Rwanda | Rwanda is an interesting exception, MIT students say

MBA students from MIT listening to presentations from government of Rwanda’s officials at Telecom House Kaciru Kigali on 28th March 2012

A team of 22 Students and 2 Lecturers from Massachusetts Institute of Science and Technology under the faculty of MBA decided to have their Social Entrepreneurship course from Rwanda. The reason they chose Rwanda as a case study is due to current Rwanda’s economic progress or just like one of the student, Henry Rounds did phrase it that “Rwanda is an interesting exception.”

At Telecom House, the scholars met a number of Rwandan government officials including the Honorable Minister of Youth Jean Philbert Nsengiyumva, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of ICT under the presidence’s office, David Kanamugire and Chief Operations Officer of Rwanda Development Board Akamanzi Clare and other officials.

Akamanzi addressed the students on issues regarding the current progress and prospects of Rwanda’s government. She stated vision 2020 as Rwanda’s roadmap that stipulates where the country wants to be in the coming years.

Promotion of private sector, development of infrastructures, complete eradication of corruption, protection of environment, gender equity and promotion of science and technology all meant to raise Rwandans into a middle income nation is what Akamanzi’s power point presentation contained.

Minister of Youth and Permanent secretary in Ministry of ICT

Minister of Youth, Jean Philbert Nsengiyumva explained how the government of Rwanda considers youth to be a potential demographic sector that deserves attention and support.

“The president of Rwanda, His Excellency Paul Kagame chose to put up the ministry of youth specifically to create development projects for youth and job opportunities.” Said the Minister

David Kanamugire also cited the government’s completed distribution of fiber optic cables across the whole nation and a growing number of mobile cell phones users as some of the strategies meant to harness ICT related businesses.

The MIT students posed a number of questions like why is the government of Rwanda more than any other country interested in its population’s development, or when will the government of Rwanda pull out from subsidizing the private sector not to mention population growth challenges.

In a question and answer session, the government officials fully elaborated how each aspect asked already has a road map.

MIT Lecturer Caroline Flammer at Telecom House in Kigali

Caroline Flammer an MIT Lecturer said that “I am impressed by the strong leadership of Rwanda especially as regards how the country’s social economic development is driven.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also known as MIT, is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research