Irene VISSER NABC NABC facilitates trade and investment between African and the Netherlands. Rwanda, now known as one of Africa’s easiest countries to do business, is an important country, for our members and for the Dutch Private Sector in general. NABC has been involved in many trade missions, events and projects over the years. These events have spurred many trade and in-vestment relations and we are very proud to have been a catalyst in facilitating business between our two countries. Milestones include a large multi-sectorial trade mission to Rwanda in 2012, that integrated Dutch industry leaders such as Remco Afrique (construction materials), Philips, Koudijs de Heus (animal feed), DHV/Haskoning (engineering and consulting) and Rijk Zwaan (seeds), our participation in the SPARK program where we trained many SME’s through our cooperation with the Rwanda Development Board and Rwanda Private Sector Federation, an incoming Agribusiness delegation led by H.E. Minister of Agriculture Gerardine MUKESHIMANA and recently the participation of the Dutch Pavilion at ESADA (Dairy) in August this year.
Lianne BERTENS Boon Specialty Coffee Roaster Koffiebranderij Boon, a micro roaster who roasts Rwandan coffee Lianne BERTENS, Ad ZWIJGERS
It’s 10 o’clock as the telephone rings. ‘Hello good morning, this is the Rwandan Embassy speaking. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise MUSHIKIWABO is here for a working visit in Holland and she would like to visit your coffee roastery. Is that ok?”
We have always experienced great cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Rwanda here in The Hague. One particular highlight is the Rwanda Business Event and Matchmaking in the Royal Institute for the Tropics we organized jointly in Amsterdam in October 2015. With minimum means we together managed to mobilize more than 300 Rwandan and Dutch companies, all eager to learn more from each other. Rwanda is ready for business. Rwanda’s zero tolerance policy against corruption, 24 hour company registration procedures, attractive and easy to understand investment procedures and of course concrete opportunities in Special Economic Zones, Agribusiness, Logistics and Tourism have already translated in many Dutch companies in the country. We certainly encourage Dutch participation in Rwanda in the future and are keen to play a leading role in facilitating further business. Dear Ambassador KARABARANGA, it has been a pleasure to work with you and your team over the last years. We believe Rwanda is one of Africa’s preferred business destination. Many Dutch companies have experienced this for themselves, resulting in a steady exchange of knowledge, experiences and of course business between our two countries. I hope we can continue this journey in the future, to make our contribution to a stable, sustainable and economically thriving Rwanda.
Irene VISSER Managing Director NABC / Netherlands African Business Council
Of course! We felt honoured. We already have nice contact with the Rwandan Ambassador Jean Pierre KARABARANGA (we even roasted Rwandan coffee together!) but a visit from the Minister…… that is something special! Around 12 o’clock the Minister, her staff and the Ambassador arrived. We had a nice talk about the importance of specialty coffee from Rwanda and …. she was very interested. As we offered her a Rwandan coffee, roasted in Holland, she asked for the origin of the coffee. When I told the coffee is from Rushashi she was clearly surprised: “Rushashi?” she asked. “That’s where my father used to have a coffee plantation before we moved to Kigali! My sisters were born there. Oh I have to tell them”. And when she took a sip of het coffee she said a bit emotional: ‘here I am, in Holland, and I am drinking coffee from my native soil, the place where I was born’. We were all seized with emotion… Lianne BERTENS Owner, Boon Koffiebranderij
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