Savings culture credited with changing lives

For most of his active years, Deogratias Ngamijimana spent almost every penny he earned without saving for the next day. The 40-year-old resident of Nyamirama Cell in Ngera Sector, Nyaruguru District, worked as a bicycle repairer for about ten years but doesn’t remember getting anything tangible from the money he made. “I would make an average of Rwf1,500 per day but would spend all of it. I had no vision and no planning. For me living was just spending whatever I had,” he says. But about five years ago, Ngamijimana, a father of six children, decided to change the course of his life and that of his family. In 2009, he joined a local savings group and learnt the benefits of saving and its impact on socio-economic welfare. “Whenever I needed money I was unable to raise it because I had spent all of it. I was desperate until I realised that spending aimlessly is bad and can’t allow someone to develop,” he says. “But life has since changed. I have been able to uplift my living conditions while at the same time acquired properties and saved more.” Though he declined to delve into details of his savings, Ngamijimana said he was able to “emerge from poverty” in the recent past. Apart from meeting his family’s basic needs, like providing food, clothes and health insurance, Ngamijimana says he has been able to buy land and construct a family house. Investment opportunities Ngamijimana says joining others has opened his eyes and given him a chance to discover new opportunities. He has started working with financial institutions and secured loans on several occasions that he has used to expand his investments. And like him, so many residents have emerged out of poverty thanks to efforts to encourage them to embrace the savings culture. Part of the efforts involves grouping residents from the same village into informal savings groups locally known as Ibimina. As the individuals grow economically, they start working with financial institutions that include savings and credit cooperatives, micro-finance institutions and banks. Nyirasafari, 38, emerged from poverty to become an investor thanks to informal savings groups. Francoise Nyirasafari, 38, a resident of Nyanza Cell in Ngera Sector, is one of them. The mother of three says the groups have helped transform her life and pushed her out of abject poverty. From being a subsistence farmer who hardly put food on table, Nyirasafari is now an investor. She owns a distribution shop that deals in packaged banana wines, with an investment capital of Rwf2 million “I plan to set up my own plant next year,” she says. “Saving the little I earn has enabled me grow from a poor rural woman into an investor,” she adds. The power of saving The testimonies come at a time when Rwanda is marking a special Savings Week that is aimed at educating the public about the importance of saving for their future and that of the country’s economy in general. The Savings Week, which is being marked under the theme; “Save now for a better future”, kicked off on Monday ahead of the World Savings Day due October 31. The government is working closely with stakeholders to engage ordinary citizens in the campaign and raise awareness on the importance of embracing the savings culture. Speaking in Nyaruguru District at the launch of the week-long campaign, the Southern Province Governor, Alphonse Munyantwari, told residents that saving is “the best way to create wealth”. “Saving enables us to lead better lives and to improve our welfare as individuals, families and the nation in general,” Munyantwari said. He hailed informal savings groups (Ibimina), saying they had played a significant role in improving people’s lives. “These groups have shown that even what people used to call little money can accumulate into large amounts of money,” he said. “These groups are making an impact,” commented John Ames, the Chief of Party of Global Communities/Usaid Ejoheza project, an international organisation that supports community-based savings groups. “These people had never saved and could not afford basic necessities such as health insurance. But now they are benefitting from their savings and have got extra-money to plan for emergencies and invest in income-generating activities,” he added. Apart from improving the livelihoods of individual members, the groups are also credited with contributing to the success of the sector-based savings cooperatives (Umurenge SACCOs). Available figures indicate that Umurenge SACCOs total asset increased by 19.9 per cent, from Rwf57.4 billion in December 2013 to Rwf68.8 billion end June 2014, while deposits increased from Rwf36.9 billion to Rwf44.4 billion over the same period.

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Savings culture credited with changing lives