How large is the informal economy in Rwanda?
Salaried employees only account for 5% of the workforce in our country, so the majority of workers are employed in the informal economy, mostly in agriculture, which represents 90% of Rwanda’s economic activity. Out of an active population of 3,300,000, only 600,000 people work in the formal economy and 2,700,000 in the informal economy. What we have to do now is to give them support and help them to organise and manage their projects. We provide them with financial assistance to launch their projects, in the form of micro credits. You do a lot of work with cooperatives. How does that work? Cooperatives are born out of the idea that unity is strength. First of all, we look at how they are organised, the state of their finances, the equipment they use, etc.. Then we give them guidance to ensure that their income generating activities are well-managed. After that, we give them funds to finance the continuation of their activities, be it cattle raising or handicrafts, etc. Those involved
