Rwanda starts improved ICT programme
- East Africa Business Week
- Aug 4, 2015
- 3 min read
KIGALI, Rwanda - CrimsonLogic, a leading eGovernment solutions and services provider from Singapore, RwandaOnline Platform Limited and the Rwanda Development Board ICT department have launched the Rwanda Technology Associate Programme (RTAP),
“The RTAP initiative is part of our planned investment to groom talents and support the local education programs, where these hand-picked graduates will be exposed to global business experiences and the best-technology-practices from Singapore, as well as the markets we are present in,” Chairman CrimsonLogic, Eugene Wong said while launching the new programme last week.
The three companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding jointly launching the new programme initiative aimed at investing and developing young talents to further augment the local pool of IT professionals in Rwanda.
CrimsonLogic will be investing in up to 20 graduates annually for three years. The initial intake of graduates will be recruited from the University of Rwanda and Adventist University with more universities to come on board as the programme continues
“On top of investing in the RTAP initiative, we are currently evaluating appropriate sites for a new office in Rwanda. This new office is expected to be a regional hub for our business operations and project implementations. It will also be a solution showcase for customers as we widen our business footprint in the Africa region,” Wong said.
“This supports our vision to be the catalyst of Rwanda transformation,” Clement Uwajeneza, CEO RwandaOnline, a privately established Rwandan company said.
He said, “ROPL has been working steadily to transform Rwanda into a sustainable knowledge economy by enabling efficient delivery of government services through its recently launched Irembo Platform”.
“The professionals that will be created through RTAP will be of great input for the company sustainability and growth. They will be great candidates for our Third party developers program that will allow any skilled developers to create eGov services and connect them to our platform,” he said.
“The 20 technology professionals that will be created will every six months will create a pool of professionals that will be able to create other businesses and start-ups that will be able to provide solutions in Rwanda and in the region,” Uwajeneza said.
ROPL together with CrimsonLogic will be responsible for the recruitments and monitoring of selected graduates’ progress whereas RDB will be supporting and endorsing the entire programme.
“With ROPL and CrimsonLogic working together, the knowledge and experience sharing will help build local capabilities and boost our competitiveness in the global business community the acting, Head ICT, RDB, Regis Gatarayiha said.
“By bringing global best practices into Rwanda, especially domain knowledge in strategic areas to our local talent, we are on track to groom our next generation of IT professionals who will enhance our productivity through technology,” he said.
“We believe Rwanda can be competitive especially in terms of solutions and services development and therefore this is the way to get it done by having a pool of professionals that can be competitive in Rwanda, the region, and globally,” Gatarayiha said.
The University of Rwanda sees this as a very unique opportunity to its computer science, and IT students because it has not been for the lack of talent from its students but from the lack of opportunities.
“Such initiatives will help students to achieve better and very good quality as well as quantitative learning experiences so that they can propel not only themselves but also the country,” Ratnakar Kotnana, Head of department (computer science ), University of Rwanda said.
CrimsonLogic is currently working with ROPL to implement Irembo Platform, a national initiative to migrate Rwanda’s Government services to citizens and businesses onto one online portal.
Source: Busiweek.com
By Agnes Bateta
