Big Dreams Coming True For Rwandans

The Republic of Korea promised to build an ICT innovation center at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) and a training centre for teachers worth $9 million, at the inaugural of a week-long ICT exhibition fair in Rwanda. Hwang Soon-talk, the Korean Ambassador to Rwanda, revealed this at the fair to promote ICT attentiveness. This move was to confirm about the government’s promise on the ICT development and also to make students cognizant on the plus points on the knowledge of ICT.

Numerous online- based ICT innovations invented by the final year students were also exhibited at the fair. An “Online Leave Management System” designed by two students to help company staff looking for leave from their offices via the internet. Another two students exhibited “Umuganga Android App” which was designed for medical screening. Worth mentioning the students said, “People often waste life unknowingly. A person might indulge in smoking yet they are suffering from tuberculosis, which can worsen their health condition. People can get health advice and respective symptoms of diseases that are provided in this application.”

16 students and ICT firms have participated in the fair which ended on 21st October, 2014. Director-General of ICT at the Ministry of Youth and ITC, Didier Nkurikiyimfura, articulated that investments in ICT were boosting the economic strength. He said “we believe that this support will help Rwandan students to be able to surmount challenges in the job market as ICT skills are vital in the job market.” The construction of the ICT center at the University of Rwanda and the Rwanda-Korea Information Center at IPRC, was funded by the Korean Republic. Korea Telecom invested $140 million last year in partnership of Rwanda to float the 4G LTE technology in the country.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a dominant device to driving Rwanda’s revolution to a knowledge based economy, a fact Rwanda has recognized by assigning a budget to ICT - as a fraction of its GDP - that is at par with OECD countries.

Rwanda endures to be one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT and there are several opportunities for growth for the ICT sector – from e-commerce and e-services, mobile technologies, applications expansion and automation to becoming a regional center for the training of top quality ICT professionals and research. A vigorous ICT industry can create wealth, jobs and entrepreneurs.

Rwanda’s ICT development has had an enormous influence on socioeconomic development. But it also embodies a hope shared by many Africans that it is possible to leapfrog into the digital age.