Rwanda's software market is expected to expand this year, driven by an increasing demand for software applications from the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
Results from a business census report, released at the end of last year, showed there were 123 652 enterprises operating in Rwanda. This increases growth opportunities for the software market and accompanying information technology services.
Clement Uwajeneza, president of the Rwanda Association of Software Developers and Distributors, says the software market is set for robust growth over the next three years.
This optimism is based on government policies intended to grow SMEs and investments in ICT infrastructure, such as the fibre-optic network across the country, which has access to the submarine cables, providing faster, affordable Internet.
The move, according to Uwajeneza, is already inspiring innovation in software companies and the new generation of young software developers, encouraging them to tap into this new revenue source.
“We are currently seeing more and more young people trying to innovate by creating applications that respond to local needs and which are broadly accessible, as they are available through the most basic mobile phone,” Uwajeneza, who doubles as the MD and founder of AxiS, a local IT firm, said recently in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.
The company seeks to ease payment processes for software purchases by SMEs by combining the price of its software and maintenance, allowing customers to pay a monthly fee, rather than a hefty once-off payment.
This will allow SMEs to pay as they generate revenue, rather than imposing the financial burden of making them pay for the applications at once.
The model, which AxiS plans to roll out this year, is expected to generate 10% of the company's revenue. Last year, AxiS made about 100 million Rwandan francs ($168 067) and seeks to double that this year because of the increasing market.
Meanwhile, as Rwandan software developers adopt innovative approaches to penetrate the market, their applications face tough competition from similar products from India, Kenya and Uganda, which are already flooding the market.
Software piracy is also on the increase, and is mainly targeting SMEs, eating into the growth of software firms.
“It's a huge problem; if there was no piracy, we would do more business and that's why we are really striving to come up with business models that are comprehensible to SMEs,” explained Uwajeneza.
The pirated software market continues to enjoy the sleeping state of the Rwandan government, which has copyright law in place, but has failed to make it known to the public. Piracy is largely visible in Rwanda's music and film industry, where local actors and singers struggle to sell original products.
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