In a market where most banks focus on products, profits, and percentages, Equity Bank Rwanda is choosing to focus on people. Its new campaign, ‘Ndi Umunyamuryango’ (loosely translated as “I am a member”), aims to turn ordinary banking relationships into a shared sense of belonging. Unveiled in Kigali by Managing Director Hannington Namara, the campaign represents what the bank calls a shift from transactional banking to relationship-driven finance. It redefines customers not as clients but as members of a broader community built around shared growth, inclusion, and trust. “A client walks in for service and leaves,” Namara said. “A member participates, benefits, and grows with the institution.” At its core, ‘Ndi Umunyamuryango’ is Equity’s attempt to humanise banking and make it less about accounts and more about relationships. It aligns with the lender’s ongoing effort to deepen financial inclusion, particularly among small businesses, farmers, women, and young people. “This campaign is about returning to who we are,” Namara added. At the onset, the bank celebrated members and partners who go above and beyond, including top agents serving the most customers, schools excelling in SchoolGEAR usage, merchants with the highest card transactions, as well as customers leading on the Equity Mobile App. “Equity started as a movement to empower ordinary people through access to finance. We are going back to that identity.” From transactions to trust The campaign introduces a new narrative for the banking sector, one rooted in emotional connection and shared prosperity rather than competition on rates and products. Through ‘Ndi Umunyamuryango’, customers will be encouraged to share their stories and experiences, highlighting how access to finance has improved their lives and businesses. The campaign will extend across the bank’s digital platforms and branches, using customer testimonies, social media engagement, and on-ground activations to emphasise belonging, loyalty, and empowerment over pure profitability. Banking that builds belonging Equity Bank has concentrated much of its lending in sectors considered critical to Rwanda’s economic transformation. About 60 per cent of its loans target small and medium enterprises, while another 30 per cent finance agriculture and livestock, two pillars of the country’s development agenda. That focus, Namara said, will remain central to how the membership concept is implemented by ensuring that growth in the bank’s books translates into tangible opportunities for ordinary citizens. “The people who trust us with their savings are the same people we want to see succeed,” he said. “If they grow, we grow.” The campaign also aims to reward members who engage actively with Equity’s digital channels, such as mobile banking, agency banking, and card payments, through loyalty programmes and festive-season prizes. A promise and a challenge Clients, however, say the success of the initiative will depend on how Equity converts the membership rhetoric into measurable benefits. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio dropped to 2.9 per cent in early 2025, down from 4.1 per cent a year earlier, indicating improved credit quality and disciplined lending. Still, customers and analysts note that belonging must be matched with transparency, shared value, and continued accessibility, especially in rural areas. “Ndi Umunyamuryango will only work if people truly feel that the bank is walking with them,” said a Kigali-based financial analyst. “That means listening, rewarding loyalty, and investing in customer success, not just branding it.” Belonging as the new currency With ‘Ndi Umunyamuryango’, Equity Bank is betting that a sense of ownership can strengthen its brand in a maturing banking market where competition is less about rates and more about trust. As Rwanda’s economy digitalises and grows more inclusive, the campaign symbolises a broader shift from banking as a service to banking as a shared journey. Whether the initiative succeeds will depend on execution, but Equity’s message is clear: in today’s Rwanda, belonging might just be the new currency of banking.
