THE 19 FINALISTS tussling it out for the Miss Rwanda 2022 crown on Wednesday, March 9, paid a courtesy visit to the Bank of Kigali headquarters during which they met the bank's Chief Executive Officer Dr Diane Karusisi.

Bank of Kigali is one of platinum sponsors of Miss Rwanda 2021 and has put its commitment in supporting a contestant with the most innovative project since they signed partnership deal with the pageant organisers in 2021.

The contestants toured some parts of the bank. Karusisi used the occasion to explain to the contestants more about the bank and the role the financial institution plays to financially transform people’s lives.

"The discussion was mainly about what Bank of Kigali is, what we do and our role and contribution to the transformation of our economy as well as inspiring them hopefully to become champions,” she said.

In line with a series of questions that contestants asked during the visit, Karusisi took them through her journey and her leadership experience in banking, the challenges that she faced.

Some contestants also asked her the owner of such a ‘big institution’ like the Bank of Kigali.

"I told them that they can also be the owners of Bank of Kigali because it was made easy and affordable to buy Bank of Kigali shares through the stock market and I am hoping that, very soon, we will have more shareholders amongst these contestants,” she explained.

Bank of Kigali works closely with the pageant organisers while assessing each of the contestants’ projects before deciding the best project worth supporting during the implementation.

When selected, the bank offers the finalist with the most innovative project various benefits, including annual allowances of Rwf6 million for her role as the brand ambassador.

The ‘Most Innovative Project’ prize was introduced in the Miss Rwanda beauty contest last year to give young women a platform to share innovative ideas that can make an impact on the community and the nation in general.

Hense Teta Musana was the first to win the prize, thanks to her project that deals with production of environment-friendly paper cups.

Apart from being announced as the brand ambassador of Bank of Kigali for a period of a year, the bank also pledged a whopping Rwf24 million to support the beauty queen’s project while she, through the bank’s partnership with Inkomoko, acquired a six-months of training, consulting, and business advisory for her to get ample understanding of the project and the impact it will bring to the community.

Karusisi said that the bank chose, through its partnership with Miss Rwanda, to support the most innovative project as she believes that ‘innovation drives to transformation’.

"If you look at the world, the countries have grown their economies significantly because of innovation and we believe that innovation is something that can be done at every level. In every sector of the economy, you can have innovative projects and these are basically ways to do things, to solve problems faster and more efficiently,” she explained.

What I can tell them is ‘please we want you to become entrepreneurs because we are here to support entrepreneurs and help them achieve their dreams. And, through these ladies, if we have more girls and young people in general, inspired to do business in the future then they will be the future clients of Bank of Kigali,” she added.

The winner of Miss Rwanda 2022 will be announced during the grand finale slated for March 19, at Intare Conference Arena.