Country
Rwanda

Local Project Partners
--

German Project Partner
--

Donor
Enabel (belgian development agency)

Duration
05.07.2023 - 04.07.2025

Selected MSEs from the construction, trade and manufacturing sectors are supported individually in their investment decisions and expansion processes through training, coaching and mentoring. The business environment, market situation, legal framework and financing options are taken into account. The aim is to ensure that the entrepreneurial decisions achieve sustainable positive effects. Due to the limited domestic market, potential growth effects are also to be taken into account through the export of goods to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As a further growth factor, the use of modern technology should reduce costs, differentiate sales and optimise purchasing. Target group and solution-oriented BDS including professional individual coaching, mentoring and group discussions additionally also lead to bank maturity, which is why, despite the demand orientation of this intervention, FSPs are to be included in the BDS in order to reduce the existing gap between MSEs and FSPs via professional exchange and thus increase financing opportunities for the target group.

The Rwandan government is striving to transform the economy into a service-oriented one. Among other things, high unemployment is to be countered by creating fair employment conditions, which will lead to an increased willingness to work among the labour force, especially among women and young people. A dual approach is to align vocational training with the needs of industry. Generally, job creation is hampered by limited growth opportunities for enterprises. MSEs are rarely able to identify, plan and implement promising investment opportunities. A lack of commercial skills is an additional constraint. The financial sector also fails to play its role in financing MSEs. The information asymmetry between MSEs and FSPs, with low bankability on the part of clients and a lack of willingness and advisory skills on the part of FSPs, means that urgently needed, unsecured, cash-flow-based loans are hardly granted. This is even more pronounced in rural districts such as Rubavu or Rusizi.

Services provided

1. identification of 500 eligible businesses to receive support (including 250 women and 25 people with disabilities).
2. customised transfer of practical business know-how for effective business management, e.g. by adapting already existing DSIK/RICEM modules.
3. providing solution-oriented advisory services to 500 MSEs, supported by 60 selected peer mentors.
4. improving access to finance for selected entrepreneurs by identifying their needs and relating them to FSPs
5. facilitating access to local, regional and national markets, as well as export opportunities for the target group's products and services
6. creating access to technologies and innovations that contribute to business growth and improved productivity.
7. networking of supported MSEs, e.g. high potential entrepreneurs, local and national business support institutions to sustainably perpetuate interventions.