Rwanda tops EAC as best business destination

Rwanda’s business reforms have earned it global accolades, placing it ahead in attracting investors as global focus shifts to the East Africa Community (EAC).

Business reforms are expected to present fresh challenges to other EAC countries, especially Kenya, which has a bigger economy but has been cited as a harsh environment.

In its latest Global Competitive Index (GCI) report, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Rwanda 80th and Kenya 106th.

The 2010-2011 GCI shows Rwanda is one of the leading Sub-Saharan Africa countries to undertake major reforms in the last one year, an outcome that is expected to drive investment decisions.

This comes at a time when the skittish global economy has reduced viable investment opportunities with focus turning to emerging markets such as Rwanda.

“Policy-makers are struggling with ways of managing the present economic challenges while preparing their countries to perform well in a future characterized by uncertainty and shifting balances,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

“It is more important than ever for countries to put into place the fundamentals underpinning investment attraction which are critical for economic growth and development in such a global economic environment,” Mr Schwab said.

The other EAC nations which are Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi are ranked 106th, 113th, 118th and 137 respectively.

The GCI considers 12 parameters that are critical for influencing investment decisions.

These include institutional framework, infrastructure, macro-economic environment, health, education, training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness and business sophistication among others.

Since the end of the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has been pushing reforms aggressively in an effort to break from its inglorious past.

Beside undertaking major reforms to ease the process of investment, Rwanda has fast-tracked investment in infrastructure, with information, communication and technology (ICT) being the largest beneficiary.

According to the World Bank Doing Business report for 2010, Rwanda has undertaken major reforms that have eased the whole process of starting and operating a business.

For instance by reforming its commercial laws and institutions Rwanda has introduced a new company law that simplifies business set-up where registration takes less than three days.

In Kenya such a process takes up to 21 days.