There is no question that there are challenges to doing business in Burundi – and a recent report from the World Bank confirms this, ranking Burundi 152 out of 189 nations in an aggregate ranking of 10 critical factors in starting and operating a business. This isn’t quite as bad as it sounds, though, with Burundi ranking very close to the average for Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, over the past 5 years Burundi has improved dramatically on 4 of the 10 indicators.
Based on our experience working in Burundi over the past 10 years, we have seen improvement in the business climate – especially in the government’s recognition that business must flourish in Burundi for development to be sustained. For Songa Energy, this is most visibly seen in two new laws passed in April 2015 that provide a strong policy framework for independent power producers and public-private partnerships. Songa Energy is proud to be one of the first companies to produce electricity in Burundi under this new framework.