African success

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, led the force that put an end to genocide in 1994. He became president in 2000.

Since then, the country's economy has grown about 7-8% per year. Compared to, say, America's historically typical 3%, it seems like really fast growth. It is fast - but consider that African countries have been behind the rest of the world economically, and Rwanda had a long way to go.

They still get foreign aid too, though they're working to eliminate it. Their economy is dominated by agricultural exports (ex: tea & coffee), tourism, and then less than 20% is foreign aid.  The World Bank considers Rwanda an African success with declining poverty and a stable business climate.

The Robb Report says that a Rwanda safari should be on your wish list.

photo: Upscale Lodges in Rwanda's Virunga Mountains

African trade

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Africans are creating a path forward to economic prosperity. The prosperous countries of the West didn't create their wealth by taking "foreign aid," and African countries won't create their wealth that way either.

Pres. Kagame of Rwanda is the new African Union chairperson. He says that they must prioritize trading with each other rather than depending on foreign aid.

photo: au

"We have helped perpetuate the narrative that Africa is a burden. This way of thinking has been around for decades. Fixing it won’t take a year, but it need not take twenty years either.

"[W]e should choose to respond with discipline & facts, in order to refocus us on our common humanity . . .

"We must create a single continental market, integrate our infrastructure and infuse our economies with technology.

"There’s no country on our continent that does not want to be part of a more assertive and visible Africa." 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Rwanda clothes

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"In a country often defined by its horrific genocide in 1994 . . a new generation of passionate designers wants to create a future where their African nation is known for producing stylish clothes & accessories, not only for its dark, traumatizing past."

Muhire Patrick created his own garments for a wedding in 2009, and it became a business when people started asking him to make theirs. 

Priscilla Ruzibuka launched her label of children's clothes in 2016 after graduating from Oklahoma Christian University. "She was intent on finding a way to help women affected by the genocide," who mostly worked as maids. Now she only employs underprivileged women.

Daniel Ndayishimiye runs an organization which supplies training and tools to 100 Rwandan designers. “I have a purpose,” he said. “I want Rwandans to be proud of donning designs by fellow Rwandans. ”

(from NYTimes)

Fed up

People of Rwanda in central Africa have been pulling the country together since the 1994 catastrophe to create better lives for everyone. Background stories are here.

Thriving businesses of all kinds, creating value and creating jobs, are essential to prosperity. Rwanda's new clothing industry is very small - and it is undercut by shiploads of used clothing coming in from the West. "African governments have become increasingly fed up."

To protect the young clothing industry, Rwandan President Kagame has placed bigger tariffs on those containers full of used clothing.

(Oddly, the clothes that Americans donate for free wind up being sold (cheaply) to poorer countries . . and it's a billion-dollar industry. Kind of hard to believe.)

(cont'd tomorrow)

Mama Rwanda

Rwanda lost hundreds of thousands of lives, maybe a million, in 1994. The mass murders created horrific memories that many of today's adults have to live with. Read some of the background under the "Rwanda" label on the right.

Women make up 70% of the population, often without husbands to help raise the children. A film has been made to tell the story of how some of them have managed to survive. It's called "Mama Rwanda."

They can, yes

Passionate words from African Bishop Rucyahana in Rwanda:

"Entrepreneurship should become something that is the language and the life of our people. We are working now, partnering with Bridge to Rwanda, to put up a technical university to be able to train people in construction, hospitality, health management, ICT, mechanics, entrepreneurship. 

"And to be disciples of God in transforming their own nation. Instead of training job seekers, we train job makers. We need to be able to move from aid to production, from existing to living.

"It's high time we stopped telling our people they can't do it.They can, yes! We shall do it. In the name of God." 

Rwandan survivors

Rwanda has worked hard (see this blog Dec. 11-13 posts) at recovering and moving on from the calamity of 1994, where up to one million people of the group called "Tutsi" were killed in masses by extremists in the other group called "Hutu."

Forgiveness has been urged on the few Tutsi who remain, but it's not easy.   Some Hutus have confessed, others not.  But apparently they are intermixed to the point where some people are living among murderers of their family members.

It's remarkable.  Go here for The Guardian's contemporary story of this effort to leave the past behind, but only if you are prepared to endure some grisly details.

Rwanda's future

When advisor Malik Fal went to Rwanda, he says he found a determination to develop their own economy and improve the lives of their people (see posts December 10-13).  Much of the drive to achieve that goal comes from their president, Paul Kagame.

His essay in the book, In the River They Swim, explains his vision.

"Rwanda is a nation with high goals and a sense of purpose.  Our vision is to create prosperity for the average Rwandan citizen.  We are attempting to increase our gross domestic product (GDP) by seven times over a generation, which increases per capita incomes by almost four times.  This in turn will create the basis for further innovation, creative thinking, and a host of progressive human values:  interpersonal trust, tolerance, and civic-mindedness.  All this together will strengthen our society . . 

"In all people, you find different kinds of talents, and entrepreneurship is about harnessing those talents and making sure that it takes people to another level in their personal development . . . 

"[I]t gives people a feeling that they are valued and have meaning, that they are as capable, as competent, as gifted and as talented as anyone else. "

I wish them great success!

Rwanda growing

(cont'd from In The River They Swim)

Advisor Malik Fal found that Rwandan national leaders were very determined to improve conditions for the nation's people.    Like other African countries, they have received all forms of aid - but their goal is to grow out of the need for it by creating their own wealth.

(This should sound familiar if you read about economist Dambisa Moyo in my posts a month ago, Nov. 11-14.  She's been advocating this kind of change and sees Rwanda as a good example.  "Following President Kagame’s lead, Rwanda is already obsessed with turning the “no-aid” development theory into a reality.")

One of their strategies was to focus limited resources on industries that had high potential for competitive advantage.  Coffee growers worked hard to produce a better quality product with its better revenues.  Tourism focused on primate safaris and upscale accomodations, triggering infrastructure and service upgrades.

All of this with less foreign aid.  As the World Bank reported (see "Rwanda Changing" post two days ago),  "The domestic economy remained strong despite an estimated 20 percent reduction in Official Donor Assistance (ODA) in 2012."

Rwanda advisor

Malik Fal, educated in Africa and the U.S., has worked in global industry (Pepsi-Co) and most recently as Managing Director, Omidyar Network Africa.  

He's seen big changes since growing up in Senegal, which was formerly a French colony and is now independent.  From his point of view, "Political independence without economic independence is meaningless. This is the struggle of our lifetime."   

His mission has been to help Africans create wealth through what he calls "competitiveness" which he describes as:  "the ability to produce and sell good-quality, high-margin products and services to demanding clients both at home and abroad".  Business strategy in emerging markets is his specialty.

So he became an economic advisor to the Rwandan leadership.  Of that experience he says, "I love Rwanda because modern Rwanda is a story of resilience, integrity, and hope." (page 83)

As a co-author of In the River They Swim, he writes, "Wealth creation is the only sustainable way out of poverty, and nations whose leaders do not believe this are nations in danger of remaining poor." (page 93)

Rwanda changing

Next April will be the twenty-year anniversary of something horrific, the mass murder/genocide of 800,000 people in Rwanda.  It's hard to even imagine such a thing, but a web search will turn up the details.  Under colonial rule in the mid-1900's, everyone had to identify with a group.  Extremist Hutus in 1994 located and exterminated the Tutsi and anyone sympathetic to them.

Order was eventually restored, and Rwanda has been putting the past behind them as fast as they can.  Like many sub-Saharan countries, there's a high percentage of extreme poverty.  But a World Bank report says that things have been getting better:

"Rwanda's economy is estimated to have grown by a robust 8 percent in 2012, continuing a decade-long period of strong economic growth. The economic expansion was driven by buoyant private sector activity, particularly in the services sector, where growth exceeded expectations. This strong economic performance has allowed Rwanda to claim for the third year in a row, the title of the fastest growing economy in the East African Community. The domestic economy remained strong despite an estimated 20 percent reduction in Official Donor Assistance (ODA) in 2012."

Rwanda is on track to economic independence.  Next two days:  how that happened.