President Kagame Speaks: A Fireside Chat at Hanga Pitchfest 2023
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Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:06 I have this.
00:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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01:01 [APPLAUSE]
01:04 Welcome, Your Excellency.
01:13 I'm an entrepreneur here in Rwanda,
01:16 and I'm a Hanga alumni as well.
01:18 I was fortunate enough to be in the top five
01:21 of the winners of the first cohort of Hanga Pitchfest.
01:24 And I'm super honored to be back here at Hanga
01:28 and facilitating this conversation with you.
01:31 Mr. President, Rwanda does a lot of work
01:34 to promote entrepreneurship.
01:35 And we've seen that through programs
01:37 such as the Hanga Pitchfest, but also attracting
01:41 these initiatives such as Unleash,
01:43 which is organizing their event for the first time in Rwanda.
01:47 My question is, what are some opportunities
01:50 that entrepreneurs can gain from these opportunities as well?
01:54 Let me first of all give my thanks
02:02 to everyone who has participated in making this happen,
02:09 and most especially Unleash, and Mr. Fleming,
02:19 and others who have joined us today and have in many ways
02:25 contributed a lot to what we have been trying to build.
02:31 UNDP, Akim, thank you for being here,
02:38 and all the work you've been doing with and through the UNDP
02:46 to do a lot of work.
02:48 And of course, our government system and other partners
02:54 who are here, Susan Buffett Foundation.
03:01 And there are many.
03:04 I don't want to risk leaving anyone behind.
03:07 But just know that by saying what I'm saying,
03:10 I wanted to appreciate you and the partnership
03:14 we have forged with our country.
03:17 [APPLAUSE]
03:20 Now, for us, entrepreneurship and trying
03:28 to work with the young people, the talent, and people,
03:42 trying all the best they can to come out and express themselves
03:49 and do whatever they can do.
03:51 It's a responsibility, first of all,
04:00 we have as a government, as leaders,
04:04 because there is so much locked in there with the young people,
04:12 with the young talent.
04:14 Sometimes they have no opportunity
04:16 to discover their own talent until somehow people
04:30 work together to be able to achieve this.
04:34 So in Rwanda, therefore, we have identified this
04:39 as a major way of developing our country, our people.
04:47 And beyond our country, more so, the continent, our continent,
04:57 needs this kind of thing.
04:59 So first, we identified it as very important.
05:04 Second, we find ways of making sure
05:09 that we grow on this path as fast as possible.
05:19 I think the rest comes naturally out of all of that.
05:27 Thank you very much.
05:32 Your Excellency, as an entrepreneur,
05:35 I have to take this opportunity to ask this question.
05:38 I'm assuming a lot of other entrepreneurs
05:40 who are in the house would want to know the same thing.
05:43 And this question is, if you were an entrepreneur today
05:47 and had the opportunity to change or invent something,
05:52 what would that be?
05:59 It's like you are taking me back in my past.
06:07 Maybe reminding me of things I missed doing
06:14 and which I would have loved to.
06:18 Let me tell you a story.
06:20 As a young person growing up, I was fascinated by planes.
06:34 I had a love for planes.
06:36 Even way before I even had an opportunity
06:39 to step on the plane.
06:42 I just used to see and be fascinated by that.
06:46 In fact, from that, I thought if I had had the opportunity,
06:56 I would become a pilot or an engineer from that.
07:03 That didn't happen.
07:04 By this day, I still have a passion with aircraft.
07:16 So it didn't happen.
07:17 I ended up in completely different places.
07:27 And I'm trying to do my best in that as well.
07:30 So therefore, I was so much absorbed.
07:38 In the end, I discovered later on
07:41 that meant aerospace technology.
07:49 And looking at what is happening today,
07:59 air transport provides a lot, contributes a lot,
08:09 and both in terms of the engineering and technology
08:14 part of it, but also the facilitation of what it does.
08:19 And in the end, looking back today,
08:30 to find that in this day and age,
08:32 Africa is not well connected.
08:37 From that time, I was thinking about being a pilot.
08:41 To this day, Africa is not well connected.
08:45 But there are planes all over the place.
08:48 So how can we use this technology
08:58 to connect people, to connect Africa,
09:01 most especially because they're less connected?
09:05 But Africa has created a body, the African Union,
09:15 to see how air transport can be developed or even unified
09:22 across the continent.
09:25 It hasn't happened yet.
09:27 But that also ties in with the African Continental
09:35 Free Trade Area, facilitating the trade of people and so on.
09:40 So you can see from one thing leading to another.
09:43 You've taken me back some time.
09:52 I'm using those ideas to see what I would do and change.
09:59 I would change a number of things.
10:03 Today, people are talking about--
10:05 I mean, you have electric cars.
10:12 People are now thinking about electric airplanes.
10:19 And it is going into green technologies,
10:22 making sure that there is less pollution in the atmosphere.
10:30 So I can go on and on and on.
10:33 But I think, in a way, the train left the station.
10:41 So I'm just--
10:41 [LAUGHTER]
10:43 But I know there are many young entrepreneurs.
10:51 There's a lot of talent in this room.
10:54 So I'm just encouraging you to--
10:58 this is the time for you to do what some of us
11:03 are not able to do and change things.
11:05 So this is your time.
11:08 And it is the moment for--
11:10 [APPLAUSE]
11:14 Thank you very much, Mr. President.
11:17 Thank you.
11:18 Yes, that's a very good segue into the next section.
11:20 We would love to open it up to the public
11:23 and take at least three questions from the crowd.
11:27 We'll start with the middle part, if there is--
11:30 yes, there's a question.
11:31 --enough to be involved in the Unleash Innovation Program
11:43 here in Kigali.
11:45 In Unleash, we focus on how youth
11:46 can achieve sustainable development goals
11:48 through innovation.
11:50 Can you tell us what Rwanda is doing
11:52 to incorporate youth in its vision towards transformation?
11:55 Thank you.
11:56 Yeah.
11:57 From the beginning, one, we think about our people.
12:03 We have centered everything on our people.
12:08 And that means when you are thinking about the future,
12:15 you're already looking at the young ones growing
12:20 and what they can do for themselves,
12:27 for their country.
12:28 So we invested, and we continue doing so in education.
12:39 That means giving them where to start from as they grow.
12:50 And therefore, I've also created institutions
12:57 to facilitate that.
13:00 We, over time-- and it cuts across.
13:11 It's not just within Rwanda.
13:14 Or Rwandan, we work with others from outside.
13:21 We have the African leadership university that has come up.
13:31 We have Carnegie Mellon.
13:32 And what we have also done is to make sure
13:38 that this is not pure Rwandan, but brings in African talent
13:42 or gives them an opportunity where that is possible to be
13:49 part of that.
13:51 And that provides an environment where
13:59 the education, the talent, the entrepreneurship,
14:06 we develop and really create that enabling ecosystem
14:12 that we keep talking about.
14:16 That's what Rwanda has done.
14:17 We have been particular.
14:19 We have focused.
14:20 And we have made sure that we move together, not only Rwanda,
14:28 but I know here there are young Africans
14:36 from different backgrounds and entrepreneurs
14:42 who have joined with the rest to do what you can do.
14:48 So that's what we have tried to do.
14:50 We've made it a central theme for us to--
15:03 I like the name Unleash.
15:05 I think it does the thing.
15:08 Thank you very much.
15:18 All right, we'll take a question from this side.
15:21 Thank you.
15:28 Your Excellency, my name is Jantindoba, the CEO
15:31 and co-founder of HighQ Africa.
15:33 And we are credit financing fast-moving consumer goods
15:36 merchants in Africa.
15:37 As a startup founder, I would like
15:39 to start by thanking you for the great infrastructures
15:41 and opportunities put in place to make sure
15:44 that startups in Rwanda thrive as a proof of concept country.
15:48 And my question is, what are some of the opportunities
15:51 that Rwandan-based startups can leverage on to scale up
15:54 continentally and globally?
15:56 Thank you.
15:59 Well, to begin with, this coming together like now
16:06 or at any other time, as we have seen, brings awareness
16:15 and allows people to think beyond what we see
16:21 in a narrow sense or are just around us.
16:27 With that comes such opportunity that people
16:33 will be able to identify a number of things that
16:40 are within the support system as we have created it.
16:46 And it enables also the government and partners
16:51 and the private sector to see what is lacking
16:58 and what can come together to continue allowing
17:06 the growth that is required.
17:09 So the support system that is there will grow.
17:17 And it will also help people identify
17:22 what they can do more as we move forward.
17:29 Thank you very much.
17:32 Yes, we can take a last question from this side.
17:35 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
17:39 Esteemed guests, good afternoon.
17:44 My name is Bruce Satindi, and I represent a company called
17:47 KUZA Africa, which is a one-stop center for fashion design
17:51 and production.
17:53 My question here today is, what can startups in Africa
17:57 do to shift the perspective or actual realities
18:04 about investment risks, especially
18:07 that these risks continue to stagger
18:10 fast and effective funding for startups here in Africa?
18:14 Thank you so much for listening.
18:15 Well, there is a lot of talk about risk.
18:23 And people tend to identify Africa with more risks
18:31 than you would find in other places.
18:36 But it has gone to a level where it's almost a myth
18:40 or just prejudice, because we all know the world.
18:48 I don't know which part of the world
18:56 does not have the kinds of risks that people are talking about.
19:02 In some cases, more than Africa does, actually.
19:06 So it's-- but, well, that's the reality to begin with.
19:15 So we have to take it as a reality in terms of that
19:19 being the case that Africa is identified with.
19:25 And even though unfair with such a level of risk,
19:30 so we want to deal with that as a problem.
19:33 And dealing with that as a problem
19:36 is to begin with ourselves.
19:39 I think we need to challenge ourselves enough.
19:44 And also respect ourselves.
19:50 And then from there, we engage others on a matter of facts,
19:58 but also of not accepting that that should be the case
20:07 and that that's how Africa should be looked at or treated.
20:13 And from there, we try and do the right thing for ourselves.
20:20 And also prove ourselves to those
20:23 who view us with such a level of risk
20:26 that in the end, of course, creates this impediment.
20:31 And then just keep speaking out, keep doing our best,
20:37 keep working hard, and just don't
20:42 accept that some of these false stories about us.
20:46 But let's start with what we have
20:54 and do what we can do and improve the situation.
21:00 I think-- yeah, but then around that or parallel to that,
21:06 I think the stories we talked about people
21:11 who have been from outside, who have been--
21:16 or these partners we talk about, who
21:19 have put their money in the right places that
21:24 can support the young entrepreneurs
21:27 across the continent.
21:28 It's still at a low level, in a sense.
21:33 We need to increase that.
21:36 But we can work with these like minds across the world
21:43 and keep challenging the others who still
21:48 have these biases and also urge them to see actually
21:55 what they are missing.
21:56 They are missing a lot in terms of what
22:01 could have been realized given the pull of talent
22:07 across our continent, which is there, which is real.
22:14 Yeah, we just don't have to give up or even despair.
22:19 Just increase our energy and the hard work
22:24 that we can put into it.
22:25 Thank you very much.
22:32 As we wrap up our session, I have one more question.
22:39 The festive seasons are coming up.
22:41 What do you have planned for the grandkids?
22:44 Well, first of all, I'm glad you bring it up.
22:50 When you bring up my grandkids, you're
22:54 also talking about my kids and family and friends.
22:59 So we always have something to do around these days.
23:08 So the best thing is to be together as a family
23:11 and just spoil ourselves.
23:18 And--
23:19 [APPLAUSE]
23:21 This happens once in a while, so we
23:29 should be allowed to do that.
23:30 We can afford to do that.
23:33 So for sure, we are looking forward to this,
23:37 and we have a package for that.
23:41 Yes.
23:41 That's the time we--
23:44 some of us take some rest and enjoy everything
23:52 that family and friends can provide.
23:55 Yes.
23:56 Yeah.
23:57 Your Excellency, thank you so much for your time.
24:00 This marks the end of our fireside chat.
24:03 We welcome you to join the audience
24:05 as we move on to the next section.
24:07 Thank you very much.
24:08 Thank you very much.
24:09 Thank you.
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