RWANDA GETS TOP MARKS FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH
The World Banks report on Doing Business has confirmed what is an open secret across Eastern Africa, namely that Rwanda is the country to do business with, now ranked top across the Eastern African region and in third position in Africa, only trailing second placed South Africa and top rated Mauritius.
Rwanda has also been singled out as the fastest riser in the annual scale together with Georgia, a clear sign that Rwanda Incorporated as this correspondent fondly phrases it, is actually working and producing stunning results in the process. Rwandas success also puts to rest that Africa cannot do it and is a sharp reminder that shortcomings seen elsewhere, in the region and on the continent, are largely due to poor or failed leadership rather than being located on the continent per se.
Other top performers like South Africa, Mauritius or the Seychelles will be glad to see Rwanda join their ranks of the excellent performers as it will also signal the rest of the world that one can do business with Africa, it is just to know whom with. .
Visitors to Rwanda, when arriving at the Kanombe International Airport in Kigali, are greeted with smiles and fast processing and then see when leaving the airport big billboards indicating that they have entered a corruption free zone, another key achievement in Rwanda which deals harshly with this cancer which has befallen so many countries on the continent. Another outstanding feature is Rwandas one stop centre for investors at the Rwanda Development Board, under which incidentally also the public tourism and conservation sector falls, where applications for investments are fast tracked and genuine investors facilitated through the entire process. The Land of a Thousand Hills, risen like the proverbial Phoenix over the past 17 years, a shining example for Africa and a beacon of hope for better governance and greater transparency for our continent.
