On 11th and 12th of July I will be presentating in Mainz at the conference of Rwandan Diaspora Germany e.V. Its about „Abanyarwanda baba mu budage nk’inkingi y’iterambere rirambye mu Rwanda“ („Ruandische Diaspora in Deutschland als Akteur für die nachhaltige Entwicklung in Ruanda“ - Rwandan Diaspora in Germany as a actor for sustanable development in Rwanda). Thanks to president Providence Tuyisabe for the invitation.

The Rwandan government wants to use advanced information communication technologies, or ICTs, to transform its traditionally agricultural society into what has been dubbed “the Singapore of Africa”. (more…)

On Tuesday I had the great pleasure of meeting the Minister in the Presidents Office in charge of Science, Technology, Scientific Research, Information and Communication, Excellency Prof. Romain Murenzi. I told him about the project ‘Open Source Africa’ and we discussed the influence the project could have on the IT business in Rwanda. Prof. Murenzi told me about the more than 120 IT projects the Government of Rwanda is about to start and indicates, how central the information and technology sector is for Rwanda and the ‘Vision 2020’ of the country.

Prof. Murenzi offered support for my project and will me provide me with additional information about the IT companies in Rwanda.

Karitanyi Ntare works as the project manager of E-ICT in Kigali. He worked a few years in the US as a programmer, but then he came back to Rwanda to build a software company in his home. “First, I planned to try it for just one year and go back in the United States, if it didn’t work”, he told me. ”But I stayed. Why should young programmers go out in foreign countries, when they can live and work at home.”

E-ICT provides local solutions, small networks, applications, data bases and data analysis mainly for the public sector. 45 people work for E-ICT. Part of the working force are 14 programmers, who work in PHP and Apache. “When I came back to Rwanda, my goal was to enter the local market – and build capacity.”

His idea was, to setup E-ICT as an outsourcing source for IT companies in the USA. “But why not Europe”, he shrugs his shoulders. And the main advantage of Europe is evident: “The European market is closer – it’s just a six hour flight from Kigali”.

A cooperation network for European and African companies - Karitanyi Ntare likes the idea: “African IT companies don’t like disadvantageous partnerships”, he declares. “We don’t need aid, partnerships has to be sustainable”. African IT companies may not have the same project management and quality standards as European IT companies do. But: “There is a learning curve”. After a few projects with European companies African companies can attain the quality level of Europe. Mister Ntare thinks additionally that a web based cooperation network is not only good for an African-European cooperation: “There is a need for IT solutions in Africa. It would be helpful, if African IT companies could come together and cooperate.”

At my visit at Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, I was very puzzled, as I see busses with the “Yahoo!” sign on them. I was told, that Yahoo! was the biggest taxi company in Rwanda.

I am not sure, if Yahoo! knows, that there is a Yahoo! in Rwanda …

But: Perhaps is “taxi driver in Kigali” an alternative job for all the employees of Yahoo!in the US, which will be laid off in the future. The weather is better - and they still can work under the Yahoo! sign.

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