'Every single day,' he says, 'I have to do this. It's no joke. I spend most of the time just imagining how great this project will be.'
Half Yemeni, half Ukrainian, Richi never imagined his life would take root in Rwanda. Before the war in Ukraine, triggered on February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion, he was a successful real estate entrepreneur in Kyiv, owner of a café, a beauty salon, and a father to twins born just months before the fighting erupted.
Since then, fighting and airstrikes have caused more than 40,000 civilian casualties, while 3.7 million people have been internally displaced, and a further 6.9 million have fled Ukraine, creating one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.
On the day the war began, he was in Poland. His family soon joined him. They drove west to Spain, spent nearly two years there, tried Germany, where his wife has family roots, and visited Portugal. But Europe, for all its comfort, felt temporary.
'I wasn't sure where my life was leading,' he recalls. 'I never thought I'd find happiness again. I never thought that this would be in Rwanda.'
Then a friend who lived in Kigali suggested, 'Just come. Visit without your family. See if it's for you.' Richi bought a ticket and arrived for a 10-day scouting trip. The moment he stepped out of Kigali International Airport, he knew.
'The streets were so clean. Everything was so simple, so beautiful, so organized,' he says.
'Then I learned about more rapid development, huge opportunities in the service sector, and everyone said it was safe. I'm not here to find a job. I'm here to start a business. It was clean, safe, simple, far from Europe's problems. It felt like destiny.'
Richi soon discovered that Rwanda is not only welcoming to foreigners but is also engineered for their success. 'Not only the government, but the people, business partners, other owners, everyone wants to do better business,' he says. 'In Europe and Ukraine, you're more on your own. Here, everybody is open.'
That openness led him to William Shaka, a local landowner who had nurtured a farm in Bugesera for 15 years with a quiet dream to one day transform it into something more than agriculture.
Richi and his wife, passionate about eco-tourism, real estate, and marketing, saw the same vision. 'We met,' Richi says, 'and it was destiny again.'
Their first test? A mango festival. Over 1,100 people showed up. 'It was crazy,' Richi laughs. 'We realised there is demand for farm visits in Rwanda. People in Kigali want something new. Bugesera is closer, the roads are better, and it's fresh.'
What began as a festival soon blossomed into Eagle View Farm: an agro-tourism project blending working agriculture with guest rooms, a lakeside restaurant, a wellness centre, and a vision of families waking up to pick oranges from trees outside their door.
'Imagine this,' Richi says, standing by a fish pond with orange groves behind it. 'Your children wake up and say, 'Wow, oranges!' You tell them, 'Go get some.' They pick them. You wash them, cut them. Just like it was supposed to be.'
Every morning, Richi and his family do yoga on the lake shore, watching fishermen cast nets at 7:30 a.m. in perfect unison. 'Only birds and fishermen,' he says. 'Pure peace.'
The future kitchen, still under construction, overlooks the water. 'Can you imagine working here?' he asks, gesturing wide. 'Chefs getting fresh products from the farm, cooking with this view. It's the dream.'
One year ago, when the family moved in, there was only a house. Now, over 10 guest rooms are rising, along with the restaurant and wellness centre.
'It's all coming to reality,' Richi says. 'Very soon, everyone will know about this project.' But Eagle View is more than a business, it's a prototype. 'I hope we motivate other investors to create farm-integrated, eco-tourism projects across Rwanda,' he says.
'With fast internet and AI, you can be in the middle of nowhere and still solve problems instantly. Take a photo of a diseased leaf AI tells you what to do. No waiting for an expert from Kigali. This opens crazy possibilities.'
Since Richi began posting about farm life online, the messages pour in from expats, investors, and especially Rwandans abroad. Many own unused land back home.
Some write: 'You're living the dream. We want to come home.' His response is direct: 'Come home. It's time to invest in Rwanda. The longer you wait, the harder this will be. Such lifestyles will become rarer.'
He speaks not of happiness, but of something more sustainable. 'Happiness comes in phases,' he says. 'We're not designed to be happy all the time. But we can be calm. We can be peaceful.' Buddhist monks don't seek happiness. They seek peace. If I had to describe my life now, I'd say: peaceful.'
To anyone curious about Rwanda, agro-tourism or a life rooted in the land, Richi extends a warm invitation to come and see it firsthand.
'Please visit us. If you're into eco-tourism, nature, agriculture, wilderness, and self-development, you'll see a project that shows where Rwanda is heading. We're building something unique. Welcome to Eagle View Farm.'
Rania Umutoni
