Focus Media (Kigali)
Timothy Kisambira
10 January 2009
The Private Sector Federation (PSF) has received a four-year grant of US$ 1 million (Frw 550 million) from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) in support to the ongoing Rwanda Private Sector Capacity Building Project.
AfDB's Mukete looks on as PSF's Hategeka signs the grant. (courtesy photo)
The grant comes after the application and negotiations by PSF, made through the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA).
Emmanuel Hategeka, the PSF secretary general, remarked at the grant signing ceremony that Rwanda's economic performance has gradually gained strength over the past ten years, and the private sector is on the right path with respect to the goals set out in the country's Vision 2020 aimed at a private-sector-led economy.
He added that business people, especially those at the grassroots, will be trained in areas such as; business management principles, accounting and bookkeeping, taxation, business innovation, and use of appropriate technologies.
Referring to the nationwide business operators' census conducted by PSF last year, Hategeka pointed out that Rwanda's private sector is largely composed of micro and small scale enterprises (MSSEs), which poses a big challenge because the majority of such companies lacks capacities to do innovative and competitive businesses, hence the need for ongoing support.
"We hope that other development partners will also support the project," he said, in reference to the AfDB grant. The SG added that through the trade and industry ministry, the government of Rwanda is also contributing, and that the newly formed Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is also negotiating for an over US$ 7 million grant to rollout a Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project in the near future.
"Rwanda has for the last couple of years registered impressive economic growth, attributing it to visionary political leadership and good economic policies" said Hiroshi Murakami, the resident representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Rwanda. JICA is one of the main sponsors of FAPA.
Jacob Mukete, the resident representative of AfDB, for his part said that the bank, like other international organizations, is so far impressed with how Rwanda puts financial resources to use, pointing out that AfDB and the World Bank are appraising finance to methane gas projects.
He however noted that AfDB is well aware that Rwanda is still faced with capacity challenges at institutional level, which hinder effective execution of such good economic policies, and also expressed AfDB's commitment to continue supporting capacity building projects.
PSF decided to embark on a private sector capacity building project that hinges on four pillars: filling the institutional capacity gap in championing public private sector interfacing; empowering SMEs; building partnerships with the public sector to strengthen the framework for effective policy processes; and unmet capacity needs among members.
Some of the areas FAPA comes to address are; institutional analytical framework to undertake research and develop knowledge on issues pertaining to the private sector; development of public private partnerships to tackle the complexity of trade negotiations; effective dialogue at national and regional levels to improve ownership and quality of policy-making among stakeholders and more effectively address both internal and external challenges of economic development; poverty alleviation and globalization; and enhancing direct Business Development Services (BDS) for new and established business in terms of technical business support services.
The main beneficiaries of the project are the private sector actors and the economy of Rwanda in general, and MSSEs benefiting from PSF services.
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