A delegation of 12 Columbia Business School students visited Rwanda in January 2007 on a trip organized by the School's Social Enterprise Program and supported by the Chazen Institute for International Business. We were joined by faculty adviser Tim Baldenius from the Accounting Division and Carolyn Champ, associate director of the Social Enterprise Program.
We found a country that is clean, orderly, visually stunning and receptive to new energy and ideas. In some respects, progress has apparently been quick and effective, as is evident in the newly paved roads and Internet cafés. In other respects, the pace has been dispiritingly slow. In particular, the private sector remains woefully underdeveloped. For the country to achieve the economic and social goals laid out in Vision 2020, Rwanda and its people must grow private enterprise.