IGIHE

Author: Publisher

  • Biryogo-Untold story of Harerimana who was locked up in a room for over a year

    Biryogo-Untold story of Harerimana who was locked up in a room for over a year

    {Nyarugenge-Biryogo: Harerimana Djuma, 36, has spent almost 2 years locked up in a room of a small house after family members barricaded the door of his room. Harerimana stated that in order for him to get in and out of the room, he always has to pass through the window.}

    Harerimana’s brothers built an isolation wall instead of a door that connects his room to the rest of the house.

    Harerimana told an IGIHE Journalist who came across his house that he wished to live well with other family members, however, they don’t trust him and he has taken refuge in the consumption of drugs.

    Harerimana advised the reporter that in 2002 he was a student with no financial means to go to college because of family arguments. These family disagreements, he said, have earned him a prison sentence of 5 years and he was later released in 2008.

    “The unjust fate pursues me after my stay in prison. My room is an extension of the prison where I lived for five years,” he said angrily. The young Man claims to be upset because he didn’t get back his identity card from the people who took it when he entered prison.

    “Most of the time I am afraid to go out because I have no identification”

    Gasore Hamath, the Executive Secretary of Biryogo Cell told the press that this young man is somewhat mentally disturbed. When we gave him his identity card back, he revolted and declined to take it because he’s not well.”

    On the other hand, a neighbor of the family claims that Harerimana’s relatives are driven by greed. The neighbor alleges that his family has isolated him because they do not want to share the revenue they receive from their apartment rentals with the young man.

    However, Sefu, Harerimana’s brother rejected those claims saying that the man is mentally disturbed.

    Local authorities have confirmed that the disputes will be addressed as soon as possible.

  • Focus turns to irrigation to ensure more agricultural production

    Focus turns to irrigation to ensure more agricultural production

    {In a bid to increase agricultural productivity, irrigation can en¬sure adequate exploitation of all available land in order to produce enough food for both national and interna¬tional markets. }

    Sylvain Ndahayo from Bunyogombe in Ruhango sector has shown the way. The father of three managed to build a 120-cubic meters pool of water and with a small machine connected to the pool through a pipe, he is able to pump water to his garden.

    Ndahayo is currently growing more than 30 varieties of vegetables including leeks, carrots, parsleys, onion and cab¬bages throughout the year using harvested rain wa¬ter. He is a thriving vegetables and fruits farmer in the neighborhood.

    “In the beginning, I used to spend the whole day fetching water for my crops from down the valley two kilometers away. I was supposed to carry at least 40 jerrycans for watering every day, but the yield was still poor,” Ndahayo recalls the tricky beginning of the small-scale irrigation.

    It’s until 2009 that Ndahayo realized that it was no longer easy to live on his ancestors’ tiny land by farming it traditionally. His property to exploit was all about 0.15 ha.

    “I had no large farmland. That pushed me to look for other means to increase productivity on the tiny land that I owned,” he explains the genesis of his endeavor for irrigation.

    Ndahayo’s commitment was later supple¬mented by material sup¬port including the pumping machine and water pit provided by the agriculture ministry. The pit has capacity to keep water that he uses in farming activities even during dry seasons.

    “My life is based on this water,” he states. “When I see this pit full of water, I’m assured of better productivity with less fatigue. This has really increased my income significantly.”

    Obviously Ndahayo is a man who knows well what he is saying with his four-year experience practicing the small-scale irrigation. He for instance confirms that he earns at least Frw 200,000 per season from a piece of land where he would be getting around Frw 20,000 if he was still exploiting it traditionally – a tenfold increase.

    Apart from his daily consumption, Ndahayo has managed to purchase another farming portion, own a decent house equipped with biogas system electrification and cows that help him get compost for his fields.

    “Some people now contact me from neighboring districts not only ordering some commodities, but also asking for some tips,” he delights for his progression.

    Unlike Ndahayo, many farmers in different parts of the country from east to west still rely on two traditional agricultural seasons; which are sometimes disturbed by unreliable rainfall.

    Nsabimana from western province for instance got five tons of Irish potatoes from his two-hectare farmland last season, while he was expecting between seven and eight tons if there had never been insufficient rainfall.

    Actually, Ndahayo is among few Rwandans whose farming business can’t be affected by climate change. So far, only 24, 528 ha have been covered with irrigation facilities countrywide; with 1,522 ha on hillside. The government is now injecting huge amount of money to fund the construction of these irrigation facilities.

    Some farmers in Kirehe and Nyagatare started benefiting from the pilot projects of hillside large scale irrigation under Government Funded Irrigation (GFI) and say that their yields increased significantly.

    Oswald Ngiribera from Mpanga sector of Kirehe district is one of the farmers who have been benefiting from the irrigation facilities. He harvested four tons of maize last season on his two-hectare farmland where he used to get between 700 kgs and 1000 kgs of maize before he starts benefiting from the large-scale irrigation established in Mpanga since three years ago.

    “I no longer fear to sow seeds anytime along the year,” says Ngiribera, adding that the irrigation scheme allowed him to grow crops three times along the year; instead of two unreliable seasons he used to before.

    The father of seven is now growing vegetables mainly tomatoes and onions and is expecting to earn not less than four million Rwandan francs from a farmland where he used to get barely between Frw 600,000 and Frw 700,000.

    According to the irrigation and mechanization taskforce officials, the irrigation has so far helped farmers increase their maize yields from about 800 kgs to 3.5 tons per hectare while rice production increases from around 1000 kgs to 7 tons per hectare.

    In fact, many Rwandans face the shortage of land as small as Ndahayo’s; a factor that can affect food security if there are no innovative ways like irrigation to increase productivity. Also, bad weather conditions are likely to affect agricultural production since many depend on rain-fed agriculture.

    But one would argue that the country of thousand hills is lucky with a good number of rivers and lakes plus enough rainfall that might facilitate rainwater harvest to make irrigation possible.

    In this regard, officials at the agriculture ministry say plans are ahead to scale up irrigation infrastructure in order to minimize risks that can be caused by insufficient rainfall or scarcity of farmlands.
    Jean Claude Musabyimana, a member of the Irrigation and mechanization Task Force, says they are conducting integrated studies in order to use efficiently water resources in irrigating available farmlands. He for instance says there is ongoing study to see how to use Nyabarongo water in irrigation while studies to elaborate how to use water of Muvumba, Mwogo and Nasho/Mahama are to be undertaken soon.

    The irrigation master plan showed that Rwanda has potential to irrigate and modernize agriculture on around 589,600 ha land, Musabyimana mentions.

    According to the country’s second phase of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2), the government targets to irrigate 100,000 ha including 65,000 ha of marshland domains and 35,000 ha on hillside by 2018.

    Dr Agnes Kalibata, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, insists that the ministry is really committed to promote irrigation scheme around the country as the option to help farmers cope with irregular rainfall.

    “We are looking how we can boost pumping machines so that many farmers can embrace irrigation scheme,” she pointed out. “We can’t afford to see water flowing away while we should be taking advantage of it to secure growing seasons and increase productivity.”

    Kalibata has good reason to emphasize on irrigation in this time when some farmers experienced insufficient rainfall within the first month of growing season 2014 A.

    The minister is optimistic about the irrigation option since between 30% and 40% of available land is close to water. Agriculture is being given special attention since the sector is seen as the backbone of Rwanda’s economy; hence a need of new and creative innovations to take Rwanda’s economy to the next level.

    Rwanda’s annual economic growth currently stands at 8%. And the agriculture sector is among the biggest contributors – it contributed 33% to the country’s GDP last year; hence the government is striving to transform the sector.

    Obviously there is a good indication that Rwanda is keen to reform its farming sector to boost production and draw investment. For instance, Rwanda’s Presidential Advisory Council held late September, focused on sustainable methods to boost agricultural productivity as well as strategies to promote private sector investment into agriculture value chains, in line with President Paul Kagame’s commitment to fixing the country’s biggest employer – around 80% of Rwandans rely on agriculture.

    Officials are now committed to boost irrigation scheme after that the government strengthened some strategic policies such as the Crop Intensification Program, increased use of fertilizer, land use consolidation, and other techniques, that contributed to increase the country’s economy.

    Even though it’s apparent that Rwanda made tremendous efforts to increase agricultural productivity over the years, but the agriculture minister is convinced that there is still a room for increasing productivity through irrigation scheme.

    “Efforts we made in the past have been very fruitful, but we still hope to achieve much more with what we are doing now,” Kalibata points out. “No Rwandan deserves deprived life due to lack of foodstuff while we have what it takes to earn a decent life.”

    This Story Was Produced With the Support of The African Story Challenge, @African Media Initiative

  • Why teenage girls have sex and how parents can help them

    {Imagine a 15-year-old girl who thinks she might be pregnant. This was her first sexual experience. It was unplanned. It was even unwanted, but now she thinks she may be pregnant and she doesn’t know what to do.
    }

    Now imagine another 15-year-old girl who is on her sixth partner this year. She’s been lucky; she has not got pregnant. She’s thinking of getting tested for STDs. She may be regretting her choices, maybe not.

    What is the difference between their motivations and ours? There is really very little difference. The reality is that these girls are simply acting, to the best of their ability, to find a lover of their soul.

    We are relational beings. We desire to know and be known. We crave intimacy. We all want to be loved, recognised and accepted.

    Teenagers are also looking for acceptance and recognition, and without knowing it, they are looking for the lovers of their souls. They are going about it as they assume they must from the messages they are given from our culture. Sex is everywhere: TV, music, movies. Kids talk about it all the time. The casual way in which it is discussed gives you a clue as to how it is approached. Many of the ways sex is acted out among teenagers would shock you.

    What we see are girls trying to fulfill relationship and intimacy needs as well as the need for recognition and acceptance with sex. They are looking for power and equality but do not realise that that is exactly what they are giving away.

    Why do you think teenagers have sex? These are the reasons they give: boredom, nothing else to do, a way to pass the time, hormones, bragging right, goal setting, peer pressure, pressure from partner, curiosity, to get it over with, and sometimes, “they think they’re in love.”

    They talk about sex, yet what they are most interested in is relationship skills. Most girls want to know how to tell a guy, “no” without hurting his feelings. They also want to know how to deal with the pain of a break-up (because they know a break-up is inevitable).

    But most teenagers are verbally sexually active, meaning they talk about sex as if they are participants. And recent studies show that 13-year-olds are physically sexually active.

    This is not only true of the “unchurched” crowd. At the our Pregnancy Care Centre, we see girls from the churches. And there are many we do not see. These girls take care of their unwanted pregnancy quickly and quietly so no one else will know. It is their big secret. Many times it is kept from their parents and even their friends. Secrets like that can be very painful and divisive, and can follow generation after generation.

    Many girls are desperate for love. They feel they don’t have the option to say, “no.” And with today’s society so focused on sex and many girls so willing to accommodate boys’ requests, they may be right. To refuse to “put out” is to lose the relationship, and with the girls so desiring of relationship they feel to “put out” is their only option.

    Sex has lost its sacredness and beauty and has become recreational and casual. It’s gone from being the culminating act of a loving commitment to a precondition, a tryout, for future involvement.

    There is a frequent complaint that boys rarely ask girls out anymore. Instead they go to parties, drink, pair off and if the mood suits, have sex. Young women who feel as sexually free as it is possible to feel are still powerless. Girls like boys boast of their sexual experience, but are aware that their reputation have been badly damaged and that the boys lose respect for them.

    Some girls meet their intimacy needs by creating their own families. They aren’t meeting it through sex. Sex is just the vehicle. They are using men to have children, and are creating their own “family” so they can love, be loved and be needed. They are creating their own “community.”

    Then there is the gang community. When a girl joins a gang, especially in school, she is treated as the lowest on the totem pole. They have to be accountable to the gang and follow the rules. These rules are not for their own good as they would be in a family, but the girls join anyway. For attention and acceptance, these girls find they need to be down and dirty. They laugh at the same jokes, even the sexually degrading ones, and treat sex as a recreation, a conquest, not as an emotional commitment.

    If you are a parent of a teenagers, what can you do to help them make wise choices about their sexuality?

    Let them know your expectation of them in the area of sexuality. Be very clear about your own values and attitudes. Set definite boundaries for them in the areas of dating and weekend activities. Make them accountable to you as to their whereabouts and activities. Sometimes a lack of opportunity is all the help they need.

    Help them see the discrepancies between the media and real life. Use time spent together watching TV or movies to facilitate a discussion on sex and dating.

    Learn to listen. Start communicating early and often. Keep discussion open; don’t over or under explain. Avoid lecture format. Show them what good, responsible relationships should be.

  • Rihanna and Chris Brown set to go public with their rekindled romance

    {Rihanna looks stunning in a sexy see-through shirt and skimpy hotpants on a night out after reports that she and Chris Brown are set to announce a reconciliation.
    }

    The Bajan babe has been busy putting finishing touches to her new album Unapologetic with late-night recording studio sessions but still found time to party in Hollywood.

    Despite her hectic schedule Rihanna and ex-boyfriend Chris have been seen spending more and more time together recently, with Chris breaking off his romance with model Karrueche Tran after he was reportedly seen kissing ex-girlfriend Rihanna during a night out.

    The 23-year-old singer uploaded a video to his Twitter page the day after their split where he openly discussed his feelings for both Rihanna and Karrueche, saying he was ‘in love’ with two women.
    But now it seems Chris has made a choice and is back together with Rihanna, 24, with the pair set to go public as a couple again as soon as she has released her forthcoming album.

    A source told US gossip site HollywoodLife: “She is hitting the studio real hard these days, but talks to Chris every step of the way.
    “As soon as she finishes up with this album, they will be out. She gotta focus and get that album together and stay paid.”
    The insider added that because of the demands of her career Rihanna hasn’t had much free time – but has been fitting in visits with Chris wherever she can.

    They said: “She’s tied up and busy with the album, but she makes time for Chris late nights. She did one night before – I think, like, Tuesday. I’m not sure but I know she saw him this week.”
    And it appears to avoid any further romantic dilemmas Chris has cut all ties with Karrueche and stopped talking to her.

    A source said: “They not talking. He just wants to be done with it and I know Rihanna does too. It’s best for everybody, even Karrueche. The last thing he wants to do is get her caught up again.”
    Chris – who is still on probabtion for assaulting Rihanna back in 2009 – had been dating Karrueche for just over a year when he ended their relationship.

    {The Sun}

  • World Bank to redouble efforts to fight poverty

    {The World Bank Group Development Committee has wrapped up its annual plenary meetings in Tokyo with a resolve to transform the bank into a ‘solutions bank’ that helps eradicate poverty and boost prosperity.}

    World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim called on members to redouble efforts to end absolute poverty.

    “We still live in a world that has more than one billion people living in absolute poverty,” Dr. Kim said at the closing press conference. “We must all work to make sure that the impressive gains in Latin America, Africa, and Asia over the past generation are not lost now.”

    “It is time to bend the arc of history. With global solidarity underpinned by a relentless drive for results, we can, we must, and we will build shared prosperity and end poverty,” Dr. Kim said.

    Addressing the full membership of the World Bank for the first time as president, Dr. Kim said the Bank will establish a “clear and measurable bottom line” including “ambitious targets” for ending poverty and building shared prosperity, streamlined procedures and processes, and incentives for people working for or on behalf of the Bank who can bring results on the ground.

    The plan includes strengthening evidence-based approaches to development by ensuring “virtually all developing countries have timely and accurate data,” said Dr. Kim.
    In its communique, the committee called on the Bank to work with other organizations to accelerate efforts to help the African Sahel, where “hunger threatens the lives of 19 million people and the stability of the region.” The response should bring solutions that enable the region to “permanently escape the cycle of emergency aid, and reach a more resilient and sustainable future in the medium term.”

    Donors meeting on the sidelines of the annual meetings made pledges to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, launched by the World Bank in 2008 at the request of the G20. The United States pledged to contribute an additional USD1 to the fund for every USD2 contributed by other donors (up to a total US contribution of USD475 million), attracting USD30 million contributions each from Japan and the Republic of Korea, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also indicating it would double its commitment.

    The committee noted that World Bank Group must also continue to help countries strengthen conditions for job growth, and asked the World Bank to “contribute actively” to the process of setting global development targets that would take effect after the Millennium Development Goals sunset in 2015. “

  • East Africa: Countries Receive Funding for Electricity Interconnection

    {The governments of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have received funding totaling to $400million [Sh1trillion] from international agencies to implement a regional electricity interconnection project to aid member states share electricity efficiently, reliably and affordably.}

    The project consists of the construction and upgrading of power transmission lines to interconnect the member countries.

    Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Kampala on Oct. 11, Eva Paul from the KfW-German Financial Cooperation said they chose to fund the project in order to assist countries access cheap and affordable power, improve the living standards of the people in the region and foster cooperation and mutual understanding among the countries in the region.

    Other funders of the project include the African Development Bank, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

    Participants at the workshop however observed that challenges like completing the power purchase agreements, differences in languages, completing the tendering process were still hindering the progress of the project.

    “I have advised the countries to first work on these [challenges] so that by 2015 we are sharing power,” Simon D’ Ujanga, the minister of state for energy told journalists on the sidelines of the workshop.

    D’ Ujanga who opened the workshop said Uganda had completed the tendering process and was ready to start construction of the power line from Kawanda–Masaka-Mirama hills and then connect to Rwanda in 2013.

    “It is good to interconnect so that if one member records power cuts it is able to receive power from another,” the minister said.

    Members states have set 2015 as deadline for the full implementation of the project.

    {The Independent}

  • Rwangombwa Named Finance Minister of the Year-2012

    {Emerging Markets has announced that John Rwangombwa, Rwandan Finance Minister, has won the 2012 Emerging Markets Finance Minister of the Year Award for Sub-Saharan Africa. }

    “Rwanda has achieved strong economic growth combined with a significant reduction in poverty rates, despite an increasingly challenging external environment,” said Taimur Ahmad, editor in chief of Emerging Markets.

    “Between 2006 and 2011 poverty in Rwanda dropped by twelve (12%) percentage points from 57% to 45% and extreme poverty dropped from 35.8% to 24.1% in 2011. This reduction coupled with the high average growth rate of 8.2% over the same period demonstrate that growth in Rwanda has been pro-poor and development assistance has been effectively used to change lives especially in rural areas,” Minister Rwangombwa said.

    Rwangombwa aims for poverty to drop further by 15% in next five years as growth in key sectors of the economy is expected to accelerate.

    The annual Emerging Markets Central Bank Governor and Finance Minister of the Year Awards recognise the leading policymakers in each region. The awards are chosen by Emerging Markets’ editorial team, taking into account the views of leading regional experts.

    The winners are announced in our daily newspapers published at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings each year, with the award winning policy makers honoured at an annual awards ceremony during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings.

    Emerging Markets is a unique source of news, analysis and commentary on economic policy, international economics and global financial markets, with a particular focus on the emerging world. Emerging Markets has published daily newspapers at IMF, World Bank and regional development bank meetings for the past 25 years. Emerging Markets is part of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, one of the largest and most respected providers of financial information worldwide.

  • Kenya: Children rescued from Father who has been defiling them

    {Friday, September 07, 2012} – Police in Thika are in hot pursuit of a middle aged father of three who is alleged to have been defiling his daughters night after night at their home in Kiganjo estate Thika.

    Residents said they suspected something was wrong with the children after the man moved to the area three months ago. The children cried every night though the neighbors thought it was normal.

    Yesterday a concerned neighbor invited the children to her home and prepared a nice meal for them. She then asked them a series of questions and they confided in her that their father defiles them.

    The children were taken to a children’s officer who took them to Thika Level Five Hospital and medics’ report confirmed that the girls had been severely raped for a period of time.

    It is still not clear where the mother of the children is. Police are hunting for the father of the children who has gone missing.

    {Kenya Post}

  • Cash Kings 2012: Hip-Hop’s Top Earners, Dr Dre is number one

    {Six years ago Dr. Dre was walking along the beach with Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine, pondering whether or not he should launch his own shoe line. “[Forget] sneakers,” said Iovine. “Let’s sell speakers!”
    }

    It might have been the best piece of advice the rapper-producer ever received. In 2008 he teamed with Iovine and a handful of other partners to launch Beats By Dr. Dre, which now sells more than half of the country’s premium headphones ($100 and up). That’s music to the ears of Dr. Dre, who collected $100 million pretax when handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company last year.

    With $110 million in pretax earnings, Dr. Dre is this year’s Hip-Hop Cash King—despite the fact that his long-awaited album, Detox, remains on the shelf. He’s not the only one on the list who banks the bulk of his bucks outside the recording studio. Diddy ranks No. 2 with $45 million, thanks mostly to a share of profits from Diageo’s Ciroc vodka; Jay-Z ranks third with $38 million, pulling in more than half his annual earnings from ventures including ownership stakes in cosmetics company Carol’s Daughter, the Brookyln Nets and a joint venture with battery maker Duracell (for more, check out my Jay-Z biography, Empire State of Mind).

    “The reality of it is, you want to do something that you own,” says frequent Jay-Z collaborator Timbaland, who ranks No. 20 on the list with $6 million. “You want to own what you put your heart into. That’s how you make money.”

    Kanye West ranks fourth on the list with $35 million, fueled by his Watch the Throne album with Jay-Z and the ensuing tour, followed by Lil Wayne at $27 million. The diminutive rhymester’s latest album, Tha Carter IV, sold a million copies in its first week; he also launched clothing line Trukfit and a partnership with Pepsi’s Mountain Dew, the first major product endorsement in the veteran rapper’s career.

    Lil Wayne is joined on the Cash Kings list by labelmates Drake (No. 6) and Nicki Minaj (No. 8), who banked $20.5 million and $15.5 million, respectively, thanks to new albums, tours and product endorsements with companies like Kodak and Pepsi. Their boss, Cash Money co-founder Bryan “Birdman” Williams, ranks seventh with $20 million. Even lower down on the list, artists are getting paid considerable sums to shill products.

    “We’ve received a lot of income based around endorsements,” says former Def Jam President Kevin Liles, who now manages a host of artists including No. 18 Young Jeezy. “A lot of brands are saying, ‘Hey, there’s a value proposition, instead of this freewheeling spending … I have some guaranteed curators and travel agents that can help me reach the consumer in a better way.’”

    Yet for a few artists, music alone is a viable path to earning millions. No. 9 Eminem sold more albums last decade than any artist, and continues to cash in from his extensive back catalog and occasional tour dates, pulling in $15 million.

    Ludacris rounds out the top ten with earnings of $12 million (for more, see “Ludacris Dreams: A Rap Mogul Diversifies”). The multihyphenate mogul’s non-musical ventures include Conjure cognac, headphone line Soul, voiceovers for RadioShack and roles in movies such as Fast Five and New Year’s Eve.

    “We work so hard that we never get a real chance to stop and reflect on what we’ve done sometimes,” says Ludacris. “So the FORBES list is a great representation of, ‘You know what, wow, we are out here working as hard as hell!’”

    To compile the Cash Kings list, which charts pretax earnings for all living artists whose work is primarily classified as hip-hop or rap, we looked at income from touring, record sales, publishing, films, merchandise sales, endorsements and other ventures. Management, agent and attorney fees are not deducted; earnings are tabulated from May 2011 to May 2012 and based on data from Pollstar, the Recording Industry Association of America and Nielsen SoundScan, and from interviews with numerous managers, lawyers, record executives and some of the artists themselves.

    All in all, hip-hop’s top 20 earners pulled in $415 million last year, the most since 2008’s $515 million. The more recent total got a heavy boost from Dr. Dre’s impressive haul, but it doesn’t mean he’s resting on his financial laurels. Earlier this summer, he and his partners bought back half of the 51% stake in Beats that they sold to HTC nearly a year ago—meaning that fans waiting for his new album might have to hold out a little longer.

    “I understand why Dre didn’t finish Detox,” says Liles, with a laugh. “It’s called Beats.”

    {{Forbes}}

  • TMEA in $7.5m fund for integration-boosting projects

    {Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) has launched a $7.5 million fund to finance innovative projects from the five East Africa partner states that focus on eliminating challenges that hamper regional trade.
    }

    TMEA is a multi-donor funded agency that provides support for increased regional trade and economic integration. It seeks to accelerate the implementation of East African Community (EAC) protocols towards regional integration.

    The project dubbed ‘’Trade Mark East Africa Challenge Fund’, was launched mid this week in Kigali by Mark Priestly, the Rwanda country director for the agency.

    The fund will run for a period of three years, targeting private sector and civil society organizations.

    “A Challenge Fund such as this provides a great opportunity for us to approach business directly and tap into the well of creativity and entrepreneurship that exists out there,” Priestly said during the launch.
    Several challenges such as non-tariff barriers, compositeness and supply side constraints still hamper the region’s fragile trade scenario, he said.

    “In particular, we are looking for innovative and new ideas for stimulating trade and overcoming the trade challenges that Rwanda and the region face,” he asserted.

    The grant invests in innovative projects started by the private sector and civil society organizations that can boost regional trade among the partner states. The fund has already been introduced in Kenya and Tanzania and would soon be launched in Burundi and Uganda, he further noted.

    Rwanda’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Francois Kanimba, said the fund was a timely initiative that would boost the country’s efforts to transform its economy to a service-based one through increased exports.

    “This initiative will open the door to businesses which have innovative projects but have so far been unable to finance them due to the inherent risk involved,” the minister underlined.

    The fund focuses on projects likely to deliver policy and institutional change, enhancing ability to deliver systematic change. “It’s a niche fund that compliments other funds in operation,” the minister observed.
    Kanimba said the challenge fund was an opportunity for Rwandans to compete regionally in accessing the funds to develop their businesses.

    “You have to work hard to be able to get a significant share (of the funds). You will be competing with other regional applicants,” he emphasized, reminding interested applicants to submit their proposals on time.

    Some of the projects to be given priority include manufacturers who set up an innovative supply chain to source raw materials like cotton and vegetable oil seeds from other EAC countries, or telephone companies reducing calling costs by investing in new technologies that overcome infrastructure constraints, he added.

    On the picture: TMEA’s CEO Frank Matsaert, Finance Minister John Rwangombwa and EAC Minister Monique Mukaruliza. (photo Abraham Rumanzi)
    {The Guardian}