Prior to her appointment, she was, since September 2018, permanent secretary of Rwanda’s Ministry of Infrastructure, where she started in 2015 as technical advisor to the minister of infrastructure.
As permanent secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Patricia Uwase oversaw the preparation and execution of the budget for Rwanda’s infrastructure sector – about a third of the national budget. She also leads teams of national agencies, engineers and other experts to implement Rwanda’s national transformation strategy and its 2050 vision for the infrastructure sector.
Patricia Uwase has worked on various projects of national importance such as the Kigali Convention Centre and the new Bugesera International Airport. She has also been a member of the National Organising Committees that organised the logistics and transport operations for major national events held in Rwanda, such as the 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa and the 2016 and 2018 African Union Summits.
Acting Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Rwandair
In addition, Patricia Uwase is, since September 2021, acting Chairperson of the Board of Directors of RwandAir, Rwanda’s national airline. She had been Vice Chairperson of the Board since November 2017.
Patricia Uwase sits on the Boards of Ultimate Developers Ltd, Rwanda’s largest real estate developer and Kepler University. She is also a member of the Kigali City Advisory Committee chaired by Professor Sir Paul Collier of Oxford University.
Trained in Rwanda and USA
An alumna of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at UC Berkeley, Patricia Uwase holds a Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a specialization in Transportation Engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. She had the honour of delivering the commencement address for the class of 2015 on behalf of Berkeley’s master’s and PhD engineering graduates. She also holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Rwanda (Formerly Kigali institute of education).
It was after graduating from the Kigali Institute of Education that Patricia Uwase received an Open A Door scholarship, a programme that connects women from post-conflict countries (such as Rwanda) with women in the United States, who then guide them through the application process. With the help of her Open A Door mentors, she applied to various universities in the US and was admitted to UC Berkeley.
Upon her return to Rwanda in 2015, Patricia Uwase also organised the 100 Women Who Will Impact Rwanda (100WWW-IR) mentoring program, designed to connect generations of women leaders in Rwanda.
Brilliant pupil
Patricia Uwase was born in the war-torn Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and grew up in Gisenyi, a small town north-west of Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
A student from Byimana Secondary School in Southern Province, she had emerged among the best students in Mathematics and Physics in the country.
