Rwanda’s 10X Return on Governance
Back in 2005, my wife and I, together with our friends, built two schools in Rwanda. We targeted some of the poorest communities in the country to help children from low-income families afford education. One of the schools is an entirely private school. We manage the other school in partnership with the government of Rwanda. Back in 2005, you could quickly tell the difference between private and public schools. Private schools were more prestigious, had better-looking buildings, and were, on average, better managed. But not for long.
In 2006, a year after our schools opened their doors to one thousand children, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda launched an ambitious national program to motivate government leaders across the country to set development targets for their communities and deliver on them. The Imihigo (performance contracts) program was based on a pre-colonial tradition of leadership where community leaders would publicly promise to complete specific tasks for the people. Those who achieved their goals received recognition from the community. The Imihigo program intends to speed up the implementation of the local and national development agenda.
The Imihigo program has been doing its magic since 2006. The nation has been witnessing government services outperform private services in many areas. We have watched as a visit to the public notary goes from 4 hours of waiting in line to getting your document notarized in your neighborhood in less time than it takes to finish a cup of look-warm coffee. Long lines at the passport office have almost disappeared. Starting a limited liability company has gone from 18 days in 2006 to less than a day today. The country has been on fire for efficiency. The government’s efficiency has started to rival that of large corporations. As a matter of fact, in several government offices, you can sense that Apple Genius Bar-kind of customer service, according to my wife’s recent visit to the visa office. Some of the highest-ranking officials in the country have their cell phone numbers printed on their office doors so that any ordinary citizen can reach them.
Education was slow to pick up considering the required investment but has steadily been rising with the rest of the country’s upward mobility. Private schools have begun to swallow their pride as government-sponsored schools start to compete for students. More than 30 private schools in Rwanda have closed indefinitely this year after losing students to the more competitive public schools. This is unheard of in Africa.
As our private school struggled to put funds together to increase the number of classrooms to accommodate social distancing in schools during Covid-19, the government showed up with a shovel and a lot of excitement at our public partnership school. They broke ground on a 12 classroom building. The 12 classrooms were roofed, windowed, doored, and ready to go within a few months.
What we are witnessing in Rwanda is what happens when national leadership takes governance seriously. Good governance creates multiplier effects to national progress without many resources devoted to the effort. Good governance is a resource ready to be tapped into by any nation that wants to see its people transformed. 10X is not only for venture capital and private equity. 10X is for governments too.
