The CEO of Agaciro Development Fund, Ulrich Kayinamura, speaks to Jackson Mutinda about the agency’s work, plans and achievements across various sectors and countries.

How did Agaciro come to be and where has it reached? Agaciro in Kinyarwanda means dignity. Agaciro Development Fund started during the Umushyikirano Dialogue around 2011. Umushyikirano is an annual gathering of the leadership with Rwandans of all walks of life, where they exchange views on different issues.

In 2012, the idea evolved into building a sovereign wealth fund – a fund that would sustain the country in times of shocks. It was a time Western powers were threatening Rwanda – “if you don’t do this, we will stop aid and we will sanction you.” It is the same story you hear today. For dignity, Rwandans said: “Let us have our own sovereign wealth fund.”Agaciro was incorporated as a company under the Ministry of Finance in 2013. The ministry is the sole shareholder. It’s the only case in the world where the capital base of the sovereign wealth fund started with citizens’ contributions. It was not started with oil revenues, mineral revenues or any other significant resources.

The contributions by the business community, private sector, public sector, the diaspora, friends of Rwanda and others were voluntary.

The model was maintained from 2012 to 2020. In the first year, citizens raised $18 million and by 2020, that contribution had hit $50 million.

Through benchmarking and case studies, they said that rather than rely only on citizen contribution, we can take a few portfolio companies that are managed by the Ministry of Finance and bring them to the balance sheet of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.

There are similar cases in the world, where an entity manages state-owned enterprises, allowing the government to focus on public service. A number of portfolio companies were transferred to Agaciro in 2018 and 2019.

In 2020, the model was focused more on managing the portfolio companies than collecting the voluntary contributions. At that point – during Covid-19 – citizen contributions were halted, with focus on the transformation of the portfolio companies. Profits are translated into dividends, and the dividends can be reinvested in other sectors.

What’s your portfolio like?We hold a portfolio of around 25 companies. We have firms in ICT, logistics, finance and agriculture. Most are operating well – they have independent management and their own boards.

Agaciro has a board that takes decisions independently, separate from the government. This helps in effectiveness. The relationship with the shareholder has been excellent, and this has helped Agaciro to grow.

The Fund has grown to around $400 million assets under management. We are planning more equity investments. We have around 70 percent in equities and 30 percent in government securities, so we participate through lending to the government and participating in the development of capital markets.

What does success look like to you?First, we need to have a have a large Fund that is able to do more for the socio-economic development of the country. We want to participate more in infrastructure. We are thinking of mobilising more resources to allow the Fund to keep growing.

We want co-investments with other institutions. They frequently knock on our door. We would also be happy to look outside Rwanda.

Would you put money in nuclear energy?Definitely. By doing so, we would be helping the country solve a critical challenge, which is power supply. It can allow Rwanda to build more data centres and do more for the AI revolution.

What sets Agaciro apart from its peers?We have the right partnership with our shareholder. We have a board of supportive experts who help to shape the vision of the Fund.

How do you choose where you put your money?We seek sound and profitable companies. We are not a Fund that takes loss-making companies, although we have a few that are still struggling.

Is there a sovereign wealth fund you model on?We want to be unique. Temasek in Singapore and the Ethiopian Investment Holdings are good examples.

How much more would you like to make?We are a fund of $400 million, so one interesting target would be to reach $1 billion in assets under management.

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