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Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, is a historic and vibrant city known for landmarks like the Kigali Genocide Memorial and the King's Palace Museum. With a diverse population of over a million people speaking different languages, it is an emerging African hub and a blend of traditional culture and modern innovation.
Kigali is the largest city and capital of Rwanda. It became the capital upon the country’s independence in 1962, since then, the city has become Rwanda's economic, cultural, and transport hub and hosts the main residence and offices of the President and government ministries.
Kigali is located in the centre of the country on the Ruganwa River and is divided into three administrative districts, Nyarugenge, which lies in the south west, Kicukiro in the south east, and Gasabo, which occupies the northern half of the city's territory. Kigali lies in a region of rolling hills, between the two mountains of Mount Kigali and Mount Jali,
Like the rest of Rwanda, Kigali has a temperate tropical highland climate, with temperatures that are cooler than typical for equatorial countries because of its high elevation. Under the Köppen climate classification, Kigali is in the tropical savanna climate zone, straddling the subtropical highland climate.
Rwanda is a presidential republic in which the chief of state is the president, elected by popular vote for a seven-year term, and is eligible for a second term, and the head of government is the prime minister. The bicameral parliament consists of a senate of 26 members, both elected and appointed to serve eight-year terms, and a chamber of deputies of 80 seats, including 53 members elected by popular vote, 24 women elected by local bodies, and three selected by youth and disability organizations, all to serve five-year terms.
Kigali is politically stable. The government consists of a province-level city administered by a city council who appoints an executive committee to run the day-to-day operations of the city. The executive committee consists of a mayor and two deputies.
The city is split into three administrative districts called sectors: Gasabo, Kicukiro, and Nyarugenge.
Rwanda is considered a developing economy and as such it is a rural country with about 90 percent of the population engaged in agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry.
Primary foreign exports are coffee, tea, pyrethrum extract, tin, tantalite, and gold. Imports include machinery and equipment, petroleum products, and foodstuffs.
Mines for tin ore operates nearby Kigali, and the city built a smelting plant in the 1980s.
Tourism currently provides an important input to the economy as well. The government has encouraged development of this sector, which is centred on the country’s attractive landscapes and wildlife diversity. National parks are the primary attraction.
An area showing growth promise is the exhauster truck market, with five out of seven companies having been active for three years or less.
The Rwanda Stock Exchange, located in Kigali, opened in 2008.
The 1994 genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. It is noted that one million Rwandans overcame poverty between 2006 and 2011. However, Rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy. Innovative homegrown development solutions have reduced poverty. For example, the Girinka programme, which provides every poor family in Rwanda with a cow, has reduced malnutrition, increased agricultural productivity and created small business opportunities.
Rwanda is also home to many financial institutions, including commercial and development banks. The National Bank of Rwanda is the central bank and issues the national currency, the Rwandan franc.
Business in Rwanda has been growing in the 21st century, and many new buildings have arisen across the city, including the BCDI Tower, Centenary House, Kigali City Tower and Kigali Convention Centre.
According to the government master plan for 2040, Kigali will be soon decentralised, with business, shopping, and leisure districts, and suburbs. The plan calls for skyscrapers, arching pedestrian walkways and green spaces to be built, alongside amenities such as fountains and a wetlands conservation area. In addition, there will be an effective public transportation network.
he government has an Infrastructure department that takes the lead role of planning and developing infrastructure in Kigali. It is responsible for overseeing the construction of roads, providing street lights at night and handling solid & liquid waste issues.
Kigali is the hub of the Rwanda transport network, with hourly express bus routes to all major towns in the country. There are also taxi minibus services (matatus) leaving from Kigali for the major towns and motorbike taxis.
It is noted that public transport within Kigali is shifting from using small matatus to bigger city buses, which are connecting the most important sectors. These buses use a cash-free payment system called Tap&Go.
The city has an international airport, Kigali International Airport which is limited by its location on the top of a hill, that is why a brand new airport is currently under construction in the Nyamata area, about 40 km from Kigali.
Kigali International Airport has passenger connections daily to Nairobi and less frequently to Addis Ababa, Brussels, Bujumbura and Johannesburg. There are also weekly cargo flights to Amsterdam.
Rwanda is leading Africa’s digital revolution. The Smart Kigali initiative will create access to free wireless internet on public buses, in hospitals, taxi parks, commercial buildings and restaurants, while a partnership with Korea Telecom is creating access to 4G for 95% of the population.
Under the government’s Kigali Masterplan 2040, high-rise buildings are set to change the city’s look and feel. The plan offers a vision for developing infrastructure that will be necessary for modern Kigali’s success.
The current city population of about 1.2 million is expected to triple by 2040. In a country where the majority are under the age of 25, traditional ideas are shifting, and the results are exciting:
The World Bank has pronounced Kigali Africa’s second easiest place to do business. Innovation City is part of the Vision 2020 goal that is already underway, which aims to transform Rwanda into a knowledge-based, middle-income country. The project has also increased the number of students in higher learning.
Co-founded by American Jon Stever, the Impact Hub Kigali is an incubator where co-working spaces and portal connections to international, like-minded thinkers result in virtual global meet-ups. Regularly hosted edgy talks by entrepreneurs and creators in an inspiring rooftop space help locals connect in new ways to further develop ideas that will benefit the country.
Some of the most used startups within the city population during 2019 were Kasha, Carlsoko, Exuus or Yego Moto.
