Thank You, Mr. President!

U.S. President Barack Obama gave Karisimbi Partners a significant boost this week. It seems rare indeed that a small start-up like ours can count on the support of one of the world’s most powerful leaders and orators, but such is our good fortune.

Amid high expectations, America’s first African-American President visited Ghana on July 11th, the day before I arrived in Rwanda. He came to personally deliver a message of partnership with America and hope for Africa’s future. On this stage and at this poignant moment, President Obama put words to a development philosophy largely consistent with what we have begun to implement at Karisimbi Partners:

“… Africa’s future is up to Africans”

“… the true sign of success is not whether we are a source of aid that helps people scrape by — it is whether we are partners in building the capacity for transformational change.”

“…history shows that countries thrive when they invest in their people and infrastructure; when they promote multiple export industries, develop a skilled work force and create space for small and medium-sized businesses that create jobs.”

“…we can broaden prosperity through public-private partnerships that invest in better roads and electricity; capacity-building that trains people to grow a business”

It is encouraging to know President Obama calling for solutions like that we are determined to provide. Perhaps it really is an issue of being in the ‘right place, at the right time’. There is a clarion call seeking to build the capacity of African people and businesses in order to ensure their dignity and self-sufficiency. We are thrilled to be among those that have heard this call and responded… even before President Obama pointed the way.

Onward & Upward,

-Carter