Women Perform Better Given Same Training as Men

By: Andrew Kareba

Rwanda enters a global competitiveness index for the first time this year at an impressive 80th position after developing closer ties with traditional and emerging partners.

Under the theme” Africa and its Emerging Partners” Negatu Makonnen the resident Representative of African Development Bank (AFDB) says, Rwanda is more integrated in the world economy and its partnerships are diversifying.

E-government, air transport and other sectors are expected to help sustain current growth, said Edward Sennoga country’s economist of AFDB.

He further explains how Rwanda’s inflation decreased markedly from 10.3% in 2009 to 2.3 % but expecting to edge upwards to 3.9% at the end of this year. He says.

“Teachers from India are working in Rwanda providing critical support to advance higher learning” This positions India as second with 14% after China as the first with 39% as Africa’s top five emerging trade partners, says Sennoga.

University graduates remain unemployed, while African countries continue to face shortage of skilled labor and spend large proportion of their national resources on education, the African Competitiveness report of 2011 states.

“When women are trained on the same level with men, they perform better than them”, says Peter Ondiege the chief research Economist of AFDB.

Ondiege shows how the rate of women’s entrepreneurship is higher in the Africa than in any other region and represent almost 40% of entrepreneurship and they concentrate in the informal, micro, low growth and low-profit areas which put them less likely to be active I higher activities, he elaborates.

Mr. Leonard Rugwabiza Director General Planning, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning says, Rwanda’s inflation is the lowest in the region and this will enable the country to improve the domestic policies and use the increased policy space to strike out better deals, Rugwabiza says.

Infrastructure deficit, climate change and private sector promotion are some of the challenges that African Economy and competitiveness face, says Rugwabiza.

Access to finance, tax regulations and corruption are problematic factors that hinder business in Africa. Ondiege highlights.