Rwanda Development Board was set up by bringing together all the government agencies responsible for the entire investor experience under one roof. This includes key agencies responsible for business registration, investment promotion, environmental clearances, privatization and specialist agencies which support the priority sectors of ICT and tourism as well as SMEs and human capacity development in the private sector.
Departments
Rwanda Development Board has the following departments
Tourism and Conservation Department
The mandate of the Tourism and Conservation Department is to conserve the rich biodiversity of the Protected Areas and to develop, sustainable tourism in collaboration with stakeholders for the benefit of all the Rwandan People
Asset and business management Department
This Department ensures assets are managed in a professional manner which is critical for financial sustainability and ensure that these investments are maintained for the benefit of the Rwandan economy.
RDB, where many such assets reside, aims to manage the existing assets professionally (and, in some cases, privatize them) and ensure new investments are made that will facilitate private sector entry in the future.
Trade and Manufacturing Department
The RDB Trade and Manufacturing Department special focus is placed on the following aspects:
- Develop and implement the National Export Strategy (NES) that seeks to raise Rwanda’s international competitiveness and lead to significant improvement in the country’s export performance, and thus reduce the trade deficit.
- Identify goods that have a large domestic market, and develop and implement a strategy on how to efficiently produce them within Rwanda without using protectionism or protecting local industries and companies.
- Improving quality of products and services to meet standards.
- Implement an appropriate trade information system that improves access to information on national and international trade flows.
- Facilitate trade by removing barriers and fostering greater integration into regional and international trading networks.
- Provide sector-specific support for viable new industries: silk, textiles, processed fruits and vegetables, dairy products, as well as value addition in existing sectors such as horticulture and leather production.
Human capital and institutional development department
The department has the following goals
- Development of entrepreneurship and of skills in the labour market that address private sector needs.
- Facilitation of skills development of areas of public institutions that impact on private sector growth.
Agriculture Department
The roles of the Agriculture Department:
- To identify and propose to Government key policy and institutional reforms aiming at stimulating agricultural growth
- To identify investment opportunities; develop projects and attract private investors
- To propose public private partnerships (PPPs) for strategic projects
- To provide special support to selected private enterprises (particularly SMEs) with high growth potential, mainly involved in agri-business. Areas of support include strengthening of production chains and facilitation of access to information, markets technology and finance.
Services Development Department
The Services Department’s primary mission is to catalyze the development of service sector for job creation and economic growth. It has two main divisions i.e. the Financial Services Division in charge of financial services and Support Services Division in charge of other services
Financial department covers the following services:
- Business services
- Communication services (excluding telecommunication)
- Construction and related engineering services
- Distribution services
- Environmental services
- Financial services
- Health and social services
- Recreational, cultural and sporting
- Transport services
Information communication technology department
The department aims at transforming Rwanda into a knowledge based economy as the country continues to be one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT and there are several avenues for growth for the ICT sector – from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications development and automation to becoming a regional center for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research.