Kigali 19th January 2018- During the 6th edition of the RDB Business Excellence Awards ceremony that took place yesterday at the Kigali Convention Center, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) rewarded investors that stood out in 2018.

Eleven winners including individuals and private sector companies in different categories were awarded as follows: Africa Improved Foods- Exporter of the Year; Garden Fresh- Emerging Investor of the Year; Urwibutso Enterprise-Made in Rwanda Enterprise of the Year; East African Granite Industries- Emerging Made in Rwanda Enterprise of the Year; Legacy Clinics and Diagnostics- Service Provider of the Year; Cow Horns Ltd-Young Entrepreneur of the Year; Pascal Technology- SME; Babyl- Innovator of the Year; GET It-Woman Entrepreneur of the Year; AFRIPRECAST- Emerging Investor of the Year and I&M Bank Rwanda- Investor of the Year.

Highlighting the role of the private sector in Rwanda’s development agenda and how the RDB Excellence Awards tie into RDB’s mission of fast tracking investment in Rwanda, RDB Chief Executive Officer, Clare Akamanzi, said ‘’We recognize the role that private sector plays in spearheading Rwanda’s economy and that is why we are celebrating the business community this way”, adding that RDB`s main mission is to successfully make Rwanda the investment destination of choice in Africa.

According to the CEO, today, Rwanda is ranked 29th in the world in the World Bank Doing Business Report as one of the top 30 countries in the world in terms of ease of doing business. “This ranking is proof that Rwanda is making progress towards its goal of becoming the premier destination for investment in our region,” she mentioned.

Hon. Amb. Claver Gatete, Minister of Infrastructure who was the Guest of Honor to this significant ceremony, congratulated the winners for their outstanding contribution to the national development. He said “To the winners, we join hands to celebrate with you and we hope that these awards will be an inspiration for you to work harder to expand your businesses but also encourage more competitiveness to promote an innovative business culture in our country”. “These awards keep getting bigger and better it is a sign that the private sector is growing”, he added.

Minister Gatete acknowledged that 2018 was marked by a level of investments registered increased from $1.6 billion to $2 billion; trade deficit slightly increased by 2.5%; exports increased 12.5% and imports modestly increased by 6.5%.

He therefore, urged full participation of private sector in creating jobs, leading innovation and driving productivity to make the lives of people better in order to have a more prosperous nation as government`s one core objective and called upon the entire business fraternity to join efforts to greatly contribute the country`s economic transformation.

Minister of Infrastructure reiterated Government`s commitment to continue putting in place infrastructures: roads, water, electricity, houses to ease investment in Rwanda.