Tech Crunch Blogger Goes to Rwanda

Sarah Lacy is one of my favorite blogger/writers. I frequently use her piece “Why the Smart VCs Are Boarding their Jets” as an example of some of the many reasons why Africa is ripe for investment. Usually she’s nothing short of brilliant with a touch of insight that the Tech industry (especially in the US) usually lacks. Then she goes to Rwanda and the whole continent just groans…

This is my second trip to Rwanda this year, and it’s clear there are many ways this country stands out from much of Africa, and many ways it’s still very challenged in terms of foreign investment.

Many of the greatest achievements have been social and societal. The country has admirably rebuilt itself since the 1994 genocide. It’s one of the only times in recorded history the victims of a genocide had to go live in the same land with the perpetrators, which was no easy feat given how much of the general population was guilty of the crime. Rwandans have amazingly pioneered a practice of accountability and forgiveness, which is all the more striking now that many of the killers are finishing their prison sentences and re-integrating themselves into the small, densely-populated country. A better write-up of that side of Rwanda is in a recent New Yorker, when Philip Gourevitch who wrote one of the more famous books on the genocide revisited the country 15 years later.

But the business side of the country is more nuanced. On the plus side, Rwanda has almost no corruption, an impeccably clean capital city, wide access to basic health care and primary school education, boasts some of the best roads in Africa, better cell phone access than much of Silicon Valley (cough, cough, Sand Hill Road, cough) and almost zero violent crime. On the negative side, it has one of the weirdest economies I’ve ever encountered.

I appreciate the fact that this woman, has nothing but praise for the progress of Rwanda as it’s possible to get thrown out of the country for being too critical on the Internet (one of my friends found out first hand two years ago). As someone who’s been, and who knows people, both expatriates and locals living there (not to mention that I live only a few hours away from the capital Kigali), the above statements, I feel, need further explanation.

• Rwanda does indeed stand out from the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (especially East Africa) in terms of discipline, order and governance. But the statement that ‘there is no corruption’ there literally made me roll on the floor laughing. It’s great that she feels that way, but that statement echoes as falsely here as it does in China.
• The whole sharing land with perpetrators of a genocide thing, isn’t wrapped up in a neat bow. There’s still a lot of tension in the country both from the genocides but also due to countries past with Uganda and of course DRC. I’ve met quite a few people who are afraid to return to the country for reasons tied to that moment in history.
• The ‘weirdness of the Rwandan economy’ (sic) as Sarah puts, pales in comparison to Uganda which despite being bigger, with more trade, has fewer investments and costs much more to do business in.
• Rwanda does indeed take it’s environment very seriously. There are mandates in place to keep all plastics from entering the country, and that ask citizens to spend one weekend a month cleaning up their neighborhoods.
• Those inflated costs, here in Uganda, are referred to as ‘the Mzungu’ tax (the term mzungu means foreign traveler but is more often used to refer to Caucasian people) – the premium you pay for being a blatant foreigner. Despite being black, I too sometimes get that tax if I reveal my American accent too soon. =) I’m sure the rates do fluctuate, but a stay in Rwanda will usually cost way less than Uganda does.
• Rwanda can be a great place to do business. It’s a very forward thinking, progressive, upwardly mobile country in comparison to many of it’s neighbors.
• In Kigali, at least, the country is EXTREMELY wired. More-so than Uganda. The government is explicitly spending money to position itself to take advantage of the undersea cables on their way to provide bandwidth to the region. Wifi is everywhere in that city, at least more available than here Kampala, and if Sarah hasn’t had the chance to spend time there yet, I highly encourage it.
• Lastly, it would be nice if Techcrunch, one of the leading technology blogs in the world, would give the local geek scene a bit of love. I mean, If I’m a tech blogger and I go to South Korea, I’m not gonna suddenly start only blogging about rice. But hey, as a fan of TC’s normal coverage, I guess I’m biased.

Anyways, she meant well and hopefully she spends more time on research articles like this one (which was still largely devoid of tech coverage) instead of ones like this. Or as Erik puts it…

I’m not sure if the message comes across to people who don’t live in Africa, but we’re kind of sick of journalists coming here to write about ‘monkeys’ or ‘conflict’ but failing to notice the exciting emerging culture around them. If you’re here on vacation, fine, go see and blog about apes and monkeys but as Sara states in her article, she’s here for work. And since she works for TECHcrunch, I think it’s fair to ask for more of the former.