It seems there is no stopping the land of a thousand hills.
Rwanda has once again topped the world when it comes to reforming the business sector to promote the private sector and drive economic growth, according to the World Bank.
Good political will has been cited as one of the reasons for an improved business environment.
'Rwanda has adopted a very bold and ambitious approach to reforming its business environment. We benchmark ourselves against the best performers in the world, and we think big,” Loice Kanyonga, Head of the Rwanda Development Board’s strategy and competitiveness department.
The country was ranked first by the World Bank, followed closely by Georgia which emerged second.
Georgia launched the first Public Service Hall in 2011 to streamline business registration.
The two countries emerged top of the 128 governments, which introduced a record 314 reforms set to benefit small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs.
Rwanda has made a number of reforms that have improved the ease of doing business.
Part of the reforms include the digitisation of land records; reducing the time needed to start a business from 43 days to 4 days; increasing access to finance by passing secured transactions laws; and simplifying tax systems, making it easy to comply to tax regulations.
Such reforms saw the country rise up 11 ranks to #29 in 2018 from #41 in 2017. It was second on the continent after Mauritius, which was ranked #20 globally.
In 2018, the tiny East African nation made history after Rwanda Development Board (RDB) registered 173 investment projects in the country worth $2.006 billion in 2018, surpassing the target by $6 million set for the year, a first in the country’s history.
The country is also considered one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, thanks to its rapidly urbanizing middle class.
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