join. Some of the VIP members include MTN, Bralirwa, and Commercial Bank of Rwanda (BCR). According to officials, the membership scheme makes the federation (PSF) more private oriented. “It brings the members closer in the federation’s development programmes.” As part of the celebrations of the national entrepreneurship week, Manzi said that PSF will also award the Business Plan Competition (BPC) winners on Monday. The competition is an annual programme initiated by the PSF in collaboration with government and the World Bank (WB) through its Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project (CEDP). It is an annual competition which focuses on providing capital to young and upcoming entrepreneurs with innovative and profitable business ideas. This year 50 entrepreneurs will be awarded $500,000 (Rwf275.6 million) availed by the WB towards the competition that embraces development oriented enterprises for impacting on employment and income generating activities. The global entrepreneurship week is an international celebration of enterprises, aimed at unleashing the creative ideas of young people across the globe. This year, the event attracted over 75 countries was also intended to involve entrepreneurs in solving society’s problems such as poverty and climate change through economic development. The 2008 global entrepreneurship week was the fifth of its kind while the national event is the first in Rwanda. Ends

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Private sector members to meet President Paul Kagame