LOWERED LABOR COSTS

One advantage of benchmarking, which the trip to Kigali is, may be a reduction in the cost of productive labor. For example, a small Ghanaian manufacturing company may study how a top Rwanda-based manufacturer uses robots for several basic plant functions. These robots may help the Kigali-based company to save a significant amount of money on labor costs. Managers of the small Ghanaian company may obtain information on these robotics systems through interactions as part of the visit.

IMPROVED PRODUCT QUALITY

Owing to our first point, company managers or business leaders who participate in Hello Kigali may improve the quality of products they churn out. Engineers sometimes purchase leading competitors’ products. They may then take them apart, study them and determine how the competitors’ products outlast or outperform others in the industry. A visit like this affords a smart business manager the opportunity to systematically take apart the production modules and quality checks in the Rwandan system which has made them so successful then either replicate them in Ghana or improve on them.

IMPROVED PACKAGING AND BRANDING

A company that uses the opportunity Citi FM is offering well will not only be able to reduce the cost of production or improve product quality. A very crucial element of success Ghanaian businesses are not competitive in is product packaging and branding. Rwandan businesses still have a long way to go in product packaging but the fact that they are making a headway economically means a good number of big producers there are doing something right that we can improve on.

The bottom lines for Hello Kigali at the end of the day should not be to go to Rwanda to admire their famed success. The focus should be how we can learn from their experiences and also their weaknesses to be able to stage a transformation agenda that will be second to none in Africa.