This is the first in a series of articles on how governments and businesses in developed and developing countries can collaborate to solve some of the toughest challenges facing society.

Rwanda is Africa’s most densely populated nation, with 13 million people living in a landlocked country that is smaller than Switzerland. Nevertheless, the agriculture sector accounts for more than one quarter of the country’s GDP, and some 70% of Rwandans participate in the farming business. As such, agriculture is viewed as central to the future of the country. “Its value goes beyond providing our basic human need for food,” says Agnes Kalibata, a former Rwandan agriculture minister. “It grows our economies and, more importantly, it changes society.”^[1]Agnes Kalibata, “Agriculture Is the Key to a Prosperous Africa,” Financial Times, December 6, 2017, https://www.ft.com/content/7b8a97ea-d9d7-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482

For this reason, the Rwandan government invests heavily in the agriculture sector. But until recently, the investment did not have the hoped-for impact because of a lack of collaboration and coordination among the agricultural ministry, companies, and farmers. Things started to improve five years ago, when the government launched the Smart Nkunganire System (SNS), a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board and BK Techouse, a subsidiary of the BK Group, the country’s largest commercial bank.

The initial product of this alliance was a digital supply chain management platform that gave farmers better access to the country’s agricultural inputs subsidy program, which provides seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, farming machinery, and other inputs for a reduced price. The hope was that this would increase the productivity of Rwanda’s 1.2 million smallholder farmers.^[2]“Smart Nkunganire System to Enhance Access to Agriculture Inputs,” Rwanda Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources website, accessed on December 06, 2021, … Continue reading

Shortly after its launch, however, the PPP evolved into something we call a public-private ecosystem (PPE), which we define as a dynamic network comprising a government or other public body and an evolving and ever-changing group of largely independent economic participants. The government invited more than 1,000 small agriculture dealerships, along with some 30 small fertilizer and seed companies, to join the digital platform.

Since then, the ecosystem has expanded even further, and it now also connects farmers and participating companies with banks and other providers of financial services. For example, the Bank of Kigali has created a universal digital wallet called IKOFI designed to provide farmers with a pathway to financial inclusion. Already, more than 250,000 farmers have registered for the service.^[3]GSM Association, Digital Agriculture Maps: 2020 State of the Sector in Low and Middle-Income Countries, September 2020, p. 49, … Continue reading In the future, the ecosystem may become a one-stop shop where farmers can access a wide range of services that boost their—and, ultimately, Rwanda’s—fortunes.^[4]“BKTechouse Partners with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Enhance ‘Smart Nkunganire System’,” IGIHE, March 4, 2021, … Continue reading

By bringing different sections of society together, Rwanda’s SNS powerfully demonstrates just how far the country has come in recent years. And we think that PPEs can serve as a model for all governments and businesses—in developed and developing countries—as they try to solve some of today’s great societal problems. Food scarcity, poverty, unemployment and underemployment, inequality, environmental pollution, and climate change—these and other challenges are just too big for governments to solve on their own. In our view, they need to tap the expertise of business leaders by engaging with them in a collaborative, creative, nontraditional way.