Investors in Rwanda’s Global Business Services sector have committed to expand their investments in the country and create more jobs for young people in this fast growing industry. This follows a Global Business Services Employer Conference organised by the Rwanda Development Board in partnership with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, GIZ Rwanda (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), and Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator on Tuesday, 21 February 2023.

The conference convened key government stakeholders, GBS private sector employers, development partners, and new potential GBS investors to discuss the growth of Rwanda’s GBS sector and the opportunities for investment in the country.

During the conference, the government highlighted insightful investment opportunities and incentives in place to support current investors to operate and thrive in the ecosystem and potential operators to explore investment opportunities.

“We have an incredible success story in the sector with a fast-growing, low-risk, business-friendly & modern economy ready to favour investments. We partner with institutions like Harambee to identify, train and match talent for the Global Business Services employers, and we hope that a lot of the work we have done is enough to welcome more investors in our country,” said Pacific Tuyishime, Head of Department, Rwanda Development Board.

A diverse set of employers already operating in Rwanda attended the conference including Tek Experts, CCI, Deriv, Objectivity, Amalitech, Zatec, and Code of Africa. A panel discussion with investors in the sector highlighted the ease of doing business in Rwanda and the various experiences employers have had during set up until now.

“The GBS employer conference has showcased the fast growing GBS industry and all the components that have led to its success, a key element of which has been strong and growing youth talent. We’re confident that the conference will result in new GBS investors deciding to open their business in Rwanda and contribute to the growing number of high-quality jobs available for young Rwandans,” said Hannah Adams, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator’s Country Director.

Rwanda is quickly becoming a preferred Global Business Services destination, with a young workforce with bi-lingual talent offerings ready to support service delivery far and wide. The strong ecosystem of training partners in Rwanda ensure a growing talent pool of young people with the skills and work behaviours in demand in the industry.

“Rwanda has demonstrated strong efforts to position the country as an emerging destination for the GBS sector, which has seen impressive growth over the past years. Since 2021, 14 new companies have invested in the sector, creating over 500 new jobs. This brings the total workforce in the GBS sector to over 1,000, with many more job openings in the coming months and years. This is truly remarkable,” said Martin Kraft, Country Director of GIZ Rwanda.

Skilled talent, paired with a range of incentives by the Government of Rwanda for investors to establish and operate their businesses in the Global Business Services sector, has created an ideal location for expansion for GBS companies.

“If you are planning to invest in Rwanda, you don’t need to worry about the infrastructure. You only need to invest in the talent pool. If we don’t work with the right skill, it will die out,” said Gary Bennett, Country Director at Tek Experts.

The availability of world-class office space, quick business registration, high-speed internet connectivity, and consistent economic growth are key elements attracting investment into the country and enabling investors to set up operations conveniently. Today, Rwanda is ranked the 2nd easiest place to do business in Africa and 38th globally.

The recently released special country report and Tek Experts case study portrays the available investment opportunities and an employer’s experience on why Rwanda is an ideal destination for business.

Learn more about Rwanda’s Global Business Services Ecosystem here. View and download photos from the conference here.

What is Global Business Services?

Global Business Services (GBS) is a business service delivery model that entails shared services, outsourcing, and centres of excellence to serve multiple business units. Scope can include finance, IT, human resources, procurement, as well as other functions, and can be delivered onshore or offshore. (Deloitte, 2023).