On June 21, SPENN and I&M Bank rewarded Nakabonye Sifah, a resident of Rubavu District in the Western District, with a motorcycle. This followed a draw where Rwandans were required to open a SPENN account on their phones and save money on their accounts for a period of 30 days. The event to reward the winner was held on Friday morning SPENN Rwanda head offices in Kigali. A group photo of Spenn staff, I&M Bank official and a representative from Rwanda Motorcycle Company with the lucky winner at the event. Sifah says she got to know about SPENN through an acquaintance who convinced her to open up an account with the organisation because it would come with benefits such as bonuses. “One day I was walking along the road and I saw many people gathering. I became curious and when I inquired I found out that they were opening up accounts and saving money with SPENN. I also decided to open up an account. I started saving all the little money I would get. Nakabonye Sifah who won herself a brand new motorcycle after engaging in the Spenn saving campaign. She started saving Rwf500 and by the time she was declared the winner last Friday she had saved up to Rwf47, 000. Sifah plans to use the motorcycle to facilitate her movements and work. Alice Kirezi, the Country Director of SPENN Rwanda said that SPENN is a free application that originated from an infinity company in Norway. In Rwanda, it partners with I&M Bank in Rwanda. The platform is used to facilitate digital transfer money and making payment. It has more than 10,000 agents across the county. “SPENN allows all its clients to cash out and cash in in case one does not want to go to any of I&M Bank’s branches,’’ Kirezi said. It helps people to conduct their banking activities from anywhere and anytime, thus supporting the country’s efforts become a cashless economy. Kirezi also says that the platform is composed of various features through which SPENN can monitor one’s savings. She revealed that in case one has a mission to save a certain amount of money, for instance Rwf100,000, the application allows the user to establish how much they’ve saved in percentage terms. She added that SPENN has another feature—a map that facilitates its clients to locate agents commonly known as SPENN users—and this can help users know the location of the nearest gas station, hospital, supermarket that allows payments using the platform. SPENN has previous rewarded its users with cash prices of up to Rwf200,000. Alice Kirezi says that as the organisation continues to drive Rwanda’s efforts towards a cashless economy, more campaigns are being planned. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
