Information Bank
Find more information about the entrepreneurship and business environment in Rwanda: The policies and strategies that shape it, the forums discussing and implementing new initiatives, and the platforms bringing spotlight to the field.
National policies and strategies
Vision 2020 is the national strategy from 2000 to turn Rwanda in to a middle-income country by 2020. One of the key pillars to achieve this is entrepreneurship and private sector development
EDPRS2 from 2013 puts high emphasis on creating jobs through entrepreneurship and business development:
Rwanda’s national employment program from 2014 aims to create 200,000 off-farm jobs every year during a 5-year period. The program focuses on 4 main pillars: Skills development, Entrepreneurship and business development, labour market intervention, and coordination and monitoring & evaluation.
The national SME development policy from 2010 is put in place to implement vision 2020 and EDPRS2 of increasing off-farm jobs through entrepreneurship and business development. While still valid, this policy is very much aligned with the more recent National Employment program, which is now the main policy paper
Business and economic development
The Ease of doing business index from 2015 by the World Bank Group ranks Rwanda as second easiest country in sub-Saharan Africa to start a business in. Globally, Rwanda is ranked 62.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest review visit of Rwanda, November 2015: “Rwanda’s economic performance in 2015 has been stronger than expected, with growth in the first half of the year averaging 7.3 percent. Construction and other services performed particularly strongly, while agriculture and manufacturing grew roughly in line with expectations.”
UNDP’s country report for Rwanda on achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and lessons learned for the post 2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): ”Helping to strengthen capacities and build effective institututions”
Forums
Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs is a member-based organisation under Private Sector Federation. Unlike the rest of the chambers, it is crosscutting and not sector specific, targeting young entrepreneurs in Rwanda. They focus on capacity building, access to market, advocacy, study tours and networking.
Government entities
Business and entrepreneurship related media
The Accelerator Magazine is a business and entrepreneurship magazine, published quarterly in a print version and also available online The magazine explores, analyzes, and discusses the business environment in Rwanda through a variety of articles, business profiles and commentaries.
Initiated by Akilah Institute for women, www.akilah.net is an online talent community and job platform. The platform includes a online career magazine with news about career opportunities, entrepreneurship and business in East Africa.
The national SME development policy from 2010 is put in place to implement vision 2020 and EDPRS2 of increasing off-farm jobs through entrepreneurship and business development. While still valid, this policy is very much aligned with the more recent National Employment program, which is now the main policy paper