Kigali, 25 May 2017
Today President Kagame received a delegation from the Wharton Business School, currently visiting Rwanda to learn about the country’s development journey and the main characteristics of its leaders from the private and public sector. The students come accompanied by Professor Katherine Klein, Vice Dean Wharton Social Impact Initiative and Mr. Eric Kacou as part of coursework for a class titled: “Conflict, Leadership and Change: Lessons from Rwanda” where they learn about the Tutsi Genocide and the leadership style that led to Rwanda’s recovery as well as about the sustainability of its development. During their visit, the delegation from Wharton Business School discussed with His Excellency President Kagame about leadership lessons learned from Rwanda’s journey of transformation.
Speaking to the media following the meeting, Professor Klein said:” I am very fortunate to have met with the President many times. We had an informatiove discussion with His Excellency President Kagame, we are impressed with his vision and learned a lot from his insights on organisational changes, team building and collaboration. At Wharton Business School, we have many students and alumni who work on real projects in the country, and we are always eager to explore new areas of collaboration between us and Rwanda.”
On the impact of the delegation’s visit to the country, Ms Claire Akamanzi C.E.O of RDB told journalists:”Students from Wharton are interested in learning about our development journey since 1994, our leadership style, the impact of our home grown solutions as well as the role of the private sector in achieving progress in the country. These young people are the investors and business people of tomorrow and being from all over the world, meeting with them is an opportunity for us to have emissaries who can tell the world our story. ”
This visit marks the sixth time a delegation from Wharton is received by President Kagame, who also addressed Wharton Business School during a lecture hosted by the Social Impact Initiative and the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania in September 2015. Both sides have identified the financial sector as a focus area of collaboration, and they will meet with both private and public officials from the Finance, Capital Market and Banking sector.