Smart Rwanda initiative will drive ICT growth

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The initiative aims to allow Rwanda to become a highly competitive, agile, open and innovative smart economy with the most favourable business climate, which attracts large-scale investments and rewards entrepreneurship, therefore enabling fast growth and exports, leveraging ICT innovations and transforming the nation into a smart society.

Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister of Youth and ICT, says, "In Rwanda, we are steadily moving towards our vision of becoming an information-rich and knowledge-based economy and society, and an ICT hub in the region. However, our focus is not just technology, but how it can be used to deliver better services, create jobs and transform the Rwandan society and economy in a constantly changing environment. This is the focus of the Smart Rwanda Plan. We acknowledge Ericsson's leadership in connected societies across the world and are leaning on its expertise to accomplish this in Rwanda."

In this partnership, Ericsson will be a trusted advisor, systems integrator, and implementation partner for the solutions and services required in the development and launch of the initiative.

Fredrik Jejdling, Head of Region, sub-Saharan Africa, adds, "Rwanda's ICT landscape has significantly evolved over the last few years. Our role as a trusted advisor will see the deployment of services such as e-health, e-education, e-government, smart utilities and cybersecurity protection, to fully leverage the infrastructure investment and empower people to reach their full potential. Our vision of a networked society in Africa is being actualised through this and we are happy to be able to support Rwanda on this exciting journey."

The partnership will be a long-term collaboration between Ericsson and the respective government agencies involved; focused on building capacity and eventually being handed over to the government along with selected private sector players. Based on the leading role that Rwanda plays in the Smart Africa Alliance, this collaboration will establish a Public Private Partnership model that can benefit other members of the alliance.

Upon the finalisation of scoping the required solutions, all involved parties will jointly agree on the investment business models that best suit what is required to most efficiently roll out this new vision. Additionally, the inclusion of outside participation from third party investors will be discussed and finalised.