Author: IGIHE

The pledge was made on Saturday after KBS Ltd staff and management joined residents of the area in a community work held in Rudakabukirwa Integrated Model Village.

The village accommodates residents relocated from disaster high risk zones, vulnerable genocide survivors, residents from the first Ubudehe category among others unable to build decent houses complying with Kigali city master plan.

The community work was predominantly characterized by renovation of kitchen backyards and cleaning different parts of the model village.

The Managing Director of KBS Ltd, Emmanuel Habanabakize said the decided to join residents in the community work on request of Gikomero sector officials.

“We are pleased to join residents of this area in a community work. It is our responsibility to work with them to build the nation. Moreover, KBS Ltd headquarters is located in Rusororo sector in Gasabo district. So Gikomero residents are neighbors. Indeed, we have buses transporting passengers from Remera bus stop to Gikomero,” he said.

Following the community work, residents requested KBS Ltd to increase the number of buses to the area because the existing one is not enough.

I usually go to Kigali from Monday to Friday. I leave the area in the morning to return the evening but other passengers hardly find a bus along the day. Accepting to increase the number of buses would reduce high cost of transport on motorbikes over the shortage of buses in this area,” said Françoise Murekatete.

Tharcisse Ndihokubwayo highlighted that they spend Rwf 2000 for motorcycle transport heading for Kigali.

KBS Ltd transport officer, Aimable Gatwaza said they will endeavor to make a bus available along the day particularly on the market day.

Gikomero residents used to pay Rwf 900 to reach Remera bus stop. The bus carried passengers from and to the area once in the morning and evening hours.

Gatwaza explained that they will make available a minibus carrying passengers along the day on Monday and Thursday to facilitate their movements to and from Musave market.

“We are going to arrange for a bus carrying passengers along the day on agreed hours,” he said.

The Executive Secretary of Gikomero sector, Louis de Gonzague Rwamucyo commended KBS Ltd for responding to residents’ request facilitating daily movements.

Over the past decade, we have registered tremendous growth as the leading multimedia private company in Rwanda that provides a wide range of services including the popular IGIHE.com (which is published in three major languages including Kinyarwanda, English and French), video and audio production, content development, live streaming, various IT related services – amongst many other services.

Our portfolio has grown, and we are committed to the continued provision of quality, affordable, innovative and diversified products, and services to our esteemed clientele in the private, non-governmental and public sectors. Our flagship online news portal IGIHE.com continues to play a significant role in fostering access information and free speech.

Before the entry of IGIHE, the Rwanda media landscape consisted of mainly radio stations that provided news and information once a day; one TV station (the national broadcaster), and many newspapers that published once a week. With IGIHE operations, the news media outlet has been at the heart of providing the latest news and stories for the past decade in Rwanda.

Publishing in major languages including Kinyarwanda, French, and English – IGIHE has greatly contributed to the improvement of the reading culture and uptake of technology as more citizens acquire smartphones and consistently read IGIHE website for all news categories targeting an audience which includes local Rwandans, the Diaspora as well as the international community.

Being one of the pioneers of online news publishing in Rwanda – IGIHE has over the past decade, consolidated its position as the preferred source of accurate and informative news about Rwanda and the whole world. With the increased internet connectivity in the country, IGIHE has greatly contributed to empowering Rwandans’ right to access to information and freedom of expression through the open discussion forums (through comments and feedback).

Over the past decade, IGIHE has revolutionized the media landscape in Rwanda through embracing technological advancements through online news publishing website that promoted instant access to quality news stories by updating the website on average every 30 minutes.

A look back over the ten years’ journey, IGIHE consistently adapted to audience demand for innovation in quality of reporting with rich and diversified service offerings primarily on impact-driven community awareness programs across the country through creative storytelling approach to identify, document and spread information aimed at fostering accountable and inclusive governance, and contributed to media self-regulation policies.
With support from different partners and stakeholders, IGIHE has successfully produced demand-driven stories on key areas of general public interest ranging from environmental protection, human rights, participation in elections, entrepreneurship and innovation, tourism, creative arts, entertainment and many other aspects of everyday living.
Our growth in the past 10 years

As the media industry keeps evolving, IGIHE continues to revamp its service offerings to maintain its position as the leading media house which has led to increased investment in infrastructure and innovative products to ensure that our clients access the best quality service and value for money.

According to the respected Google Analytics, IGIHE online traffic statistics have considerably increased to current figures that indicate above ​1,000​,000 unique visitors per month, with more than 10,000,000-page views, and with an average duration per session of more than 7 minutes. In comparison to other media houses, the research shows that IGIHE content attracts people ranging from various classes especially the elite and the middle class.

We have built a strong online community through regular engagement with our audience which has enabled IGIHE brand to be amongst the best brand social media influencers leveraging on our large community on our official social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) with a combined 5000,000 actively engaged followers

According to statistics from the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), internet penetration in Rwanda has increased to 47.8% in 2018 which is an opportunity for audiences to access IGIHE as main source of information enabling advertisers to grow their brand and business performance through partnering with us.

We are committed to skills development and nurturing talents especially targeting youth and women at the center of recruitment strategy. We are passionate about building skilled journalists and promoting specialization in reporting on key sectors of the economy. Over the past decade, we have been fortunate to work with amazing talents that contributed to the growth of the company as well as their own career development.

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As the country implements the seven years (2017-2024) National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), it is imperative that the media in Rwanda has a crucial role to play – IGIHE is committed to contributing to the country meeting important milestones enshrined in NST1.

To effectively position the IGIHE brand in the highly competitive and challenging media landscape, we are focused on undertaking extensive internal business reorganization to ensure that we improve and increase our services to respond to our audiences’ demand for best quality service delivery, greater customer experience, and innovation.

We will strengthen the operations in our key business units such to diversify our revenues and enhance business performance and growth. In the pipeline, we are excited that we will soon roll out new business ventures that will greatly expand our portfolio.

These expansion efforts are geared at ensuring financial self-sustainability, attract more partnerships, facilitate comprehensive upgrade and scaling of the company’s products and services portfolio to ensure optimum performance to appropriately address the market demands and leverage on the immense opportunities available on the local and regional market.

We are committed to the consistent growth in audience metrics, revenues, profitability and consolidate sustainability of its achievements and growth registered over the decade.

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We are grateful for the continued trust by the readership who motivate us to keep innovating and new product development to meet the growing demand for quality and diversified services by holding us accountable to professional journalistic ethics.

We are extremely indebted to our extensive portfolio of esteemed partners – both public and private institutions – that have built a tremendous business relationship with us. Doing business together has enabled us to grow and delivering improved services to the market.

We are thankful to all our competitors for the great motivation and together we have consistently found solutions to our enormous obstacles encountered in our sector. Despite the challenging environment, we continue to aspire to be the leading provider of multimedia services in the country and ensure that we maintain our position as the leading online media in Rwanda through new product innovations and quality of service delivered to our readership.

Our immense gratitude goes out to all our staff (past and present) that work hard to ensure that IGIHE realizes its mandate as the leading provider of accurate, instant and diversified news and information as well as other products and services that have contributed to the socio-economic development of our nation over the past decade.

On this occasion when all Rwandans hold celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the Liberation of our country, we commit to continued collaboration and increased efforts to deliver instant and accurate information as well as innovative and quality services to our esteemed audiences.

Kagame revealed this yesterday as he concluded his two day State Visit to Botswana with a press conference alongside his counterpart President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi.

In March 2018, Rwanda Development Board, through its subsidiary, the Rwandan Convention Bureau, signed three-year deal with Arsenal FC becoming Arsenal’s first official sleeve partner as part of the country’s drive to become a leading global tourist destination.

The three-year deal saw ‘Visit Rwanda’ becoming Arsenal’s official Tourism Partner. The ‘Visit Rwanda’ logo features on the left sleeve of all teams.

President Kagame said the partnership also relates to business because the message featured on sleeves communicates that Rwanda is a suitable place for investment.

“Critics say this is not where we should be putting our money. It has been a very short time and I want to tell you we have more or less returned what we spent, and waiting for much more,” he said.

“In the last 10 years we used to get no more than 100 million a year. We are now getting 450million, the estimation is in 5 years we will be hitting 1 billion. The partnership was signed in that context. People are entitled to their opinion but I am also entitled to do whatever benefits my country,” added Kagame.

Rwanda earned US $ 438 million from tourism revenues in 2017, an increase by US $34 million compared to earnings in 2016. Rwanda expects US $800 from tourism revenues in 2024.

The commemoration was held on 22nd June 2019 in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana.

The secretary of Rwandan diaspora in Botswana, Claude Rukundo has told IGIHE that the community endeavors to hold the event every year.

The donation was sent to Rwanda on 27th June 2019, the same day President Paul Kagame visited Botswana.

“This year, we decided to subscribe for Mutuelle de Santé for 300 genocide survivors. Our community comprised of 20 families raised US$ 1000. We delegated a representative to hand the donation to Ibuka,” said Rukundo.

Rwandans living in Botswana are involved in different charities. They have been providing medical insurance since 2015. In 2017 and 2018, they subscribed for Mutuelle de Santé for vulnerable genocide survivors in Nyanza and Rubavu district.

Under the “University of Rwanda – Sweden Programme for Research, Higher Education and Institutional Advancement”, the grant will support production and use of scientific knowledge of international quality that contribute to Rwanda’s development and enable poor people to improve their life through research carried out at the University.

Specifically, the support will establish conducive environment for research and postgraduate training at the University of Rwanda. It will also improve quantity and quality of research and other competences in policy making as well as increase the number of PhD and Masters holders in Rwanda.

Soeaking at the signing ceremony, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana said : “ This program supports Rwanda’s ambitions to develop into an innovative knowledge society and aims to increase the production and use of scientifically based knowledge contributing to Rwanda’s development.”

The Swedish Ambassador to Rwanda Jenny Ohlsson highlighted that Rwanda’s highly ambitions national development strategy aims to transform the country to a knowledge-based economy which requires investment in research and professional skills development.

Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) supported research capacity building in Rwanda since 2002 through the National University of Rwanda (NUR) until the formation of the University of Rwanda (UR) in 2013.

A total of 67 Rwandans students have graduated with a PhD from Swedish universities since the partnership began of which 50 PhD students graduated during 2013-2019 and 30 continuing students will graduate during 2019-2021.

Additional 80 new students will enroll for PhD Studies where 110 Rwandans will be doing a PhD during 2019 – 2024 under this program. In this 4th Phase, 39 of the total 80 students will be studying in Rwanda but will also have a chance to spend some time in Sweden.

The program offers PhD studies in Agriculture, Rural transformation, Infectious disease, Digital health, Undernutrition, Peace and security, Social work, Bioenergy, Waste Management, Water Engineering, Sustainable energy, Mathematics and statistics, Management and Economics, E-governance, Geographic Information Systems, Law and research Management.

The program also offers the flexible conditions for women who want to undertake PhD. The program will improve library services and the ICT infrastructure and contribute to create conditions that enable quality scientific research at UR.

Ngirente and the outgoing Dutch Ambassador commended the bilateral relationship between the two countries and agreed that Rwanda and The Netherlands will continue strengthening the ties.

Their discussions also focused on Future Drivers of Growth report that was launched last year.

They talked about the importance of this report and what the Rwandan Government is doing in implementing the recommendations.

Ambassador De Man appreciated the real clear-cut vision of the Government of Rwanda and revealed that The Netherlands applauds the progress that Rwanda has made and is ready to continue partnering with the country in its development ambitions especially in programs highlighted in the Future Drivers of Growth report.

Ambassador Frédérique de Man has been in Rwanda for four years, since August 2015. She will leave by the end of July 2019 while her successor will come in September 2019.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday by. Rwanyindo Kayirangwa Fanfan, the Minister of Public Service and Labour on behalf of the Government of Rwanda and Nasser Bin Thani Juma Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratization representing the Government of the United Arab Emirates.

The signing ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Youth, Rosemary Mbabazi and the CEO of Rwanda Development Board among other officials.

Other Members of the Delegation from the United Arab Emirates who were present at the signing ceremony include: Amb. Hazza Mohammed Kharsan Al Qahtany, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Rwanda, Dr. Omar Abdulrahman Saleh Abdullah Alnuaimi, Assistant Undersecretary for Communication and International Relations, Abdullah Ali Rashid Abdullah Alnuaimi among others.

The signed MoU is expected to facilitate labour mobility between Rwanda and the United Arab Emirates, allowing Rwandans to access jobs opportunities in the United Arab Emirates through exchange of workforce as well as transfer of skills and knowledge.

Through this agreement, the Government of Rwanda seeks to promote job creation for competent and skilled Rwandan Youth in line with the National Strategy for Transformation (NST1).

This initiative coupled with interventions of the National Employment Policy and Labour Mobility Policy will secure more opportunities for Rwandans both in country and at regional and global labour markets.

Minister Rwanyindo explained that Rwanda expects ample benefits from signed agreements. “There a lot of job opportunities in UAE. We assure them that this country is open for guests in public and private sectors. Under the signed agreements, Rwandans will be facilitated to get jobs in UAE,” she said.

UAE accommodates foreigners from over 200 countries of whom approximately 200 are Rwandans in different businesses.

UAE Minister of Human Resource, Juma assured Rwandans of protecting their rights at work.

“Foreigners working in UAE contribute to national economic development, improve their wellbeing, and support their families as well as mother countries through earned salaries. We have laws granting protecting employees’ rights and the employer. We enacted a policy pushing for timely payment of salary. We are a country with well-established systems protecting citizens and their rights. We are pleased to welcome Rwandans coming for different jobs in our country,” he said.

Both ministers also discussed cooperation to promote implementation of labor laws.
Rwanda, UAE enjoy outstanding relationships. UAE opened embassy in Kigali on 8th March 2018. At the time, UAE offered scholarship for 20 Rwandans to study at universities of the aforementioned country.

Both countries enjoy existing cooperation in investment and tourism.

The pledge was made yesterday as President Paul Kagame accompanied by First Lady Jeannette Kagame started a two-day state visit to Gaborone, Botswana at the invitation of President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi.

During the visit, President Mokgweetsi Masisi and President Kagame held a bilateral meeting with members of their delegations before the signing of bilateral agreements in the areas of trade, investment, health, tourism, mining, peace and security among others.

President Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame also attended a State Banquet hosted in their honor by President Mokgweetsi Masisi and First Lady Neo Masisi.

Speaking to participants of the banquet, President Kagame expressed delight for his first visit to Botswana and conveyed to all people of Botswana, warm greetings from the people of Rwanda.

He said that ‘Rwanda and Botswana share the aspiration for the wellbeing and prosperity of our peoples, and we are pleased to be here, to strengthen our friendship and bilateral cooperation’.

Kagame explained that both countries’ officials have been working together to strengthen partnerships in priority areas that will contribute to transforming the lives of the people of the two nations.

“I have no doubt that we shall succeed in this important task. This is because we are both committed to delivery, transparency, accountability and involvement of our people in their own development. Rwanda and Botswana are both committed members of the African Union, and we continue to work together, as well as with other member states, to integrate and advance our continent,” he said.

Both Heads of State last met in January 2019 in the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Kagame visits Botswana after completing a working visit in Madagascar where he attended the 59th anniversary of Madagascar Independence Day.

The premier who was officially opening the Fourth Malabo Montpellier Forum at Kigali Marriott Hotel highlighted that one way of developing the continent would require increasing investment in agriculture as it considerably contributes to Africa’s economies, food security, agro-processing industries and exports among others.
Agriculture sector accounts for about 32% of the GDP in Africa.

He shared with participants, a number of initiatives implemented by Rwanda within the framework of digitizing its agriculture.

Among them he cited: National Information Communications Infrastructure (NICI) policy was elaborated and the Ministry of ICT and Innovation has been established to address national priorities related to digitalization to foster national economic growth and fast-track poverty reduction.

Currently, the Management Information System (MIS) allows the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources to get timely data from Districts.

Furthermore, an Agricultural market pricing information system e-Soko has been initiated. This digital platform provides market prices on agriculture products.

In collaboration with development partners, we a digital project with various mobile services was designed. This project aims at providing rural farmers agricultural information and knowledge to increase their income.

Premier Ngirente also mentioned some of the challenges that are still hampering the agriculture sector. including insufficient agriculture financing, low level of agricultural mechanization, limited agriculture professionalization, climate change and low capacities to meet standards and manage price volatility on international markets.

He called upon policy makers to de-risk the sector so as to attract more investments, and continue empowering youth to embrace agriculture as an attractive and competitive business, strengthen research and extension use of modern technologies and improve agricultural literacy for all involved in the sector.