The investment promotion arm of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), formerly known as RIEPA, likes to describe Rwanda as a virgin economy that has a lot of potential investment opportunities. That is certainly true for the construction sector, which last year construction contributed 16% of GDP and for which there is great hope that it will do even better if efforts are made to attract investors to invest in the sector.

That investment is sorely needed, because very few of the raw materials needed by the construction sector are manufactured in the country. According to Rosemary Mbabazi Mugisha, the acting director general for investment promotion in RDB, only cement is produced locally, and even this is insufficient to meet the needs. Most of the other raw materials are imported, which makes them costly.

According to Mugisha, there is scope for investment worth US$ 600 million in the country. And to make potential investors warm, an international construction and real estate round-table will be held in Kigali on May 19 and 20.

Mugisha says that entrepreneurs from all over the world are expected to participate, whereas prominent members of the Rwandan public and private sectors are expected to present the case for the country's construction sector. The RDB targets 200 participants, half of them foreigners.

Mission to Canada

Meanwhile, the RDB last week also announced that it is organizing an East African community mission to Toronto and Montreal in Canada. The mission, from May 10 to 15, aims at showcasing investment opportunities in the region as a whole. In collaboration with the East African Secretariat, the East African Business Council, the Canadian Council for Africa, East African embassies, as well as regional investment promotion agencies, RDB will be at the forefront of selling the region's investment potentials.

The mission consists of 60 participants from East Africa, amongst whom 12 from Rwanda. Other participants will be the East African Diaspora in Canada and Canadian investors.

The mission is the first of its kind after reaffirmation in the last Commonwealth East African International Business Forum held in Kigali in 2008 to jointly organize investment missions abroad to promote the EAC as a one market of about 120 million people and one destination.

RDB is expected to present the opportunities in the financial sector whereas Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Burundi will focus on tourism, agro-processing, energy, and ICT respectively.