Rwanda: The Singapore of Africa?
Background and First Impressions
When you think of Rwanda, what comes to mind? For most who have actually heard of this small landlocked nation in Eastern Africa, it’s usually something to do with the Hôtel des Mille Collines (and the horrific genocide associated with it). Until I heard the Former Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, speak at MANOVA 2019 in Minneapolis, I had the same dated impression.
The most memorable point of Agnes’ speech was that Rwanda had managed to vaccinate 99% of all girls against HPV. Hold on.. that’s weird. How was a war-torn country with a GDP of a few hundred dollars per capita able to do what most wealthy Western nations could not?
So began my intrigue with the “Land of a Thousand Hills”.
As with many things in life, that intrigue faded quickly amidst the busyness of work, and it wasn’t until a friend of mine brought up his investments in Rwanda that I paid attention again. I had the opportunity to be introduced to the High Commissioner of Rwanda to Singapore, Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, and he kindly spent a couple of hours with me telling me about how they are building a lasting, safe and clean nation, free of corruption, and focusing on enriching and developing its human capital. This sounded like a familiar story, said by many, and executed successfully by few. The place I…
