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Rwanda hosts 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa and shows off its technology

Rwanda and its technological prowess is a story that has been emerging for some time. On the occasion of hosting the 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa, Milton Nkosi has written a May 13, 2016 article for BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news online about Rwanda’s ‘technology revolution’,

The Rwandan capital Kigali was a hive of activity this week as the city hosted the World Economic Forum on Africa.

The land of a thousand hills is shaking off its negative image as a country forever linked with the 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

It is breaking old stereotypes not just about itself but also as an African nation.

In the Kigali suburb of Gikondo, I caught the number 205 bus for the city centre, paying the fare with a quick tap of my pre-paid smart card.

Commuters along the route boarded the bus quickly and easily, taking advantage of the new cashless payment system.

There were no delays or arguments about change, the kind you are almost guaranteed to encounter when taking public transport in many other African cities.

The modern bus was fitted with a TV at the front, which played out music videos for those not already texting or making calls on their mobiles.

On the outskirts of Kigali, I visit the assembly plant for a Latin American computer company [Positivo GBH], another example of the country’s technological progress and attractiveness to foreign investors.

I ask the [sic] Juan Ignacio Ponelli, the Argentinean involved in the decision to establish the company’s first African office here: “Why Rwanda?”

“Why not?” he replies, with a confident smile.

“We had been talking to different African countries but I have to say Rwanda moved fast. They have a strong anti-corruption drive and the country has been growing at about 8% per annum for the last few years.”

If you have the time (it’s a quick read with an embedded video and images), I encourage you to read Nkosi’s piece in its entirety.

As for Rwanda’s technology presence as an emerging story, I did a little digging and found two pieces one for the UN (United Nations) and another for TIME magazine.

From Masimba Tafirenyika’s April 2011 report featuring the then new smart card ticketing system and much more for the UN’s Africa Renewal website,

A luxury commuter bus pulls up by the kerb to pick up passengers. A young woman quickly jumps in, retrieves a smart card from her wallet and swipes it against a machine next to the driver. A buzzer approves the swipe and the woman takes a seat by the window. Nothing unusual, something even routine in advanced economies. But this is tiny landlocked Rwanda, one of the world’s poorest countries, which was nearly brought to its knees by genocide in 1994.

The smart-card ticketing system is known as twende. Its introduction in the capital, Kigali, early this year by Kigali Bus Services is the latest in a string of technological advances that are unleashing rapid changes in the economy and transforming Rwanda into a regional hub for business communications and information technology. …

The rise of Rwanda’s economy is gradually getting investors’ attention. According to the World Bank, it is now easier, faster and less expensive to operate a business in Rwanda than in most other African countries. In this year’s “Ease of Doing Business” rankings, by which the World Bank gauges the intricacies of running a company in different countries, Rwanda comes in at 58 out of 183 nations surveyed, up from 143 in 2009. In Africa only Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana and Tunisia fared better.

The World Bank says that a high ranking indicates that a country has adopted laws favourable to starting and operating a company, in areas such as accessing credit, registering property transfers, paying taxes and enforcing contracts. In 2005 an entrepreneur had to go through nine procedures to start a business in Rwanda, at a cost of 223 per cent of income per capita. Today, observes the Bank, it takes only two procedures in three days, at a cost of 8.9 per cent!

It is perhaps the government’s ambitious plans to transform Rwanda into a regional high-tech hub — or “Singapore of Africa” — that has most fascinated many people, including sceptics. With that goal the government initiated the five-year “National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Plans.” The first plan, from 2000 to 2005, focused on creating policies favourable to ICT initiatives. The second, from 2006 to 2010, concentrated on building the ICT backbone, including laying fibre-optic cables. The third, scheduled to run from 2011 to 2015, will speed up the introduction of services to exploit the new technology and, authorities are convinced, will push Rwanda ahead of regional rivals.

There’s also this more recent April 7, 2015 article by Jack Linshi for TIME magazine (Note: Links have been removed),

Under President Paul Kagame, who some credit for helping end the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has taken a number of steps to turn itself around. Provincial boundaries were redrawn, infrastructure was strengthened, a transitional justice system convicted the worst Génocidaires — even a new flag was unveiled to promote national unity and reconciliation. While some accuse Kagame of using his country’s history as a means of controlling its modern politics, there’s no doubting his country’s economic success.

But as Rwanda heals its past, the nation is also forging ahead — aggressively. A government initiative is underway to expand technology and connectivity, with the goal of transforming the agrarian economy into a highly digitized, middle-income country by 2020. With its population projected to reach 16 million by 2020, from 8 million in 2000, the country is looking beyond state funds and international aid to develop its economy: “While both of these must contribute, the backbone of the process should be a middle class of Rwandan entrepreneurs,” according the plan, called Vision 2020.

Vision 2020 is bold, but it’s working. And many outside Africa — and inside — are marveling at how an economy long-dominated by subsistence farming is becoming a high-tech hub — and one of the 20 fastest-growing countries in the world.

Both of these pieces help provide insight into Rwanda’s emergence. The 2011 piece offers more in depth analysis of the various government initiatives while the 2015 piece adds some details about the difficulties the country still faces.

Finally, you can find information about 2016 World Economic Forum held May 11 – 13, 2016 here where you will a find a programme, a list of speakers, and videos.