Seeking Business Opportunity $40,000 USD

Hello Wrhurst,
I am not Rwandese, but I love the country so much. It is indeed a great and upcoming economy, peaceful with lots of potentials. Between November 2017 and August 2018, I have been to Rwanda 3 times. I can tell you for sure that it holds great investment and business opportunities. $40,000 USD is a lot of money depending on what you want to invest in, again, it is also very small, depending on what you want to invest in. I believe the concrete brick making industry in Rwanda is a good business, however, I think you would need to take some things into consideration before you dabble into such a business. I am an analyst, and therefore will wear my analyst hat to address your question here.

1. You will need to go down to Rwanda and spend at least a month of research to understand the market you are going into. This will help impress on your conviction, whether to go into the business or not. Also, during your stay, make sure you try an establish a target market. You probably want to contact corporations given contracts to build thousands of small/middle income housing versus market for single landlords. It might be that the multi-corporations have already aligned themselves to a brick supplier

2. Chain of Supply - do you have a steady chain of supply of materials to make your bricks? Where do you intend to get them from? What price will it cost you? Please evaluate these important questions before you go into this business. If your chain of supply is not solid and withers within 2 years, then your business goes under very quickly

3. Equipment's - from my observation, the Government of Rwanda is insisting on quality products not quantity. There are so many housing being demolished because they are below standard. In the past, people bought land and built properties anyhow they want, but currently, the Government has developed housing standards that meet international standards. The standards developed also align with the country's master plan to have quality housing, qood roads and infrastructure etc. What this means is that poor quality housing built with poor products continue to fall under demolition. Make sure your equipment's are quality equipment's that make quality bricks. You don't want your company to be shut down because it is below standard in production

4. Employees - will you be employing people? make sure you consider salaries as part of your $40,000 USD

5. Also, consider housing, transportation, food as part of your ongoing expenditures

Overall, my advise is to go in first and see if you have a market before you loop in. I wish you all the best and will like to hear back from you. I am also planning to invest in Kigali and i am still carefully analyzing my choice of business.