More than two decades on, following genocide, Rwanda has overcome many challenges. Rwanda is a great example of the remarkable transformation from its infamous history. With its fast adoption of technology the country is becoming an emerging tech hub with the goal to become a digitised, middle-income nation by 2020.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) commenced today in Kigali, Rwanda, is a three day conference from 11- 13 May focused on driving the continent’s economic transformation. This is the first time the conference will be held in Rwanda- it makes a fitting place to host this year’s WEF with the theme of Connecting Africa’s Resources Through Digital Transformation.
With WEF being hosted in Rwanda’s connected capital, the key talking points of this year’s WEF Africa conference are relevant for all African nations. Some of the discussions coming out of the conference include:
- Driving radical structural transformation
- Strengthening public-private collaboration on key global and regional challenges
- Agreeing on strategic actions that can deliver shared prosperity across the continent
For Rwanda, this means a strong focus on the transformation of human capital, calling for increased investment in education, health and entrepreneurship. A secondary focus of the conference will also examine financial services. Rwanda has been implementing several programmes to increase access to finance to the extent that 80% of the population now has access. However, the country’s goal is to increase this to 100% to boost urban and rural entrepreneurship.
For more information about how Standard Bank is driving Africa’s growth, visit standardbank.com/CIB.