Family holiday becons

I'm afraid that I once again over the bext two weeks I wont be the most active blogger around. I have spent two weeks away in Rwanda and the last week in the office every day getting my mail up to date which, has been a substantial task as a consequence of many resplies to be made to residents who have responded to my constituency wide survey, more of which anon. Now it's time to spend some time with my family as we spend a couple of weeks in France, firstly in Paris and visiting a pen-friend in Epernay & later on at the coast. With batteries recharged, I will get back to a more regular update & comment early in September

Reflections on Rwanda

I'm now home and playing "catch-up"! I hope to set aside a page on the website for some of the many photos I took and shown is a group of villagers I met on my second full day in this fascinating country. Set out below is an article on the project I was involved in:

There are two economies in Rwanda. The first is Rwandese and largely subsistence farming or as we were memorably told “gardening,” where people, and particularly those outside the capital, Kigali, struggle to keep life going. The second is based around the ex-patriate community, aid, and the many NGOs who are there to administer it. While we enjoyed the later during the evenings eating in quality restaurants such as “Heaven” which would compete anywhere in the world, my day to day activity was concerned with the former, trying to pass on some of the experience I gained running a small business in the UK.

I spent varying amounts of time with seven enterprises ranging in size from a co-operative of largely subsistence farmers who have formed a co-operative to grow pineapples together to a Rwanda’s largest textile manufacturer looking to diversify into silk production and the manufacture of mosquito nets using a new technology. In between I met with business owners and managers to learn about the cultivation of roses almost entirely for export; the manufacture of toilet rolls and paper napkins; a project to install polythene lined ponds to enable some irrigation to be brought to areas of agriculture; the development of a new private school; and an engineering business focussed on making wheel barrows. There was also time to speak to students at the School of Business and Finance about running a business in the UK and the enjoyment of being a dragon in the “Dragons Den” modelled on the TV series with a separate group of students at Kigali Institute of Science and Technology. My pleasure at being able to ask the difficult questions was tempered by fellow dragon’s suggestion afterwards that we put our proposals for a business idea before the students we had just put through the mill and who were keen for revenge!

Common themes among all of the businesses were the impact of Government involvement in the business sector; the difficulty in recruiting effective middle managers; the very high cost of raw materials caused by little domestic availability and the high costs of transportation; the lack of a relationship between producers and their customers leading to little understanding of the market place in which they operate. I was shocked to learn that despite low labour rates, the high cost of materials causes products as basic as toilet roll and wheelbarrows to be double the price of similar products in the UK. Improvements can simply and easily be made within the production process in each case, but the greatest opportunity to improve efficiency can come from better purchasing and use of resources. However as a land locked country with poor road communications to the ports making big changes is always going to be difficult. For this reason the decision of the textile manufacturer to produce silk makes sense for products going to export since silk is four times as valuable as cotton for the same weight. If you’re looking for a new tie in a couple of years time see whether Rwandan silk is available!

The recent history of the country is never far from the surface and while some people shied away from discussing the genocide of 1994, others spoke of it in a matter of fact way. Some businesses lost many of their staff and have made an effort to recruit widows and heads of orphan households in order to provide an income. I was able to tell business people about the success of “Fair Trade” here, and how there is a sector of our market in supermarket commodities where people are willing to pay more for goods when they know that a larger proportion of the purchase price finds it’s way back to a producer in need of a boost to their income. I believe that if Rwandan manufacturers can similarly identify products made for export and for consumption by the ex-patriate community in Rwanda, consumers will be willing to pay a little more to support a country which is re-building after horrific times. Every large business started off as a small business and getting this message across will assist small businesses to grow. Trade will always have a better long term benefit than aid.

Those Conservatives who were building the community centre saw a marvellous facility come to fruition; our teachers were able to measure the improvements shown by their pupils over the two weeks and our doctors had a direct relationship with those they helped. In the private sector group our achievements were less tangible and at times difficult to appreciate. Our results will be more long term. I know that I will remain in contact with each of the businesses over coming months and I look forward to continuing to help them, often by putting them in contact with people more experienced in a particular field than myself. Whatever happens, I will follow the progress of Rwanda and the development of it’s economy with a special interest, hoping that the enthusiasm and desire to succeed of the people I encountered will be reflected in their future together.

Blogging will be light....

.....or even non existent over the next two weeks. Tomorrow I will be joining a group of volunteers from the Conservative party in Rwanda who are working on a five separate projects and I will be helping with Rwandan businesses. I have decided not to take my laptop and I am unsure when I will have access to a PC so I am reverting to pen & paper to keep a diary of my activity & observations while I am there & will post a full account when I get back.

Never having previously visited Africa, I was very interested to hear from last year's volunteers about their work and what they found and I am really pleased to have the time to go this year. I have been provided with some useful and interesting background about the genocide that took place in 1994 and expect to be moved by the memorials we will be visiting. I will be interested to see how much the people I meet are keen or willing to speak about that time. I have done some research on two of the businesses I will be visiting, one of which is a manufacturer of toilet tissue called Supa which is a product range I am very familiar with from my Central Catering Supplies days, and the second is a producer of pyrethrum, about which I knew nothing until a week or so ago. The company is Sopirwa and their website is here. I am looking forward to meeting the people in both firms and hopefully passing on some of the experience I gained in my business career.

I'm also getting lots of advice from Victoria who spent 6 moths in neighbouring Tanzania during her gap year. Something of a role reversal & she has given me lots of tips & ideas. I know I will miss my family while I'm away, but I'm looking forward to a whole set of exciting new experiences. Lots of details later.

Pledge to reduce knife crime

It seems that barely a day goes by without hearing about another victim of knife crime somewhere in the country. Something that we thought was a feature only of big cities affected our own community a couple of months ago when a young man lost his life after a fight involving knives in the centre of Rugby. For those who say something must be done a knife amnesty is taking place in Rugby now and people, particularly young people are signing a pledge on a wall outside the church where Kevin Wright died. I heard Mark Beech, Reverend of St Andrews speak about his plan for this at the Civic Service and told him how I supported his idea. I was pleased to add my pledge which is to do my best in whatever role I can to make a better future by supporting anything which will reduce this awful crime.

This is an issue we adressed in a survey of opinion we conducted in June, when we identified a great deal of support for Conservative proposals. These include increasing the dection of knives in peoples possession when they are out by increasing the numbers of police on the streets and a stronger deterrent by ensuring that those found in possesion are convicted. Firm law and order stuff, but the appoach which in the long run will make the difference we all want to see.

Pressures of being a candidate

I was saddened to learn that my colleague, Simon Rouse has decided to stand down from his role of Parliamentary candidate in Nuneaton. I understand that the pressure of work and family has meant that Simon has felt unable to keep working in the constituency as hard as he has done so far and he has chosen to allow someone else to take over. This is an enormously courageous decision on his part and I am pleased to see from the ConservativeHome article and comments, including from Chairman John Waine, here, that the sound people of Nuneaton both respect and understand this. From my own experience there in 2005 and now in Rugby, I know just how demanding this role is and I appreciate how lucky I am to be at a later stage in my career and able to concentrate on being a candidate.

Bulkington Carnival

I joined a full set of Bulkington Conservative Councillors at the Carnival on Sunday. This was the third time I attended having been first in 2005 when I was candidate for Nuneaton. With the village transferring to Rugby for the next election it was great to be there again and to see the tradition of the Carnival maintained. We each have buckets as they expect you to work in Bulkington and we each gathered coins which became heavier as the procession travelled further and funds were raised for valuable comunity projects.

Proud Dad

I spent yesterday in Newcastle at our daughter, Victoria's, graduation ceremony. She received her degree in English Literature from The Chancellor, Lord Patten, who was at one time MP for Bath and who spoke brilliantly, offering great encouragement to Victoria & her friends as they all move off in different directions.