this video was made possible by
curiosity stream watch over 2000
documentaries for free for 30-days by
signing up at the link in the
description africa is often viewed quite
poorly on the world stage the continent
holds plenty of violent corrupt and
unstable nations and the majority of the
world's least developed countries but
Africa is big there are 54 countries
there and not all fall into the
generalizations of the continent as a
whole perhaps most notably Rwanda one of
the easiest ways to compare countries is
through their indicators in Rwanda are
impressive for every 100,000 residents
Rwanda has on average only 2.5 murders
per year as a point of comparison that's
lower than India's 3.2 or the United
States is 5.4 it's even more impressive
when looking at the kind of neighborhood
Rwanda is in Uganda has 11.5 Tanzania
has seven Burundi has six and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo has 13
point 6 murders per 100,000 in addition
rwanda is ranked as the 48th least
corrupt country in the world that's not
perfect but on the continent only
Botswana a far richer country ranks
higher the country also has a 67 year
life expectancy tied for fourth best in
Africa and only slightly below the world
average that 67 year number is
believable but what's truly unbelievable
is that 25 years ago the average Rwandan
had a life expectancy of 28 years 25
years ago Rwanda was in the midst of one
of the most horrific genocides in
history in only 100 days 800,000
Rwandans were murdered in the midst of
this ethnic conflict the group primarily
targeted the Tutsi saw the loss of about
75% of its population with time though
the country emerged from the other end
she's prevailed and its indicators began
their steady climb upwards to where they
are today it is now the 15th fastest
growing economy in the world as this
government has set out a clearly defined
mission they want to become the
Singapore of Africa to understand what
this means though you have to understand
what Singapore is it's easy to forget
that East Asia was not the highly
developed economically powerful place it
is today 100 years ago many refer to the
1800s as Britain's century the 1900s as
America century and the 2000s as Asia
century it's thought that we are
currently in the century where Asia will
prevail
one of the countries driving that is
Singapore Singapore sits at the top of
all the indicators not just for Asia but
the world it's the eighth safest third
richest third least corrupt third
longest living country in the world 60
years ago in the 1960s
Singapore's economy had a size of about
700 million dollars today that number is
320 billion dollars in the last 10 years
alone its GDP has doubled
it went from a definitively third world
country to a definitively first world
country in less than a lifetime the
country is intensely focused on being
the business hub for Asia of the world's
20 largest companies 15 have operations
in Singapore it's tough to look at the
results of Singapore's economic
development without being impressed they
have done the nearly impossible some of
the ways Singapore has achieved this
growth though has met some criticism the
way Singapore is run politically has
been described as paternalistic it's not
quite authoritarian but some freedoms
are lacking one of the few indicators
that Singapore does not rank at the top
of is the democracy index it scores a
six point four out of ten which ranks it
at 66 in the world and categorizes it as
a flawed democracy the elements of this
paternalism range from small things like
the country's ban on chewing gum for
cleanliness purposes to big things like
the limitations on freedom of speech
assembly and the press to this
proponents would say look at the results
the country has succeeded economically
based off the trade that seemingly more
and more countries are embracing Liberty
for prosperity Rwanda has been paying
attention Paul Kagame is President
declared that mission to turn the
country into the Singapore of Africa and
in many ways it's already well on its
way arguing that Rwanda is authoritarian
is easy on the same democracy indicator
where Singapore is categorized as a
flawed democracy Rwanda earns a score of
three point four out of ten and the
categorization of authoritarian Paul
Kagame was first elected in 2003 and
again in 2010 and again in 2017 with
ninety eight point eight percent of the
vote the u.s. Department of State though
described that third election as having
some quotes irregularities that also
came after a constitutional amendment
lifting term limits to let Kagame take
power again he is clearly well liked and
impressive
he began his career in the military
played a part in toppling the oppressive
governments of Uganda Rwanda and the DRC
and has been described as quote perhaps
the most successful general alive he is
by all accounts a military genius and
since his fighting days is risen Ronda
from chaos into peace and prosperity but
as a political leader he himself is
still oppressive just like Singapore
there are severe limitations on the
freedom of speech assembly and the press
there are even accusations of Kagame
supporting or arranging the
assassination of his political opponents
looking at the ends though there are
clearly more parallels with Singapore
Singapore success as a business hub can
be attributed to three factors
Geographic centrality political
stability and ease of doing business as
part of Kagame z' mission rwanda is
working to improve these same three
factors for the first factor Singapore
sets as a central point in the world
within an eight-hour flight one can get
to the major business hubs of the Middle
East in the UAE and Qatar all of India
all of East Asia's major business hubs
and all of Australia meanwhile Rwanda
say it's only 600 miles or 950
kilometers from the geographic center of
Africa it is about as central as you can
get on the enormous continent for both
countries though geographic centrality
means nothing unless you can actually
get to them one of Singapore's largest
companies is Singapore Airlines often
considered one of the best if not the
best airline in the world thanks to this
airline one can get from Singapore to
five different continents in a matter of
hours it's easy to underestimate you the
importance of having a globally
competitive airline to establish a city
as a business hub it's safe to say that
other business hubs such as Dubai and
Doha would not be as influential as they
are today without their Airlines rwanda
has clearly noticed this their national
airline rawand air which is
government-owned has grown from a tiny
operation with a few regional jets to a
significant intercontinental airline
operating brand new planes they now fly
all around Africa to Dubai Brussels and
London and have even announced plans to
start one soft service to both Guangzhou
China and New York while the airline is
not yet nearly at the level of some
larger players on the continent like
Ethiopian Airlines and South African
Airways it's serving as dub effectively
of connecting Rwanda to the world
the second factor to Singapore's
economic success is political stability
the World Bank raids countries inter
of political stability and absence of
violence and terrorism and for this
Singapore unsurprisingly comes up in the
99th percentile better than almost any
country in the world this is a big
reason why a CEO might choose to set up
their Asian hub in Singapore / Hong Kong
for example which only scores in the
75th percentile for political stability
and is trending downwards they want to
operate any place that they know won't
change quickly on a political level
since there are inherent costs involved
with his changing external environment
rhonda sits at the 48th percentile for
this political stability indicator well
in the middle of the pack
this isn't phenomenal but compared to
the sub-saharan average of 31 it's doing
all right
it's a contentious issue whether
elements of authoritarianism promote or
impede political stability in Rhonda's
case with so few years under the current
form of government it's tough to know if
the country really is stable or not
Rwanda is now by many accounts a police
state there are random checkpoints all
around the country and strict security
on most buildings in Kigali the capital
Cali is now one of the cleanest cities
in Africa let alone the world partially
due to a ban on single-use plastics and
plastic bags but also because all
able-bodied members of the population
are required to participate in a
community cleaning day on the last
Saturday of each month according to one
report
there's even widespread unlawful
detention of what are described as
undesirables on the streets the test of
whether this country is truly stable or
rather in a state of temporary
fear-based obedience might not have yet
to come
Rwanda has not experienced a transition
of power since 2000 and nobody really
knows whether the country can continue
on the right path after Kagame leaves he
himself even said that if he had not
creamed a successor by 2017 quote it
means that I have not created capacity
for a post me Rwanda I see this as a
personal failure it's now well past 2017
and Kagame is still in power with no
signs of leaving regardless of the
reasons though for Rwanda as current
political stability it's sure that
businesses like it it's one of the top
factors to look at when deciding which
countries to operate in the third factor
that led to Singapore's business success
ease of doing business is perhaps the
most important one and it's also the one
at which Rwanda most excels this is a
broad factor but it's one that the World
Bank tracks with a well known in
the Ease of Doing Business Index this
looks at ten factors ease of starting a
business dealing with construction
permits getting electricity registering
property getting credit protecting
minority investors paying taxes trading
across borders enforcing contracts and
resolving consultancy Singapore ranks
had number two in the world behind New
Zealand and has followed up by Denmark
Hong Kong in South Korea Rwanda
meanwhile scores as the 29th this is an
impressive score by itself but it is
incredibly impressive when considering
how the rest of the continent ranks up
Rwanda is by far the highest ranked
among mainland African nations the
nearest trailing African nation is
Morocco at number 60 and plenty of
highly developed countries like the
Netherlands Switzerland and Japan ranked
lower than Rwanda to achieve this rwanda
has made plenty of economic and
legislative reforms to foster the
business friendly environment they've
also been focusing on building both soft
and hard infrastructure the government
in collaboration with private investors
built an enormous 300 million dollar
convention centre along with a 5-star
Radisson Blu Hotel to attract the
convention market in addition to less
flashy infrastructure projects building
roads and airports overall Rwanda is on
the hunt for international investment in
the country and so far that's paid off
in 2005 ten point five million dollars
were invested from abroad in Rwanda in
2017 that number was 293 million dollars
clearly a lot is working in Rwanda it's
safe clean and growing economically what
more could a country want
well there are serious questions from
abroad on whether Wanda's growth is
ethical replicatable sustainable and
even real the way rwanda has achieved
its current stability and growth has
some external observers condemning it
appearances of Rwanda can also be
deceiving it is still one of the poorest
countries in the world with the average
resident earning only 750 dollars a year
some question whether the country should
be spending so much on its airline its
infrastructure and its capital when so
many in the country are so poor some
question whether the country is growing
for its middle and upper class while
leaving its rural poor behind it's no
surprise though that many of the
country's neighbours curbed by violence
and poverty have pondered whether they
should be replicating the ways of Kagame
external observers have given mixed
answers to that question some believe
that the current authoritarian policies
will let dissent bottle up and
eventually explode they worry that the
country will erupted into violence again
some say that the current regime is
solely focused on making things seem
like they're improving through climbing
up in the indicators without making real
rational change there are even some
accusations that were winding GDP growth
figures might be inflated or otherwise
manipulated it's sure that Rwanda has
been growing enormous Lee but is it
really this much there is no one recipe
for economic growth the fact that the
United States became the superpower of
the 20th century and China is becoming
the superpower of the 21st century
proves that more than anything
democratic states grow and autocratic
States grow they might grow in different
ways but there are success stories on
both ends of the spectrum
what external observers have so much
trouble answering is the means to the
end question should Wanda's growth be
lauded given how it is achieved can you
tolerate some bad in exchange for much
good in the end
Rwanda is the country of Rwanda --nz and
they are the only ones that matter with
these questions if Rwanda is truly
working for all Rwandan z-- then Rwanda
is working there are a lot of ifs but if
Rwandan growth is sustainable and if for
one in politics are stable and if Rwanda
is investments pay off and if businesses
pay attention to Rwanda there's a very
good chance that the country is well on
its way to becoming the Singapore of
Africa if you're interested in learning
more about Singapore there's a
fascinating documentary on curiosity
stream about how the country is dealing
with the problem of having a huge
growing and aging population in its tiny
borders it's a great watch and one of
more than 2000 documentaries that you
can watch on a curiosity stream with
them you can watch these talks on almost
every platform Roku Android iOS
chromecast Apple TV desktop and plenty
more if you like whenever productions
you almost certain to be a lover of
documentaries unlimited access is a
reasonable $2.99 per month but what's
best is that you can get started
watching on curiosity stream for free
for 30 days by signing up a curiosity
stream calm / whine over and using the
code Wendover a check out