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51% of individual enterprises registered in Rwanda in 2023 are owned by women

By Wycliffe Nyamasege
On 30 April 2024 at 10:09

Rwanda is making strides towards gender equality, with a significant portion of businesses being led by women.

A new report released by the Rwanda Development (RDB) shows that more than half of the individual enterprises registered in the country last year were owned by women.

Among 73,381 individual enterprises registered in 2023, 51 per cent are owned by women. Further, 34 per cent of domestic companies registered had female majority shareholding.

RDB attributes this to ongoing efforts to achieve greater gender balance in the private sector and promote women in business. This includes training and other empowerment forums and conferences organized by the Board targeting women groups.

The women-led investments were part of the $2.4 billion (RWF 3.08 trillion) new investment registrations recorded in the country last year, marking a 50 per cent growth compared to the previous year.

According to RDB, 83.4% of all investments were directed to Kigali City, with the Eastern Province, which came in second, attracting 10.6% of the investments $262.9 million (RWF 337 billion).

Northern Province attracted 2.5% of the investments totaling ($60.8 million to finish third, while Southern Province and Western Province attracted 1.9% ($46.9 million) and 1.6% ($40.6 million) of the investments respectively.

Kigali attracted huge investments in real estate, arts, entertainment and recreation, manufacturing and construction, while the Eastern Province attracted investments in administrative and support services, manufacturing, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, agriculture, forestry and fishing.

The Northern Province registered significant investments in agro-processing, manufacturing, accommodation and food service activities and mining and quarrying while the Southern Province attracted investments in agriculture, forestry and fishing, real estate, agro-processing and manufacturing.

Some of the top investments recorded in the Western Province are transportation and storage, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, accommodation and food services activities and agro-processing.

The investments are projected to create at least 40,000 jobs in the next five years.

In 2023, the investments resulted in the creation of more than 2,000 jobs. Specifically, TekExperts generated over 500 jobs for software engineers, Kivest Ltd contributed 408 jobs through agricultural projects, and C&D Leather Shoes Production Plant added 500 jobs. Additionally, RwandMoz Ltd created 134 jobs for the Aquaculture project.

RDB says the majority of the new jobs will be created in manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and real estate activities sectors.


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