Kigali City Tower Since his accession to power in 2000, President Paul Kagame has sought to transform Rwanda from an impoverished country dependent on subsistence agriculture into a middle income country with a strong service sector. This policy, which is based on liberalising the economy, privatising state owned industries and reducing red tape for businesses, has led to a strong GDP growth between 2004 and 2010 of per year. The changing economy has prompted a construction boom as the need for office and urban residential space has increased. The Kigali City Tower project was begun in 2006 by Rwandan businessman Hatari Sekoko, through
Bank of Kigali shareholders' approved plans to cross-list the stock of the bank on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), the largest in the East African Community. The cross-listing and the planned rights issue, both planned during the second half of 2018, are expected to raise US$70 million, to be deployed on the acquisition of new, improved ICT systems ($20 million), with the rest deployed in loans to support infrastructure projects at home. In October 2018, the EastAfrican, a regional English language newspaper reported that the stock of Bank of Kigali was expected to list on the Nairobi stock exchange on 30 November 2018.