Rwanda’s association with Alibaba, Volkswagen making its tech & investment hub in Africa

While the African countries like Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are known for tech eco-system in overall Africa, Rwanda is slowly and steadily emerging as a key tech and investment hub with top players venturing into the market.

In a 2017 report released by Partech Ventures, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya were accounted for 76 percent of the total funding in 2017. Those countries were also considered top three start-up ecosystems to have the highest number of funded per country. However, Rwanda is gradually taking its position as a profitable commercial hub through its ease of doing business despite have a small number of population as reported by Business Insider by Pulse.

On January 6, Rwanda Development Board met with a delegation of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in the capital city Kigali. Although the meet was to ensure the enhancement of agro-products exports to China, the country already made advancement with Jack Ma-led in launching the first electronic world trade hub in Kigali in 2018. It was aimed to promote trade and tourism between Chinese and Rwanda consumers.

In July 2018, Andela Software Developers announced a pan-African tech hub in Kigali. The company also partnered with Government of Rwanda through the Rwanda Development Board, an organization responsible for transforming the country into a global hub for business, investment and innovation.

On the other hand, Volkswagen has also unveiled its operation in Kigali during the mid of last year. Even Yegomoto is said to be closely working with Rwandan government since 2016 to regulate the traditionally informal taxi market.