What is the Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center (BREC)?

Muraho!

Most everyone that's visiting this blog has some idea of why I'm in Rwanda, but I thought that I'd quickly explain my what my work will be.

The Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center is a newly formed partnership between Babson College (#1 college in the world for entrepreneurship) and Rwanda's Private Sector Federation (PSF).  The goal of the center is to work with PSF to increase the capacity and productivity of the private sector.  Positive developments in these fields are essential to Rwanda's goal of becoming a middle-income country.  On a micro-level, success can improve the living standards for the Rwandan people, many of whom currently live below the poverty line of $1.25 (USD) a day.  As one of the founding Project Directors, I will live in Kigali and work alongside the PSF to meet those goals.  Our work will be varied, but all of it will be related towards fostering entrepreneurship within Rwanda.

To start out we're going to be working with 12 Provincial Investment Corporations (PICs).   The PICs are essentially investment groups supported by wealthy Rwandan individuals and municipalities that are meant to make equity investments in SMEs in a number of target industries/sectors.  Although, the PICs were established a couple of years ago, they have been paralyzed by a number of issues and thus have failed to make any investments.  Enter the BREC.  Our first assignment will be to work with our PSF counterparts to identify the reasons for the stall and provide solutions that will get the PICs to operate.  This project is really exciting for me because I love problem-solving in a business context and the success of this project could have an enormous impact on Rwanda's nascent financial sector.  We're still working on the details of the scope of this project, but I'll be sure to update as much as possible.

Below, I've embedded a youtube video of the signing ceremony between Babson and the PSF that took place on September 27th at  Babson's Campus.  Enjoy!

Turongera,
Chris

Introduction

Muraho! (Hello in Kinyarwandan)

After a grueling 2 days of crowded airports and cramped airplane seats, we finally made it to Kigali, Rwanda, the city that will become my home for the next 2 years.  I'm excited for the adventures that lie ahead and that’s' part of the reason why I've chosen to start this blog.  Over the next 24 months, my posts will broadly cover three topics:

1. My personal experiences living in Kigali and traveling throughout Rwanda.  I will share the people that I meet, the places that I go, and the food (yum!).  This will give my family, friends, and any one who happens to pass through a general idea of life here.
2. My work here in Rwanda.  As many of you know, I'm one of the project directors of the newly established Babson-Rwanda Entrepreneurship Center.  I will share some of the challenges and triumphs that we encounter on this new venture.
3. Economic development at large.  The study of developing and emerging economies has long been a passion of mine.  This blog will serve as a forum to discuss some of the amazing progresses being made and the controversial debates.

Above all, I hope that you will enjoy reading my updates.  I want to be informative without proselytizing.

To my family, friends, and everyone else who has supported my decision to come here, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.  Its not an easy decision to pack up your life and move to middle of Africa for two years and your encouragement has been great. Finally, thank you, whomever stumbled upon my little experiment, for reading.  Be sure to check back often for updates!

Turongera (until next time),

Chris