Chinese Manufacturing in Rwanda on the Public Record: Two Garment Factories in Kigali and a Cement Plant in Muhanga
KIGALI — Public records of Chinese manufacturing investment in Rwanda are concentrated in two industries, garments and building materials. Agreements published by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), together with Rwandan and international media reports, document the following operating factories in and around the capital, Kigali.
Garments were the first sector. C&H Garments, founded by Helen Hai and Candy Ma, signed a memorandum of understanding with the RDB in July 2014 and began operations in the Kigali Special Economic Zone in 2015, making shirts, T-shirts, trousers and jackets for export to the United States and Europe, with part of its output licensed for sale locally. A working paper published in August 2018 by the SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University recorded 1,500 Rwandan employees at the factory at that time, under a training arrangement with the government's National Employment Programme in which most trainees went on to receive employment contracts.
The second garment factory is Pink Mango C&D. In May 2019 the RDB announced an agreement with the company to build a modern garment factory in the Kigali Special Economic Zone for the domestic and export markets. A Xinhua feature from Kigali dated February 2, 2022, reported that the plant produces waterproof jackets, winter jackets, fleece jackets, work wear, sportswear, T-shirts, nightwear and trousers, and quoted its human resources coordinator as saying the workforce had grown to more than 3,000 employees. In its 2019 signing statement, the RDB projected that the factory would provide 7,500 jobs by its fifth year, generate cumulative export earnings of US$20 million over five years, and train 500 workers from local garment cooperatives.
In building materials, AnJia Cement was inaugurated by President Paul Kagame on August 3, 2023, at the Muhanga Industrial Park in Southern Province. Built by AnJia Prefabricated Construction Rwanda, a subsidiary of West International Holding, the African arm of Hong Kong-listed West China Cement, the plant represented an initial investment of US$50 million out of a planned US$100 million, with annual cement capacity of one million tonnes. Reporting by CemNet and African News Agency in August 2023 put employment at the plant at 205 people, 185 of them Rwandans, with a plan to reach 250 by the end of 2023.
For Chinese business and community organisations in Rwanda, the appendix of China's Ministry of Commerce country guide for Rwanda (2025 edition) lists two bodies. One is the Overseas Chinese Association of Rwanda, whose president is listed as Yin Qingri; Xinhua reported in June 2023 that the Chinese community in Rwanda donated relief supplies to Groupe Scolaire St Paul Rurembo, a school affected by floods and landslides in Nyabihu District, Western Province, with Yin attending in his capacity as head of the Chinese community. The other is the China Chamber of Commerce in Rwanda: according to the guide, its predecessor chamber was founded in 2010, registered locally in August 2012 and renamed in May 2024; its president unit is the Rwanda office of China Road and Bridge Corporation, its chairman is Huang Qilin, and it has dozens of member enterprises. Xinhua reported in September 2025 that the chamber co-hosted the launch in Kigali of the first corporate social responsibility report of Chinese enterprises and institutions in Rwanda, attended by about 120 people.
Sources: Rwanda Development Board statements (2014, 2019); SAIS-CARI Working Paper, Johns Hopkins University (August 2018); Xinhua reports (February 2, 2022; June 2023; September 2025); CemNet and African News Agency reporting (August 2023); Ministry of Commerce of China, Country Guide for Outbound Investment and Cooperation — Rwanda (2025 edition).
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：卢旺达首都基加利街景（资料图）
