Specialty Coffee Wet-Mill & Roasting Joint Venture — Kigali Special Economic Zone

Rwanda is one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, posting 9.4% GDP growth in full-year 2025 and an exceptional 11.8% in Q3 2025 alone, buoyed by broad gains in services (+17% ICT, +10% financials), industry (+17%), and agriculture (+10%). The Rwanda Development Board recorded USD 2.62 billion in registered investments across 799 projects in 2025, a 30% jump in project count from 2024, with FDI inflows reaching USD 872.9 million (+21.8% YoY). Three structural catalysts dominate the current window: (1) the December 2025 Rwanda-DRC Regional Economic Integration Framework (REIF), signed in Washington and facilitating formalised cross-border minerals trade and joint SEZ development; (2) the Financial Sector Development Strategy 2025–2030, targeting a doubling of private-sector lending to RWF 9.2 trillion and full digitisation of the Rwanda Stock Exchange; and (3) the Fifth Agricultural Transformation Plan (PSTA5 2024–2029), backed by a USD 237 million government coffee investment programme and a USD 289 million tea corridor plan with a 22.3% IRR. The national FY2025/26 budget of RWF 7.03 trillion is 21% larger than the prior year, with USD 485 million allocated to the Bugesera International Airport alone. Rwanda maintains Africa's highest B-READY regulatory score (World Bank 2025) and ranks 43rd globally on Transparency International's CPI, providing a stable governance baseline for European and diaspora investors.

Rwanda's Q3 2025 export crop output surged 35%, with coffee production up 32% YoY, and the government is executing a USD 237 million coffee investment plan that includes roasting capacity upgrades and new washing stations, creating immediate co-investment openings. The FAO Hand-in-Hand programme has designated coffee as a priority value chain with export revenues projected to grow from USD 90 million in 2024 to USD 116 million by 2029, and the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative already dispatches Rwandan value-added agricultural products to 24 regional markets.

Market drivers:

- Government USD 237M coffee modernisation plan covering 20,000 ha of new/rejuvenated plantations and national roasting capacity expansion

- 32% YoY increase in coffee output in Q3 2025 and 121% surge in coffee production in Q2 2025, driven by new plantations and improved harvesting

- AfCFTA + EAC market access to 1.4 billion consumers with Rwanda as a proven export corridor; RwandAir flight network facilitating fresh/specialty exports to Europe and the Middle East

Risks:

- Climate vulnerability and seasonal rainfall variability affecting harvest yields and quality consistency

- Rwandan franc depreciation (lost 13.2% value in 2024) compresses USD-denominated margins for locally financed operations