Bank of Kigali has committed to provide Rwf150 billion financing to businesses involved in the agricultural sector in the next five years.
This was announced by Diane Karusisi, CEO of BK, during a Banking on Women Campaign event that brought together women leading SMEs in Bugesera Districts, on March 28. This was also an occasion for the bank to celebrate women’s month with them.
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The agriculture sector is often regarded as a high-risk financing sector with many business people decrying the lack of access to credit from the banks, yet the sector holds a bigger share of the economic activities in the country, with more than 70 percent women engaged in it.
To change the narrative, Karusisi said: "We can’t just abandon that sector which is so important for the country’s economy, that’s why we are going to invest Rwf150 billion in agriculture in the next five years.”
BK is on a move to support women-led businesses through various programmes intended to equip them with entrepreneurship skills and fast-track their digital adoption.
Karusisi noted that there is a challenge that most of the time, women’s businesses do not grow beyond the SMEs level where the majority are limited by fear. This, according to her, will be addressed among the training programmes that the bank is planning for women-led businesses.
This was reiterated by Benjamin Mutimura, the Chief Commercial Officer of BK, who said that it is only befitting that women are empowered with skills and tools that help them expand their business operations as they prove to be trustworthy, especially when it comes to credit repayment.
He encouraged participants to move from paper-based transactions to digitally-enabled transactions through a number of available products such as internet banking and the use of mobile apps, as a way to boost their productivity.
Joan Asiimwe, the PSF representative in Bugesera District, commended the lender for walking with women-led businesses in their journey of development.
She, however, highlighted a few points that they would like to see interventions in. These include putting in place Kinyarwanda versions of different copies of agreements that a client has with the bank for better understanding, as well as reducing the relatively high interest on loans for better financial inclusion.
To respond to this, Karusisi said that the bank is working to distribute all documents in both English, French, and Kinyarwanda languages across all branches in the country.
She encouraged the women to feel free and confident to negotiate interest rates when applying for loans in case they have a good portfolio over the years banking with BK.
Alice Akimana, a livestock farmer in Bugesera District, welcomed BK’s initiative to train local businesswomen in entrepreneurial and digital skills since the majority of them are not very conversant with different digital products they can use to advance their businesses.