Why the attention to Rwanda, a land-locked country of about 9 million people about the size of of Maryland? It's no accident. Many of the corporate ties between the U.S. and Rwanda can be traced back to two Chicago-area businessmen: Joe Ritchie, the founder of an investment firm called Fox River Financial Resources, and his partner Dan Cooper. I met Ritchie and Cooper on a trip to Rwanda in 2005 with the evangelical minister and best-selling author Rick Warren.

Rwanda is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills" but it was not the lush landscape that appealed to Ritchie. He and Cooper toured the country and met government and business leaders. They decided that Kagame was open, honest, business-savvy and, unlike some African leaders, serious about fighting corruption.

"We came away saying, this is the most undervalued 'stock' on the continent and maybe in the world," Cooper says. "Here's an African nation that's reaching out, not to governments so much, but to corporate America. They want to work. They want U.S. business to bring innovation to their country."

There's lots more in the works. Tom Ritchey, a master designer and welder of mountain bicycles, as well as an accomplished bike racer, has several projects underway in Rwanda. He is developing a racing team and creating an efficient cargo-hauling bike to help coffee growers to market. (Check out his Project Rwanda Web site.) Other U.S. firms are talking about rebuilding railroads and highways. "We're in the deal-making space right now," Cooper says. Read the full article »