Rwanda’s successful emergence out of conflict and into financial inclusion

 

20 October 2015

Rwanda has managed to successfully emerge out of conflict and has expanded financial inclusion across the nation. “42 percent of Rwandan adults own a financial account, whether formal or informal, and 1.6 million have opened accounts in the country’s national SACCO savings and loan program”.

Claver Gatete shares his thoughts on this success, about how the country needs to ensure all people are financially included, to reach their national goals.

In order for the community to be financially included. “One thing we did was introduce micro-finance institutions, for example, our SACCO savings co-operatives, and made sure that these products grow, especially mobile usage.” Increasing access to mobile banking has become one of the biggest financial inclusion mechanisms. Mobile phones have bought financing capabilities closer to everyone in Rwanda, everything anyone needs is accessible and purchasable via a mobile phone. “The mobile phone has become a key enabler.”

Mobile phones are important to make banking more of a viable solution for the residents of Rwanda, but also are exceptionally important for “moving the money around, purchasing things, transferring money, and also paying for different services that are needed.” “By June 2016, we are completing a project to digitize everything.”

 

Read the original article: http://pulse.com.gh/finance/inclusion-hub-how-rwanda-became-a-financial-inclusion-success-story-id4254282.html