• Anyone can easily get a visa into Rwanda, and from January 2018 any citizen in this world can get a visa on arrival at the airport in Kigali. It takes 5 mins and around US$30 to get this done.
• You can register your business in less than 24 hours – online! You do not even need to be in Rwanda to register your business, you could simply do so while still in the US. And just 24 Hours later…you are good to go and do business and earn money in Rwanda. This is not a joke at all, I had five of my clients go through the process in the last couple of years.
• Once you have registered your business, a residence permit then takes about 3 days. DONE.
• You can own land in Rwanda, even as a non-national. You can either buy it from a private owner or lease it. This is huge for the African Diaspora.
• 100% of your shares and profits belong to you if you wish to be the sole owner of your company. You do not need to share it with a local partner as is the law in so many other African countries. And you can take your money out of the country any time – yep, in US Dollars. Another important fact that cannot be taken for granted on the continent.

These are just some of the amazing enabling policies. You won’t even get most of such straight forward benefits in the West, and most certainly not in Africa! What we do need to remember is that the African Diaspora is very multifaceted.

While many of us can simply do business ‘at home’, for example in Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya – we need to recognize that a large part of African Diaspora consists of people who cannot do business in their own African home countries because of war or other high risk, or simply because the country is run down economically and doing business there does not make much sense. We also need to recognize that some in the African Diaspora, do not even have a ‘home country’ anymore of which they are a citizen of. This is for example the case for African Americans who have a growing interest to invest in Africa.

This means that many of us will need to do business in African countries of which we are not nationals. But the hurdle for taking such a step is often huge, as the regulations are more often than not strict and not very enabling.

In fact, in many cases that even applies to nationals and non-nationals alike.

For example:

You cannot start a business without putting half a million Dollar forward to get a licence (although some priority industries are exempt form that in certain countries).

A licence may take weeks or months – in some cases even years. Or there is a periodical shortage of US Dollars and your account gets frozen.

This can make the business journey difficult from the get go for someone who has never done business in Africa before, or who simply does not have thousands and thousands of Dollars to be allowed to operate.

This makes a strong case for Rwanda…

….For the African Diaspora, first-time starters, and any successful business people who are operating in high-risk markets and who are keen to diversify operations and cut down risk.

This is precisely why I will continue to promote the small country to you. Having said that, I hope that many more African countries will follow that example, so we can attract more business & investment across the continent.

Now, let’s dive into the opportunities. First, here is a chance to read my business mission post of last year: