In the spirit of continuing to contribute to the government’s plan to ease access to financial services, Cogebanque has facilitated the saving services of those following ‘Tour du Rwanda’. The highly anticipated inaugural edition of Tour du Rwanda as a UCI 2.1 category race – from 2.2 category – got underway on the 24th February 2019 at Amahoro Stadium, making a 112.5km journey from Kigali to Rwamagana District and back to the capital. It is during this competition that Cogebanque is among the main sponsors of the event and has committed to seeing that the cerebrations of Rwandans does not end at following the event, but also to profit from it through saving for the future. Talking to the New Times, the person in charge of marketing at Cogebanque, Iyamuremye Antoine said that “AGUKA” has to be brought near to Rwandans and its benefits must be explained. “We need to sensitize the public about the benefits that bank offers and why it is important to save with Cogebanque. During this Tour du Rwanda, we want to use the event to explain to Rwandans the benefits of saving with us because there are many people who don’t use banks. So we are calling upon them to start now and open accounts in Cogebanque” said Iyamuremye. Those people who will come to watch Tour du Rwanda can access any Cogebanque agent and open a ‘ITEZIMBERE’ account. “As major sponsors of the Tour du Rwanda, we held several campaigns mobilizing Rwandans to be integrated into our banking systems opening Itezimbere account, which can be done at no cost, and with no monthly charges for the account holder. We encourage more Rwandans to take advantage of these opportunities and meet our agents deployed in various parts of the country to open an Itezimbere account and send or receive money through them,” he added. Opening the account only requires a passport photograph and a deposit of Frw 2000. Iyamuremye went on to say that the account can be opened by a new client and also those that already have accounts in Cogebanque and will be getting a 5% on his savings. In its tenth edition, the Tour du Rwanda has come of age, as evidenced not just by the increased international interest for the race – both on the part of cycling teams and foreign media – but also by the presence of officials from the International Cycling Federation (UCI) and the African Cycling Federation.
