Rwanda turns digital public infrastructure into a continental growth strategy

In March, during the season when the rains come and Rwanda’s landscape turns a deep green, the central African country held its first ever DPI Day. 

Rwanda’s DPI Day, organized by the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) with support from UNDP Rwanda and Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), gave stakeholders a chance to take stock of progress and also advance the economic and cooperative opportunities afforded by digital public infrastructure. 

Africa has a financing gap estimated at as much as US$450 billion, according to the African Development Bank. But it’s not just about a shortage of capital but rather verifiability. As Innocent Bagamba Mulhizi, former CEO of RISA, observed, a core component of DPI could have significant effects on the continent. 

“A functional digital identity system converts informality into verifiable economic presence,” he wrote. “A fast payment rail converts cash transactions into traceable financial history. Governed data exchange allows that history to be used — with consent — as collateral for credit, insurance, and market access.” 

A fairly small, landlocked country of around 14 million people, Rwanda nevertheless punches above its weight. Its Rwanda National Digital Payment System (RNDPS), known as eKash, has become one of the continent’s most advanced interoperable payment platforms. 

RNDPS 2.0 is a fully interoperable, open-source national payment system developed by RSwitch, Rwanda’s national electronic payments processor in partnership with Rwandan software development services company Wiredin. 

Powered by open-source payment platform Mojaloop, eKash enjoyed strategic guidance from AfricaNenda, an institution advancing inclusive instant payment systems for the continent. Unlike the first iteration of RNDPS, which used proprietary infrastructure, the 2.0 version represents a locally-owned yet fully replicable African model.  

Turning national DPI into an export platform

Rwanda’s capital Kigali is host to the Center for Digital Public Infrastructure, which opened its doors in February 2025, acting as a hub to collect and progress designs and deployments in interoperable digital systems. 

A collaboration between RISA, the Gates Foundation, Co-Develop and AFR, the center speaks to Kigali’s ambitions of pushing outwards, helping to project and cement its status as a DPI leader. 

For investors, the attraction goes beyond supportive policy. Rwanda is building shared digital infrastructure that lowers the cost and complexity of entering the market. Trusted digital identity, interoperable payments and government APIs provide a common foundation that companies can build on, reducing integration work and making it easier to scale services across both the public and private sectors. 

Muhizi, who launched the center at the Inclusive Fintech Forum in 2025, believes Rwanda is a “continental staging ground.” 

The model is one where Rwanda acts as a test incubator, validator and staging ground. “It is a proof-of-concept market of 14.5 million people with high institutional coherence and policy stability,” Muhizi, the former RISA CEO, argues. This market is “large yet compact” offering investors an accommodating place to clarify unit economics and regulatory relationships. 

It helps that the Mojaloop architecture upon which eKash is based is already operating, via Mojaloop-based implementations, in other African markets. From Muhizi’s view Rwanda’s investment in sovereign architecture is “simultaneously an investment in regional interoperability.” 

A national laboratory made possible by solid foundations

Rwanda entered the 50-in-5 campaign with much of its core digital public infrastructure already in place. Its advanced platforms mean it is becoming an exporter of expertise. Kenya and Uganda have already adopted Rwanda’s Electronic Billing Machine (EBM). Zambia is in the process while Chad and Madagascar are the latest to be interested in the system designed to strengthen tax compliance, efficiency and transparency. 

It has an e-Procurement platform, with Guinea adopting Telemo procurement and co-developing the platform in partnership with Rwanda. Telemo fully digitizes public tender procedures. Rwanda’s IremboGov platform is the country’s central digital services hub with more than 600 services, including over 240 paid ones, across civil registration, licensing, immigration, land, health insurance and taxation. 

Mobile money dominates payments, cash is minimal, and most services that once needed days of in‑person visits are now processed within 24 hours. The platform supports 4,000 agents serving as an integration layer connecting national ID, payments and sectoral data systems. 

Rwanda’s Single Digital Identity (SDID) is the core DPI asset providing a universal, verifiable digital identity through smart cards, mobile ID and other credential formats. Backed by the World Bank’s RDAP, nationwide enrollment is underway. Integrated with IremboGov and national payment systems, the SDID is the root credential for all downstream services. 

Allied to these stable foundations is an institutional willingness aided by local talent. Rwanda’s model also lowers barriers for technology companies. Government APIs, coordinated regulators and nationally deployed digital infrastructure allow companies to test products domestically before expanding across East Africa. Clear pathways through RISA, the ICT ministry and sector agencies help move projects from pilot to national rollout. 

Investment can link to concrete deliverables. Working with the National Bank of Rwanda, RURA, RISA and the NCSA as collaborative regulatory partners can speed licensing and reduce implementation risk. And designing solutions from the outset to be portable across East African Community markets adds little cost but creates a credible route to regional scale. 

Smaller DPI players can rival giants

Through institutions such as RISA and the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, Rwanda has emerged as one of Africa’s leading DPI implementers. It is impressive considering its expertise is sought out in  ways that the likes of Estonia and Singapore have enjoyed, with these two countries often held up as world-beating models for their DPI.  

Like them, Rwanda is a small country with an outsized capability in this field. Unlike them, Rwanda does not have “developed” country status, with incomes far from the same level. But Rwanda’s commitment to inclusive, interoperable digital transformation gives it an enviable momentum on its home continent. 

Rwanda is not the only country pursuing this strategy. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan is betting that DPI, in which it is a leading exemplar in its region, will drive its next phase of growth, providing ground for private-sector innovation and international investment. The country is pouring huge funds into both physical and digital infrastructure, aiming to become a regional hub for data processing, cloud computing and AI workloads. 

In the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago is upending expectations with its own path towards DPI. Its journey is one where digital trust is built through verifiable credentials, digital public goods and open standards. It has started with an immediately useful verifiable credential, using it to establish trust infrastructure before expanding into a broader digital identity ecosystem.

India is on another scale. The country of 1.4 billion and a multi-trillion dollar economy is playing a different game. India has a DPI export strategy and has strong ambitions for AI implementation and development, helped by a robust mentality of local entrepreneurship and talent. And yet its DPI system is now one among a menu of different options. 

Kazakhstan, Trinidad and Tobago offer different recipes for DPI, along with the likes of Brazil and Colombia. Rwanda’s model stands out because it treats DPI not only as public infrastructure, but as economic infrastructure and an export. By combining stable governance, interoperable platforms and a willingness to serve as a regional proving ground, Rwanda is turning national digital infrastructure into a platform for growth across Africa.

Article Topics

50-in-5  |  Africa  |  digital government  |  digital ID  |  digital payments  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Rwanda  |  Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA)  |  UNDP