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hello i'm kathryn klein i'm the vice
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dean for social impact at Wharton and
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I'm delighted to be here today with
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Francis guitari Francis is the chief
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executive officer of the Rwanda
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development board and a cabinet member
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in the government of Rwanda he served
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previously as principal private
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secretary to the President of the
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Republic of Rwanda and also as the chief
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economist and deputy head of policy and
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strategy in the office of the president
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of rwanda so Francis thank you so much
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for being here with us thank you thank
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you for having me that's wonderful to
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have you here so uh we want to talk
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today about business and Rwanda and
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development of business in Rwanda a
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common phrase we here in the United
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States and around the world is Africa is
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open for business certainly Rwanda is
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open for business before we get into
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talking about business and the private
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sector in Rwanda I think it may be
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helpful for our listeners and viewers to
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hear more about Rwanda itself as I know
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you know when we say Rwanda and people
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think of Rwanda unfortunately what comes
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to mind for many is the tragic history
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of the genocide in 1994 and they may
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know a little else about Rwanda so what
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would what should people know about
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Rwanda today thank you very much
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Catherine I think people need to know
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Rhonda as a nude Wanda in fact when we
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talk about Rhonda now it's almost as if
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Rhonda had a new beginning starting in
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1994 and since then we have had let's
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say every bath of a nation because what
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many people around the world will always
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remember is that in 1994 our country
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Rhonda had a terrible genocide a million
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people killed three million people
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displaced internally others outside as
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refugees infrastructure destroyed it was
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a failed nation without governance or
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any economic talk of since then we have
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a new country
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thanks to the leadership that was able
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to recover the country the country and
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restore its economy and restore the
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confidence of the people and return the
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refugees and put back safety and
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security of property and people now we
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have an economy that is fully functional
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that has more than four times grown what
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it was then and in fact a country that
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we believe is beginning to show signs
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very strong science of of take off into
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I would say a different stage of
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development so the idea of Rhonda being
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open for business is not just an idea
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it's a reality and this is as a result
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of both you know public sector and
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private sector right right and and
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everyone is actually one of the fastest
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growing economies in the world not only
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in Africa but in the world that's
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correct in fact over the last 15 years
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Rhonda had featured among the fastest
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growing economies in the last ten years
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alone we have had economy registering on
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average eight percent growth of GDP and
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we have seen that translate into the per
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capita income of our citizens more than
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four hundred percent in fact we just had
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new statistics coming out for the last
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three years alone we have had more than
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600,000 people lifted out of poverty as
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a result of some of this economic growth
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that we are seeing yeah huge success
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story so you are the chief executive
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officer of the Rwanda development board
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so the rdb what tell us what they r DB
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is what is the mission of the rdb so the
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rtb oh the rounded whatman board has a
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very simple and straightforward mission
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it was created as a result of a
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combination that our continued economic
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growth requires big involvement of the
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private sector and so the requirement
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then for private sector investment was
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how
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best can we facilitate private sector
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investment and our DB was created as
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this one-stop Center that would then act
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as the single stop for every private
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individual or company that wants to the
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business in the country with three
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objectives one to service the entire
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life cycle of the business so from
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registration licensing facilitating the
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acquisition of utilities and whatever is
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required to start a business that it
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would all be done in one office the
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second thing then would be to engage
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into the kind of reforms that are
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required to develop competitiveness in
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the economy by looking around the world
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for the best practices how best could we
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turn Rhonda into a competitive
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environment to do business and and then
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the third one was then to facilitate
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these businesses into contributing to
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continue the growth in terms of exports
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in terms of attracting more investments
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in the country and participating in the
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overall economic life of the country and
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that's what we do on a daily basis at
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lgb and and I know that that rwanda has
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risen very rapidly up the Ease of Doing
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Business Index and that's partly because
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it's so easy to open a business and
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register a business in Rwanda correct it
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is it is correct but more than that you
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see about 2008 it came to our attention
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that they are a number of international
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best practices in facilitating
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businesses and we particularly picked
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the World Bank doing business report
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that caught our attention at that time
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Rhonda was featuring about 140
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fifth-place out of about one hundred and
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eight hundred and ninety countries that
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are usually surveyed and we took it upon
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ourselves to have every a reform agenda
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that would improve measuring ourselves
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against the best practices to aim at
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getting among the top ten I'm very happy
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to
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from you Catherine that since then 2008
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Rhonda has improved across the board
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from 145 to about 40 second as we are
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talking about today so tremendous
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improvement but beyond that the reform
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agenda also captures many other issues
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that businesses are interested in that
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help them become competitive and run
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profitable businesses some are captured
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by the World Economic Forum report some
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are captured by the global profitability
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indices some are captured by Gallup
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polls some are captured by international
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governance indices all of which add up
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together to form a very competitive
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business environment that we think today
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is among the best that people particular
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business people should look at more
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favorably and I love this description
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you've given us because it's so it's so
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typical of what I've observed in Rwanda
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of having very specific goals very clear
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metrics you know a big vision and
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accomplishments to those and you know
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the ease of doing business index is just
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one example of that approach it is but
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also that whole culture of having
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targets and working towards them is one
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that permeates across the entire society
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of our country in fact in the public
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sector and government in particular we
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have a process that we call amigo amigo
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which loosely translates into being
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performance contracts where every
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institution of government management of
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the institutions staff and and everyone
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must have a performance contract that
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first articulates what they aim to
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achieve the resources that are required
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to achieve that and accountability
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associated with achieving that that is
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what is helping us to achieve many of
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our targets that we set ourselves to
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right as you know we often bring Wharton
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students MBA students to Rwanda and you
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know they're there astonished by live by
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Emma he go and what it says about that
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the country's culture it's a very
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important principle because even when
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people don't achieve that
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I guess they've set themselves that the
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process that people go through aiming at
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achieving their targets however
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ambitious they may be is very important
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and eventually also results into a
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culture that is results oriented yet I
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have to say that I'm not only the vice
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dean for social impact at Wharton I'm a
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professor and I'm an organizational
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psychologist and we know from abundant
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research the goal setting is hugely
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effective in motivating people in
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improving performance and Rwanda does it
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remarkably well I want to shift the
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conversation a little bit to your role
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in attracting foreign business foreign
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investors to Rwanda and explore with you
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what are your goals in that area and and
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barriers and opportunities you are
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experiencing as you try to bring in as I
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said foreign business and investors to
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Rwanda two goals we have since we're
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talking about goes alia one is to
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increase the the the component of our
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gdp that is private sector investments
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every year we want to make sure that as
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the economy grows the role of the
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private sector is not only growing but
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it's also significant significantly
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growing enough to take on a larger share
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of our economy as you know when you're
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studying at a lower base in development
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you have to have a lot of investments by
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the public sector sure in infrastructure
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and education in health and others but
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with time we realize that it's very
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important that the private sector
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continues to take on increasingly more
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raw so that's one the second one is we
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realize the limitations of mobilizing
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domestic capital and also aim to
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increase the foreign direct investment
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in the economy so that it can have that
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that push for takeoff as we aim to
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transform my con man so currently we aim
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to reach over ten percent of our gdp as
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foreign direct investment by the 2020 we
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aim to achieve over thirty percent of
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private sector investments into the
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economy by 2020
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and those are targets that that inform
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what I do and every day with that then
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we translate into how much we want to
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raise on an annual basis and we have got
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a target of growing private investment
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by a factor of twenty percent on an
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annual basis to reach the kind of
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targets we have there we have set forth
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ambitious goals and and and can you
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describe you know the successful
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elements the things that are attracting
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investment and and where you're finding
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barriers so in what areas are you
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succeeding how are you succeeding and
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interacting investment and what are the
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barriers you find in attracting
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investment in Rwanda in the private
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sector what I am finding is that our
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biggest success actually comes as a
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silver lining around our challenges for
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example Rhonda is 12 million people but
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within a larger environment of east
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african community of of 145 million
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people and so what previously had been
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Cena the small economy has now become a
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large economy that is attracting
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businesses into Rwanda as a way to also
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operate into the way the east african
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community so the market size and
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especially so it's more than just rollin
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death row and as an entry point into a
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step into this toxic and communities of
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five countries in fact more than more
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than that into the common market of
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eastern and southern africa with more
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than 400 million people that we are also
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part of and so by making rhonda a core
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advocate of regional integration and
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also being seen to actually participate
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actively in that we have expanded the
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market reach for any business that comes
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into and and that's building on what
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would have been initially seen as a
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challenge of economy the second thing is
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as you are building our economy the core
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infrastructure that is required for
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businesses to succeed like energy
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transport infrastructure education and
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skill
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training and all those things that are
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critical for businesses to succeed have
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become the core business sectors that we
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have seen businesses participate in my
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opening private universities private
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companies going into training private
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companies going into infrastructure
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construction into energy generation and
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so translating what previously could
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have been seen as disadvantages into
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business opportunities that are also
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championing growth and on top of that so
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interesting right you're describing a
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virtuous cycle of businesses investing
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to create businesses that grow that
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allow other businesses to grow
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absolutely and that's how we see
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building competitiveness in the sense of
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when providing the kind of
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infrastructure that is important for
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businesses to build on and then on that
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platform the businesses begin to access
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the market and become profitability so
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as a result of these initial investments
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you are seeing other sectors emerging in
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the financial services sector for
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example because of this wider market
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that are looking for a hub an area where
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they can consolidate themselves and
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serviced away the region tourism because
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of the Peace and Security dividends you
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have seen in our country and the region
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as a whole tourism continues to be the
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fastest growing sector in our economy in
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fact this last year alone more than
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three hundred and five million dollars
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as a result of tourism making it the
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largest export actually fought for our
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country and and so you're saying both
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the foundational infrastructure for
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businesses turning into business
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opportunities that are making it
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attractive for investors and on top of
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that having all these what we call the
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growth sectors of our economy also
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growing quite significantly right so
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this sounds very very successful do you
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find that there are that for some
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business leaders for some investors
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there's an issue of mindset that they
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think more of Rwanda as a place maybe to
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visit
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or a place to help but not a place to
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come and do business or there do you
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have to change people's mindset about
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Rwanda there is a perception issue over
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all about the African economies about
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risk and a lot of what we see is risk as
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a perception rather than risk as real
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risk of doing business and so there's an
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enormous amount of work that we put into
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demonstrating that Rhonda is a place
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that you can do business and that you
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can realize your business growth
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aspirations but you also realize that
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there are many people that see not just
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wonder about Africa as a place to help
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especially this is true with many
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successful business people who
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high-net-worth have achieved certain
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success in life and want to give back to
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society often attracted by the desire to
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contribute and what we are saying to
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them is that this is very good because
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philanthropy is good and this desire to
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help others and lift lives is very
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important but that we can actually do it
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using kind of hybrid business models
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that you can help while you are creating
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employment and as a result contribute to
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the sustainable growth of of the economy
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right sounds like you're talking about
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impact investing and other strategies to
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grow business as a means of social
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impact I guess that's what you call it a
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professor client because as a way of
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investing into into lives in two
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initiatives that will create impact in
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people's lives while at the same time
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getting back the returns on the
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investments on commercial basis it is
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very very good win-win situation for
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everyone absolutely yes so Francis a
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final question for you as we as you
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reflect on on Rwanda is 21 years since
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the genocide what are you most proud of
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whether you as an individual you as a
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head of our DB or just and over you as
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you think about the country what do you
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tell
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what you're proud of the unity of
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purpose of the random people because you
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see it's not every society that has
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suffered a genocide it's a devastating
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destructive experience that shatters a
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society from its core to see a people
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come back together and have a common
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identity as London's and begin to aspire
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for self-improvement as individuals to
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cater for their families and begin to
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invest in a long term and by so doing
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collectively contribute to the rebirth
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of the nation that we are seeing as
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Rhonda I am extremely proud of that and
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it's the single thing that I that I
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believe is really happening and changing
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the story of Rhonda today great thank
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you so so much for being with us and i
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have to say personally as somebody who's
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visited rwanda many times I've seen that
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spirit and that unity of purpose and it
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is very very impressive and very
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inspiring so I'm so glad you could be
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with us today thank you very much thank
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you thank you very much for having me
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you
