Fred Oluoch-Ojiwah
17 June 2009
(Page 2 of 2)
TNT: Where do you see Rwanda in 5 year's time?
JR: I believe that Rwanda will continue to amaze the world. The source of this country's energy and abilities is still not understood by the press and the outside world and may not even be all too well understood by many of our own people.
As Rwanda emerged from the tragedies of 1994, it has laid some crucially important moral foundations. The pace of the rebuilding has shocked everybody; but it is the moral foundation that has made the building possible.
Once you commit to telling the truth, not stealing, forgiving, and working for the common good, then things that would otherwise be difficult become quite easy. If we keep our feet firmly planted on the moral foundation we have built over the past 15 years, then I believe that the best is yet to come.
TNT: Is it true that part of your brief as CEO is to introduce private sector style of management and approaches into public service
JR: This would be giving me far too much credit. President Kagame introduced the private sector style long ago. My humble task is to help support and encourage that style that long predated me.
TNT: Tell us something about the Joe Ritchie that we don't know
JR: I'm probably most proud of my "supporting actor" role in raising ten kids. If we are to be judged by the results of our work, I would like to use them as my Exhibit A.
And let me not forget to say that I have used Rwanda as a tool to assist me in that job. Long before I had ever met a Rwandan, most of my kids went to an Anglican church in the US that reports to a Bishop in Rwanda.
And one of my daughters had come to work in his orphanage. So Rwandans were responsible for helping me with my most important job long before my job was to help Rwanda.
Who is Joe Ritchie?
He is a global business leader who has been called a "maverick manager," a "math genius," "someone who can capitalize on chaos," and "one of the sharpest minds in the options business."
But, Joseph J. Ritchie, the new Chairman and Chief Executive of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) would probably just prefer to be called Joe.
Joe Ritchie has had an enormously successful business career by always thinking and operating "outside the box."
Joe, 62, was born in America, but he spent part of his childhood in Afghanistan and earned degrees from universities in the U.S. and South Korea.
He worked as a bus driver and security guard before he began trading commodities and started Chicago Research and Trading (CRT), a company that became the world's largest proprietary trader of options.
After "singlehandedly revolutionizing the options markets," according to Trader Monthly, Joe sold CRT for more than $225 million USD.
Before the end of the Cold War, Ritchie started what is now the oldest U.S.-Russian joint business venture, which spawned more than 80 companies.
Joe's businesses have always been recognized for their unconventional, people-focused management styles that emphasize a culture of teamwork, trust, and informality.
Joe's non-business pursuits read like those of an action movie hero. He and his brother privately funded an attempt to unite Afghanistan and overthrow the repressive Taliban regime.
As a pilot and aviator, Joe broke several of Chuck Yeager's world speed records, and he served as the Director of Mission Control for Steve Fossett's successful balloon flight around the globe.
Joe also helped raise and educate 10 kids with Sharon, his wife of 38 years.
Before assuming his current role as Chairman and CEO of RDB in September 2008, Joe spent the past six years as a volunteer business ambassador for Rwanda, introducing the country to CEOs from global companies like Starbucks and Costco.
He continues to serve as Co-Chair of President Kagame's Advisory Council and as a leader of the "Friends of Rwanda" network.
In all these things, Joe Ritchie marches to the beat of his own drummer. A man of faith with an adventurer's heart, Joe doesn't measure success in dollars or francs, but in the joy and progress of the many lives he touches.
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