I wrote this after a friend of mine, who runs a business website called Moneyweb (SA) and also produces print insert of a business section of a local newspaper in South Africa, suggested I write an article for them. It appeared in the Citizen, a SA daily in early May 2006.
It was picked up here by the US Embassy staff (Odd hey? Shows they scan far and wide for news) and resulted in a lunch date at the embassy.
Also ended up getting me invited to attend the annual Rwanda Investment conference in June 2006 where I was fortunate to meet with President Kagame over tea.
Rwanda Calling
By Michael Mocke
Sunday 16th April 2006
Bodies litter the streets; blood seeps from the hacked off hands and slashed legs of helpless and wounded Rwandans. Moans, barely audible, fall from the lips of a mother who lies next to the smashed and lifeless body of her baby.
Armed militias arrive at a homestead gate and the head of the house promises money, if only the in turn they promise to use a gun when they kill him and his family. The militias take the money, if he’s lucky they use the gun on him saving further bullets they then hack the rest with machete, who will be left to die over the remaining hours of daylight.
Dog’s scurry from corpse to corpse, tugging at flesh and yelping with savage delight while in the distance - more screams, (human) and howling, (dogs) can be heard over the clatter of gunfire
800 000 (Minimum estimate) die, a massive 10% of the population obliterated in 100 days, 3 million Rwandans are displaced and over 1.2million children are left orphaned. (On this visit to a South African run Aid management outfit I see 220 Orphans and over the road a Catholic convent is home to yet another 300 odd)
That was Rwanda April 1994!
And you thought you knew Rwanda! – Think again. 12 years later this miraculous and tiny nation will amaze you.
Just on the size of the Kruger National Park (SA) and home to 8 million, the most populous country on earth is thriving.
Rwanda has undergone a transformation not unlike our own in South Africa. In fact, the two countries share almost the same birthdays of their new dawn.
April 94 is a month both countries remember, and peg down as the start of their transformation.
Here however, it’s a solemn month marked by deep and sad mourning. Purple, the colour of their grief, is worn everywhere and bunting lines the streets while memorial after memorial is held over a period of 7 days. (7th – 14th April).
A deeply religious nation (Catholic), even preparations for Easter take a slightly lesser role than to those of the Genocide remembrance.
But for the rest of the year it’s about business, and serious business. Here there is only eagerness to work and staff can be found at the office by 7am eagerly readying their desks for a day of work, and just as easily can still be found at the office come 7pm that evening.
It is true that sometimes that work may be a bit misguided and directionless, and to someone trained in office procedures, or from more commerce orientated countries there are often massive frustrations.
But the willing to learn and implement what is taught, is immediate and done with quick acceptance.
For a country that only a few years ago was farming to feed their family belly, let alone provide crop for market. Rwanda has burst from the starting blocks, and now embraces a Government backed vision known locally as “Vision 2020”. Once complete, this ambitious plan will see Rwanda as the backbone to this entire region at the heart of the African continent.
2020 is about readying the country, by setting the steps for positioning Rwanda as a leader of the information society and economy.
To this end a Government backed, and commerce supported, initiative of four 5 year National Information and Communications Infrastructure Plans, is underway.
Step One’s goal was to “Create the support the development of an economic base and establish an environment of accelerated growth and development aimed at transforming the country into an information rich and knowledge based society and economy”, and is now complete.
The country is now in year 1of step two, where the support and strengthening of the initial step will be cemented.
The objective is simple, move the Rwandan economy from an agricultural economy into a predominantly information and knowledge based economy.
To understand the full impact of this, think call centers, IT hubs and perhaps even manufacture?
Call Centers in fact are yet another parallel to South Africa as both the move toward identifying their respective countries internationally as a base for customer inbound call centers of major foreign corporations.
In Rwanda, one may argue, this will be even easier than for South Africa. Most Rwandans speak very good French or English. Many both! (Those that fled the Genocide and even before - went either to the DR Congo, Then Zaire, and were integrated into a French lifestyle and schooling, while others fled North and ended up in Uganda, were English was the main foreign language learnt) the result is that most speak an almost accent less English or French while all have to re-learn their mother tongue of Kinyarwanda.
The other plus, is that the country is very central in time lines and is for now easily accessible, although a recent spat with their former colonial master Belgium has resulted in the only direct flight from Europe (SN Brussels, risen from the former bankrupt SABENA) being terminated, in a tit for tat aviation tiff.
A Rwandan Cargo plane was prevented from leaving Brussels some months back due to the authorities concern for safety. In retaliation, (Although this is denied) the Rwandans grounded the SN Brussels passenger flight a few weeks ago resulting in the latest standoff.
But using the Nairobi gateway there are daily flights into Kigali, while South Africans can fly direct on Wednesday (SAA) and Sunday (Rwandair) and the CEO Mr Manzi Kayihura, of Rwandair told me recently “Watch this space” in a direct response to “When can we see more direct flights from SA”.
Back to the ICT and vision 2020 - The Rwanda Information and Technology Authority RITA website lists the following as key;-
the implementation of special ICT promotion packages, policy instrument and incentives;
the development of the necessary human resources in ICTs and other professional areas;
the implementation a number of national ICT applications across all sectors,
the mobilization and the deployment of the necessary financial and technological resources to support the implementation of targeted programmes and initiatives;
the modernization of the civil and public service, -- one aspect of this being the computerization of their activities and operations;
the development of standards, best practices and guidelines to guide the deployment, exploitation and development of ICTs in key sectors and
Provision of the necessary legal, regulatory and institutional framework to support ICT development in Rwanda.
Many of these are already underway, and/or in place – importing ANY technology such as modems, computers related equipment from PC’s to Servers and even cell phones (If they are invoiced as “Used for DATA”) are given rapid entry and are tax exempt, or very reduced tax applies.
They have their work cut out mind you, neighbours to the East and North have quickly latched on, and it seems that there may be a race to see who will be first with the best infrastructure and economy in place by 2020. In the end it’s all about setting up an ICT spine that will provide the country with its platform for the future.
Recently I was fortunate enough to address students at the local school of Finance and Business in a talk, “Beyond 2020”.
I argued that as Rwanda rushes to meet the requirements of governments’ vision, and skills are developed to build and implement such technological feats, such as telemedicine and rural connectivity. This last week saw 20 open heart surgery procedures take place with the images beamed around the world,– will the average person be able to use the most basic levels of this great technology? – my message was, can, when we get to 2020 Rwanda be sure it will be able to provide the support and administration “back office” to plug onto the spine? A problem most with who I speak encounter in their offices – students can wire up a full network (LAN) but ask for a basic word document or spreadsheet – even a report on sales or inventory and there is difficulty.
However, there is no doubting the commitment to this vision. Already all around the capital, Kigali, new buildings are going up at a rate that makes the recent South Africa building boom seem in a construction slowdown.
Plush new office blocks rise from the open lots while housing development also knows no limits! Along the route I run I am often convinced that I may be in parts of Johannesburg, as Tuscan style villa next to Bali wanna be’s rise up over the local Golf Course, that is a weekly host to yet another corporate sponsored tournament.
Often, I am convinced the next turn that brings me around yet another hill will reveal the ocean – not for nothing Rwanda is known as mille colline! (Land of a 1000 hills) –. For why else would people be building these palaces of opulence? Perhaps it’s to be able to look out and sea (Excuse the pun) another wave of opportunity.
For South Africans, the similarity of the two countries is not only reserved for April 1994 and their potential to be Call Centre hubs. It also goes to a particular yellow branding that is “Everywhere you go”. MTN have indelibly covered the country with airtime kiosks and even branded the local post office “Iposita” as MTN Iposita. A major roundabout (Of which there are many) is known as the “MTN Roundabout” it also happens to be on the very road the president would travel, and does, when he takes his daughter to school.
Oh! By the way, this is not a motorcade President! HE (His Excellency) Paul Kagame is quite willing to drive his own daughter to school, a security details no doubt in tow, but even when the President is on the move its more like Mbeki on route to JHB from PTA, a few flashing lights and an outrider or two. Nothing like the stories of mile long processions that we hear other African Presidents are known to favour.
But back to MTN, the Rwandan arm is jointly owned by MTN SA and the government, or rather a company called Tristar Investments, which is to all intents and purposes Government. Some will argue it’s actually the investment arm of the ruling party.
Having started in the country in 1998 MTN’s growth has been explosive. Currently the network supports 250000 odd subscribers at an ARPU (Average Revenue per user) of an estimated $18.
Its small potatoes when compared to the neighbouring Ugandan MTN operation, where they have just short of 900 000 subscribers or in Nigeria, where they boast a subscriber base of 7 667 000, a 38% growth from March 2005, and that’s just an estimated 47% of market share.
In Rwanda there is competition on the horizon for MTN. A license was awarded last year to Terracom, a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) operator, - don’t panic it basically means instead of assigning a specific frequency to each user, it uses the full available spectrum, while individual conversations are encoded with random digital sequences, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given time. Its technology that the allies perfected in WWII, (MTN uses GSM)
Terracom is part Government owned and when the license was awarded they were also given the local fixed wireless operator – again the Government but privatized – RwandaTel, as part of the deal ($20Million).
Part of their strategy is to provide free “on network” calling to their subscribers for a basic monthly “Network fee”, while at the same time offering cheaper rates to call to other networks (MTN) and international traffic.
Its early days and the network must grapple with early start up issues. But if other countries are any example, when the competition comes, so the base broadens – everyone wins!
Another familiar name to South African investors is Southern Sun, who until recently managed, the local Intercontinental in Kigali. Also the Gisenyi Kivu Sun (Gisenyi is a pebble throw from the DRC’s Goma province on the Western border of Rwanda 3 hours from Kigali)
It seems the deal, that was originally struck (October 2003), gave the management a 13% management fee irrespective of the profitability of the unit.
As a result while the unit plunged into losses, the management company continued to take their cut leaving the owner (Government) with a nasty bill every month. Needless to say South Africans could do with cleaning up their image here a little!
It did not take long for all to start squabbling, and last month the South Africans team saw the porters deliver their suitcases to the nearest taxi and flew out with, perhaps a few sample soaps and shampoos. (Part of an ongoing row they had with the Revenue authority was over the tax on importing the sample soaps and shampoos’ – they maintained they needed the quality of the branded soaps at NO tax charge, while the Authority claimed – “have it made locally and there will be no taxes”)
The latest news is that the Serena hotels – no strangers to East Africa and hotel management in the region, are looking to buy the hotel for $18million but the government is holding out for $22million – who’ll blink first?
Just why the retailers such as Shoprite are not here yet, is less clear. A new mall that will open within two months, has the space for a minimum sized shoprite, rumour was rife it was to be Shoprite. The latest is it will be a Dubai group.
One thing is for sure, beat the frustrations of customs and clearing of goods and put them on your shelves and the Rwandans will happily remove them for you, at full price and from the till.
On that note! Crime is … well what is crime? There is no visible policing but the discipline of the Rwandan is that everything just gets done as it should – I suppose there is petty crime, but I have attended meetings and we will leave the car, locked – yes, but with laptop and other items left in the car and the local colleague is horrified you imply it may be persuaded to leave the car!
While on a trip up country a visiting Kenyan Mzungu (Whiteman) said it best – In Rwanda stress is removed from the equation. That’s exactly true, there is frustration perhaps, but I easily head out each morning at 530 for a run with cell phone to act as stopwatch and iPod to keep me company. There is not the faintest thought that I will encounter any grief along the way.
Consumerism is defiantly on the up here. I spent time on the shores of lake Kivu over Easter, where I met the local head of the largest Toyota franchise in Rwanda, they have 350 New Hilux’s on order and when they arrive they will be gone, such is the demand of all things luxury! (Keep in mind any import vehicle, and they are ALL imported, carries a whopping import tax that makes vehicle prices extraordinarily high)
Where can the South Africans play? Well one area seems ripe for entry – the local building supply arena - think Cashbuild, Iliad and Massmart (Builders warehouse etc)
There are other areas, but for now I’ll keep those to myself.
Then there is tourism – travel to Rwanda currently, is for three main purposes – Gorillas, Volcanoes and possibly a little game viewing East of Kigali at Akagere, but in truth we have the Kruger, and others that are superior.
After that there really is little to entice you to stay, but the country could so easily develop destination tourism and after the early morning trek to see the silverbacks, a slide down the mountain to either Gisenyi or Kibuye, where lake Kivu is just aching to welcome sun worshipers and jet skier, (Those damn taxes again!) and water skiing.
Of the 23 lakes in Rwanda Lake Kivu is the largest at 2699sqm, it acts as the natural border between Congo and Rwanda, and is the highest in Africa at 1459m above sea level.
Moves are afoot to tap the vast wealth of methane gas reserves that lie beneath the deep lake that has an unnatural emerald green mystery to it. If tapped the story goes the resource could power the entire US for a month!
The gas from Kivu could easily provide electric power for much of Rwanda, and allow it to revive its devastated forests.
The Lake has vast quantities of three dissolved gases
1) Carbon dioxide
2) Hydrogen sulphide and
3) Methane.
Carbon dioxide and the hydrogen sulphide gasses mainly come from volcanic activity, while methane comes from lake bed bacteria.
The idea is to tap the methane and burn it to produce electricity. A gas reserve that experts believe could supply the country's electricity needs for 400 years.
Don’t get too excited about investing in that guest house on the shore just yet however! One fear is that unless the methane is able to be tapped, risk of a massive gas explosion potentially killing people who live near the lake does exist.
The new Scientist claims there is precedent. In 1986, Lake Nyos, Cameroon released a cloud of carbon dioxide that had been building up below the surface resulting in the suffocating of more than a thousand people.
Relax! Swimming and water sport are completely safe on the lake and thanks to the methane content Kivu is croc free and can only support a small fish called Izambazo. A welcome companion to the evening Mutzig (local beer) while overlooking the shores of the distant Congo.
But don’t let Rwanda fool you. Like anywhere in Africa Life can, on a moments notice, chew you up and spit you out without a moments warning. But for those with the stomach for her adventure and a passion for her spirit you may just be able to tame Rwanda long enough to turn a profit and perhaps do some good.
The only questions is – when are you coming?
MJM
Rwanda, Kigali
16 April 2006
