5 Lessons From Transform Africa Summit 2017, Kigali Rwanda.

By Mwebya Fred:

When one tells you how clean and organized the Capital City of Rwanda is , its a very understatement because Kigali is not only Clean and Organized , its a SMART city. Very quickly I will tell you as a visitor in Rwanda I was unable to use the Passenger Taxi Services because I did not have a smart card. Its a very funny story how I moved to a taxi stage after my First day at the Transform Africa Summit only to quickly realize that everyone who was at the stage had a tap and pay card used in clearing taxi charges.
Rwanda is quickly driving out cash transactions by embracing smarter payment methods like using the Tap and Pay card technologies in their Passenger Taxis.

Lessons1:
Its possible to strengthen the economy by reducing the usage of cash transactions through adopting smarter payment systems and methods.

During my walk about at the exhibition hall , I quickly moved to the Irembo online services stall. I was welcomed by a smiling gentleman who immediately told me his name and narrated through how Irembo is an online service that provides almost all government services from issuing Birth Certificates to driving permits and all other services.
Rwanda has moved all the government services of acquiring documents and Licenses online. This not only makes government services efficient but also more accessible most especially to those in distant places from the physical established locations of these offices.

Lesson2: African Governments should improve the way citizens access government services by embracing online services.

When I received my acceptance mail from Smart Africa to go and attend the Transform Africa Summit, they specified the location as Kigali Convention Centre  (KCC). I immediately thought about the usual stories when we go for conferences where the venue is a multipurpose hotel hall.
To my surprise when I read about KCC I realized that the government of Rwanda had spent so much money to set up a structure that will be home not only to major conferences in Rwanda but also home to global conferences.

Currently I do not have the accurate data of rating the best conference venues in Africa but I am more than sure that the Beautiful Kigali Convention  Centre is one of the most beautiful Conference centres in the World.

Lesson 3: Plan for the future by investing in things that will attract the world to your cities.

Due to the fact that I did not have a Taxi card that would enable me use the passenger taxis within Kigali, my only two viable option was to use the Boda-Boda Moto. On realizing that I had only that option I knew all my movements would be on motor bikes throughout my entire duration in this city of milk and honey. The first observation I made was that every motor bike had one passenger and both the passenger and the rider had clearly marked helmets on at all times while on the road.

Lesson4: All governments and City authorities can set up clear guidelines for motor bikes in cities to improve on the safety of all motor bike users.

During the exhibition , many foreign ICT and IT based companies were present and its not surprising that almost 90% of these companies had offices set up in Kigali. I quickly asked how come many IT companies have offices established in Kigali, the answer was that the government of Rwanda intentionally expressed its interest in establishing a smart economy with a deeper inclusion of IT and ICT. This makes it a core strength for companies to establish their presence within Kigali.

Lesson5: Governments need to include ICT and IT in their strategic development plans so as to be able to attract global players in the IT & ICT sectors to establish offices in African countries. Inclusion of government plans as far as ICT is concerned creates more assurance to all foreign companies to set up offices in given cities in Africa.

With the theme for this years Transform Africa Summit #TSA2017 being Smart cities Fast forward, I am eagerly waiting for next years' episode of the same conference.