I would agree with most of what you said (I'm one of those expats in Kigali referenced above) but I would add that it is actually a tough market to make money in.
The consumer base is really small, with very little disposable income. So pretty much everybody has to target businesses. That is doable, but even those are few and far between.
In time the skill level will get higher here that people can compete on the world market, which is really the goal, the creation of an export. But that is still a ways off.
Incubation / Startup / Coworking spaces like the kLab should help on a lot of those levels, I'm obviously a big believer in that model. I think it will take a bit to instill that startup culture though, but it is happening.
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Thanks for the kind words on kLab Jeff. :)
I would agree with most of what you said (I'm one of those expats in Kigali referenced above) but I would add that it is actually a tough market to make money in.
The consumer base is really small, with very little disposable income. So pretty much everybody has to target businesses. That is doable, but even those are few and far between.
In time the skill level will get higher here that people can compete on the world market, which is really the goal, the creation of an export. But that is still a ways off.
Incubation / Startup / Coworking spaces like the kLab should help on a lot of those levels, I'm obviously a big believer in that model. I think it will take a bit to instill that startup culture though, but it is happening.