Investment Group commits U.S. $27.2m

Date: 8th-January 2008

Rwanda Investment Group (RIG), a private investment company created by some 43 local investors has committed Rw500billion (US$27.2million) to investment in the country.

The company that was created in September 2006 and headed by the Rwandan business tycoon Mr. Tribert Rujugiro, is investing in extraction of methane gas in Lake Kivu in the western part of the country, silk and cement production, maintenance of Kigali industrial park and peat extraction.

It is also targeting a pharmaceutical industry in the southern province. So far, Rw5billion (US$9million) has been invested in different projects while the remaining Rw9billion ($16million) capital awaits new projects.

Speaking to the chairman of the company Mr. Tribert Rujugiro, he said that the company’s ongoing fruitful investments include production of cement shortly after the acquisition of the only state owned cement factory located in the western part of the country last year.

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Tycoons form partnership

Date: 19th-May 2006

By Mansur Kakimba & Gertrude Majyambere
The New Times

Local business acumens have formed a partnership dubbed Rwanda Investment Group (RIG) S.A, with a core objective of identifying and investing in potential projects and enterprises.

By the end of their second meet on Monday, May 15 at Prime Minister’s conference hall, Kimihurura, RIG’s issued share capital had risen to Frw13.4billion from the Frw12billion raised on Friday, May 5 out of the 36 membership partnership.

Hatali Sekoko, Tribert Rujugiro and Caisse Sociale du Rwanda (CSR) become the majority shareholders each with 20% of the issued share capital, closely followed by Tri Star Investments with 10%.

The top four thus enjoy 70% stake in the company and the remaining 30% is shared among other thirty two shareholders in different proportions.

Coordinated and initiated by the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (RPSF), shareholders who are only Rwandan private businessmen and companies scrutinized the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will bind them in the partnership.

The Chairman of RPSF, Robert Bayigamba, Secretary General Emmanuel Hategeka and Chairman of RIG Tribert Rujugiro, coordinated the heated discussion of the MoU. They discussed ownership and transfer of shares, and discrepancies in the French and English versions of the memorandum among other things.

Also, partners never concurred on the criterion of choosing the Board of Directors. “The original idea was to have twelve shareholders with equal share of one billion francs to make up issued capital of Frw12bn, then the board would be selected on merit among the great twelve. “But where 70% of the shareholding is dominated by the top four, then the idea cannot work” argued Henry Gaperi, the representative of CSR in the deal.

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Speaking to the Business Times, Sebera said the building, whose construction started in June 2002, is to house the biggest supermarket in Rwanda,
a restaurant and the headquarters of Bancor Bank, which belongs to the complex proprietor, Rujigiro Ayabatwa Tribert and various business outlets.
“We want to make sure that a client gets a one-stop shopping service.”

The complex has fifty-five office rooms available to whoever applies first, although dealers in similar merchandise may not be allowed on the same floor.

Asked about the cost of the complex, Sebera said: “I am just a manager not the owner of the complex, so I don’t know how much it will and I believe that’s his secret”.

When contacted for a comment, Rujugiro Ayabatwa Tribert said that the cost of the space will depend on the floor where the room is located. “Those that will get rooms on the first flow will pay approximately US$10 per square meter,
while those on other floors will pay US$12 per square metre.

By Richard Muliisa, Stevenson Nzaramba & Mansur Kakimba
The New Times

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