Focus Media (Kigali)
Stephen Tumusiime
8 July 2009
The East African Community (EAC), which now has a total population of 127 million people and thus constitutes a viable market for major investment, recently undertook a first joint commercial mission to Canada to woo local entrepreneurs as well as the East African Diaspora to invest in the region.
Rosemary Mbabazi Mugisha the director general of investment promotion in the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), explains that Rwanda was tasked to spearhead the mission during the first East Africa Investment Conference - also the first of its kind - held in the country last year.
The delegation included Ministers for Trade, investment promotion representatives and of course members of the private sector.
Five fields of investment were being highlighted - the financial sector, mining, tourism, agro-processing and environmental management - but Mugisha remarks that the mission was open to any investment proposal in other sectors.
She adds that, since some Canadian companies are already operating in the EAC, especially in the mining sector, some of these investors were also asked to testify about doing business in the region.
Mughisha also points out that such joint missions have obvious advantages for all the member states. "Rwanda could go and sell itself as and investment destination with 9 million people, or Uganda as a 30-million-people market, but those are weak proposals compared to offering a market of 127 million people," she says.
The director general adds that it also allows enterprises to invest in different EAC countries without much difficulty, thanks to the integration process.
In Canada, the approach has paid off, because two companies have already registered in Rwanda as a result of the mission, whereas four others are expected to do so, Mugisha explains. The two registered enterprises are both operational in the construction sector, with 2 Continent Company set to invest in a construction training institution while Novatch wants to manufacture building materials such as doors and windows and intends to acquire shares in the Housing Bank of Rwanda.
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