Country: Rwanda

Refugees and their money – understanding the enablers of the camp economy in Rwanda

Background

In Rwanda, financial inclusion allows low-income households to build assets, mitigate shocks and make productive investments. It also stimulates local economic activity by financing microbusinesses and is positively correlated with economic growth. Increased use of digital cash transfer technology, that delivers cash to recipients using card-based and mobile phone- based systems, provides potential opportunities for linking relief, rehabilitation and development activities. Humanitarian cash transfers offer beneficiarthe chance to ‘onramp’ to other important services, such as transactional accounts and bank accounts that lead to savings and credit lines.

Objectives

This study details the financial needs of the ‘forcibly displaced people’ (FDP) population in relation to their host populations. It offers insights into how different segments of the FDP population manage their portfolios and how the different stakeholder categories might engage with financial service providers (FSPs).

Key findings

1. Unclear KYC requirements make it difficult for both the refugees and FSPs to interact effectively.

2. NGO-promoted livelihoods, while appreciated, often generate subsistence-level incomes.

3. Credit is needed for business expansion

4. An information and ‘idea gap’ holds back camp resident

Are refugees viable customers for banks?

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Refugees are not an obvious customer segment for financial service providers (FSPs). It is not hard to see why: in a world where refugees are too often portrayed as very poor, vulnerable, with few tangible assets and little stability, where are the incentives to enter such a challenging market?

While FDPs often are vulnerable, poor, and burdened with instability, through a different lens they can present an intriguing opportunity. In places like Rwanda, large refugee camps can exist for decades and are home to vibrant micro-economies. Moreover, many FDPs fit the basic profile to access formal financial services; they have regular income, formal identification, and a need for financial products.

A study conducted by BFA Global in partnership with FSD Africa, Access to Finance Rwanda[1] (AFR), and UNHCR last year suggests that there are good reasons to believe that forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) can be a profitable customer group for FSPs.

Demand: Refugees Need Financial Services

Many refugees not only receive aid, they also earn income, thereby creating sufficient cash flow to drive demand for financial services.

Although they are plagued by instability and insecurity, many refugees start businesses and some also have jobs. About a third, or 27% of refugees, are self-employed, providing services such as dressmaking and barbering largely within the camp. An additional 10% of refugees earn a monthly salary from employment. Finally, 4% receive remittances.

 In addition to the income earned from work, 95% of refugees receive humanitarian aid in the form of monthly cash transfers. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UNHCR are shifting from providing refugee households with in-kind humanitarian support to giving them cash.  At the time of our study, refugee households in four out of the six camps in Rwanda were receiving monthly cash transfers. The other two camps were soon to migrate from in-kind to cash transfers.

With these regular inflows of cash, refugees need a place to receive and store their money, creating a clear demand for secure financial services.

Supply: Refugees can be a profitable segment

Not only is there substantial demand for financial services, our analysis suggests refugees are a viable customer segment. Of the 160,000 men, women and children who are displaced in Rwanda, we estimate that about 44,000 adults have sufficient monthly cash flow to make them viable customers for FSPs, with additional opportunities for cross selling.

To start, the basic transaction accounts that banks offer other low-income Rwandans would likely be even more successful with refugees who have regular, stable cash flows. Moreover, accounts that refugees open to receive their monthly cash transfers are notlikely to become dormant or inactive, as is generally the case with many low balance accounts, making refugees a more attractive proposition for banks.

 In addition, there are opportunities for cost savings using mobile money. Although low-income households tend to use informal mechanisms such as savings groupto manage their finances, 90% of the refugees we interviewed use mobile money regularly and 95% already have experience using a bank account, thereby decreasing upfront training and client education costs.

Finally, there are opportunities to cross sell other products although many segments are profitable with just a savings product. Our dynamic net present value model estimates FSPs can profitably serve refugees with salaried jobs, those who are self-employed, and those who receive regular remittances with only a savings proposition! In fact, we believe that these three segments, who together make up 41% of the adult refugee population, can be just as profitable to FSPs as typical low-income account holders in Rwanda.

That said, FSPs that offer only a savings product to refugees who depend solely on cash transfers are not likely to have a profitable proposition. Targeted cross-selling of other financial products, such as a loan or micro-insurance, will be needed to improve the FSP’s profitability for this segment.

Regulatory Environment: Refugees Qualify for Financial Services

Given the significant forces for demand and supply, the regulatory environment is the last piece of the puzzle. Fortunately, we found that refugees meet the formal requirements for opening a bank account in Rwanda.

Although most refugees do not have a government-issued ID card (which FSPs typically use for KYC purposes), all refugees have a proof of registration document issued by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs. FSPs that want to serve refugees can request regulatory approval to use the proof of registration document to open accounts; the National Bank of Rwanda has approved such requests in the past.

Ultimately, our research suggests that FSPs shouldn’t be guided by the stereotypical narratives about refugees. We found that while refugees face difficult circumstances, they are also viable customers for FSPs that take an innovative approach to product design and customer acquisition.

As added incentive, in December 2017, FSD Africa launched an innovation competition to provide FSPs with ideas about how to bring financial access to refugees with grant funding of up to £160,000. The competition has received 21 concept notes to date.

[1]Rwanda is a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees[1], which guarantees refugees the freedom of movement, right to work and other liberties and has been hosting refugees for over 20 years.

[1] BFA’s calculations based on the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (2016) data set from a research conducted in May 20

Building women’s skills and capacity

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Join us in celebrating International Women’s Day 2018!

Through our #PressforProgress campaign, we are proud to share information about our partnerships that are supporting women’s economic empowerment in a variety of ways.

 

 

The Strathmore Business School (SBS) is a renowned institution in East Africa that aims at developing transformative business leaders to tackle the various social and economic challenges facing Africa. With support from FSD Africa, SBS has developed and expanded its Leadership Academy in East Africa including creating a ‘Women in Leadership’ programme. The programme is targeted at women in management and equips women with skills to perform effectively and efficiently to achieve excellence in the various spheres of their lives.

Additionally, The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) through FSD Africa’s support, is providing skills development and training in order to strengthen professional standards among Capital Markets Professionals – women included. CISI is a professional body that offers a wide range of qualifications in the financial sector including Operations, Wealth Management, Compliance/Risk, Capital Markets/Corporate Finance, Financial Planning and Islamic F

Notes from the frontier: FSD Africa’s fragile states approach – a learning journey (

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In early November, FSD Africa brought two worlds together for the first time: taking five prominent financial service providers (FSPs) to Gihembe Refugee Camp in Rwanda to participate in a ‘Financial Product Design Sprint’ in partnership with UNHCR, Government of Rwanda, and Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR). We were also joined by a member of UNHCR from Geneva, the International Finance Corporation and FSD Uganda.

Earlier that week, FSD Africa and BFA presented research on ‘Refugees & Their Money’ to over 20 FSPs in Kigali – highlighting the business case for financial products focused towards refugees (you can find a short summary found here). Philip Kakuru, from Tigo, said ‘With the limited access of the refugees, there was little to know about them, but the sprint design opened our eyes’. These FSPs, along with any others, now have an opportunity to win one of our four £10,000 grants in our Innovation Competition – Financial Services for Refugees in Rwanda.

To read more about the wider FSDA approach to refugee finance, take a look at last month’s blog here.

Day One: Any ideas?

The next day, the five FSPs, chosen through an open competition, began the Financial Product Design Sprint. The FSPs were a diverse group representing MMOs, MNOs, MFI and banks: MobiCash, Equity Bank, Vision Fund, Tigo and Commercial Bank for Africa. This three-day event hoped to challenge misconceptions about refugees, their potential and FSPs to consider a refugee product seriously. The first day began with an in-depth presentation of BFA’s research and details regarding the structure of refugee camps. This was followed by product brainstorming with each FSP, before narrowing down to a select two or three ideas which were fleshed out.

Day Two: What are the financial lives of refugees?

On the second day, these FSPs were taken to Gihembe Refugee Camp, a camp with a population of around 12,000 refugees from DRC and located only an hour drive from Kigali. Here, each FSP had the opportunity to speak to at least two refugees and over the course of two hours get a better feel for their financial lives. For most, this was their first time interacting with refugees and particularly in a refugee camp. As one FSP noted ‘With this segment, there is a lot to offer and learn from them’. This was followed by further prototyping of the FSP’s idea and customising their product to the needs of refugees.

Day Three: Is this the right product for refugees?

The final day offered an opportunity to return to the camp and with initial prototypes, in the form of a drawing, poster or app, get direct customer feedback. This proved particularly helpful for many FSPs to refine their product. As Peter Kawumi, from FSD Uganda, said ‘Through the design sprint’s customer interaction iterations, misconceptions about the refugees’ technology literacy, economic independence and financial ambition were debunked.’
The first ‘Financial Product Design Sprint’ was well received by all FSPs and there is also potential for replication in Uganda, with FSD Uganda, and as Vishal Patel from the IFC said ‘helped inform IFC’s work in Kenya in Kakuma refugee camp and town.’
Learning from risk taking

Working with banks and beneficiaries in this way is new to FSD Africa. It builds on the FinDisrupt model, pioneered by our sister organistion – FSD Tanzania. We learned a lot, especially on the value of bringing the refugee voice into FSD Africa planning and FSP business casing. The type of discussion it generates, out of the office environment, created momentum that would otherwise never have been achieved.

To read more about the wider FSDA approach to refugee finance, take a look at last month’s blog here.

Notes from the frontier: FSD Africa’s fragile states approach – a learning journey

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Part Two: How do you get a banker interested in refugees?

Between 1-3 November 2017, FSD Africa brought two worlds together for the first time. Working with UNHCR, Government of Rwanda, and Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), we took decision-makers from the banking community into Gihembe Refugee Campin Rwanda to participate in a ‘Financial Product Design Sprint.’

Refugees and other displaced populations are not an obvious place for FSD Africa to be working. We are a financial sector development programme, focused on developing markets and commercially viable financial systems over the medium to long term. Refugees, in much of the popular narrative, are transient, risky and poor – not a client group that a bank would typically target. So how do you foster private sector interest in refugees as customers?

The role of markets in humanitarian crises is not a new subject. Amartya Sen wrote Development as Freedom (1999) almost twenty years ago, making the argument that famines and other crises are caused by a complex web of economic, political and social forces, not just a disruption to food supply. If we focus on one cause of a humanitarian crisis, we’ll miss the underlying challenges that allowed it to happen.  The failure of markets is often a critical factor in creating a crisis, and the development of functioning markets are vital for any long-term solution. We think that financial markets play a key role in a long-term, sustainable response effort, by easing transactions, supporting safety nets, helping to manage risk and channeling credit to those who can use it productively.

Sen was writing about famines in the late 1990s, when the total number of people of concern (refugees, IDPs and other forcibly displaced people) in the world had plateaued at around 20 million. Today, this number is 67 million, and rising. There are more forcibly displaced people in Sub-Saharan Africa than there were worldwide in 1999, and almost half of these (9.8 million people) live in countries where the FSD Network has a presence. So if we are on the ground, and accept that markets (including financial markets) have a role to play, we have a strong imperative to respond.

But how? Bankers are profit-driven and risk-taking is generally disincentivised by regulatory frameworks. How can we, as the development sector, help them to build a viable business case for serving refugees?

We’re new to this. So, a test-and-learn approach makes sense. But, so far, some important themes have emerged that are guiding our work:

  1. Help to build the business case: Much of the data and information behind the successful business models can be a public good, which is a good use of development spend. Banks might not want to cover the costs of gathering market intelligence, but if – the role of the institution is to use this information smartly (and better than its competitors). Watch this space for market intelligence gathered by <"http://bfaglobal.com/">BFA and FSDA.
  2. Be honest about what can (and can’t) be done: Some forcibly displaced people cannot be feasibly reached in a commercially viable way. For example, very new migrants, or very poor in remote areas with minimal economic activity, pose difficult challenges. Some of the responsibility will inevitably still fall on humanitarian agencies, especially in the short term. The key is to develop a credible path to more sustainable models to improve the lives of FDPs over the longer-term.
  3. Look for partnerships that fill gaps in capacity and outreach: There aren’t many people out there with expertise in both financial market development and humanitarian crises. So, partnerships are critical. We are working closely with UNHCR, AFR and other agencies that know and understand refugees better than we do. Similarly, a bank might not serve refugees directly but it might work with an NGO and a mobile money provider to build an integrated solution.Bring the refugee voice into the conversation: Refugees and other displaced people have very different stories, and are not a homogenous group. They use money differently and have various needs from financial services. Some of these are counterintuitive and hard to predict. For every event we have held with financial service providers, we have invited refugees themselves, and, as a next step, we are taking bankers into a refugee community to participate in a product design sprint. This is, we think, the best way to break down information barriers and build empathy.
  4. Incentives matter: Information and exposure are useful tools, but sometimes financial support is needed to change behaviors. So, we are looking for ways to use financial subsidy to unlock innovation in the financial sector. We do this by identifying where the blockages are, and understanding how development money can be used to incentivize a decision (developing a new product, building a nhannel) that could genuinely impact the lives of refugees. FSDA will launch a Product Design Competition in December 2017. Round One will provide up to x4 awards of £10,000, while Round Two will provide up to x3 awards of up to £150,000.

The current crises of displaced populations such as those in Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria and DR Congo are going to be long and complex, and solutions need to take into account this complexity. Financial markets can play a small but critical role in the overall picture, and for that to happen, we need to get bankers interested in refugees – as incongruous as those two worlds ma

Crowdfunding in East Africa: regulation and policy for market development

FSD Africa, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) and Anjarwalla and Khanna (A&K) collaborated to conduct a comparative assessment of the existing and evolving regulatory and policy landscape for crowdfunding in East Africa. This project outlines key priority areas necessary for regulatory and policy development in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Furthermore, while it draws upon insights and experience of the UK, USA, Malaysia, New Zealand and India with respect to regulatory and policy developments, the CCAF has also conducted research into other markets that provide valuable insights but are beyond the scope of this project.

Crowdfunding in East Africa: a regulator-led approach to market development

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Earlier in 2016, FSD Africa partnered with the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) and Anjarwalla & Khanna to conduct a regulatory review of different crowdfunding models across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. This project is now in its final stages and we look forward to publishing the report in full in December 2016. The CCAF will also be launching the inaugural Africa & Middle East Alternative Finance Report to coincide with this.  In anticipation, here are some key findings to whet your appetites.

Crowdfunding is fast taking shape across East Africa – particularly non-financial return based models such as rewards and donations crowdfunding. However, return-based equity and loan-based crowdfunding are really only starting to emerge. The recent Allied Crowds and FSD Africa report highlights these supply-side trends well. Such FinTech models require careful and considerate attention from financial regulators in East Africa to catalyse and harness their potential positive economic and social benefits whilst addressing systemic and consumer risks and challenges.

The upcoming report highlights some key priority regulatory and policy areas necessary for market development in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania while drawing on insights & experience from the UK, the USA, Malaysia, New Zealand and India.

Some of the key findings include the following:

  • There is no bespoke or specific crowdfunding regulation in East Africa or South Africa.
  • Non-financial return-based models dominate market activity in East Africa.
  • Financial return-based loan and equity models are only in the very earliest stages.
  • Loan- and equity-based models dominate total global activity, and account for the majority of market activity in more established markets, while donation- and rewards account for a small percentage of total market activity.

As for next steps, new crowdfunding regulations in East Africa are not recommended at the moment. Instead, other regulator-led, market development initiatives should be considered including:

  • A living database of all, existing, regulator-acknowledged platforms in East Africa.
  • Regulator engagement opportunities – to bring together the East African crowdfunding industry, practitioners, experts, potential funders and fundraisers.
  • Develop a regional regulatory laboratoryr ‘Sandbox’ to guide crowdfunding businesses through the relevant regulatory processes and requirements.
  • Regulators should encourage the East African crowdfunding platforms to build a regionally-focused industry association to undertake self-regulation and institute guidelines and principles to foster innovation while protecting investors.

The report goes into a great deal of depth covering markets in East Africa and other more established crowdfunding markets. It also provides useful guidance for crowdfunding platforms that are seeking to establish operations in these countries as well as hopefully encouraging platforms operating elsewhere to consider East Africa as a market to provide their innovative financial crowdfunding services.

We would like to thank the large number of contributors who have made this research possible including a wide array of regulators from the Capital Market Authorities, Central Banks and Communication Authorities of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania asl as the host of experts, crowdfunding platforms and other policymakers that have generously provided their expertise and insight.

The report will be made freely available in December 2016. Follow up, in-depth workshops led by CCAF will be conducted in January 2017 in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya with the various regulatory bodies. FSD Africa will stand ready to support regulators beyond this process.

East Africa crowdfunding landscape study

This study examines the crowdfunding landscape in four East African countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda), and compares it with the crowdfunding ecosystems in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Allied Crowds forecasts crowdfunding to grow by 177% from 2015 to 2016 in East Africa. Kenya is the leader among the four countries ($46.7m forecast for 2016), followed by Uganda ($30.9m), Tanzania ($16.0m), and Rwanda ($9.4m). This compares with a forecast of $20.6m to be raised in South Africa for 2016.

Crowdfunding in motion: seven things we learned about P2P markets in East Africa

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Less than a month ago, on 15 June 2016, the crowdfunding industry in East Africa came together for the first time in Nairobi. This East African Crowdfunding Indaba & Marketplace was co-hosted by FSD Africa and the Kenya Capital Markets Authority, and attended by 65 representative from across the crowdfunding industry in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

But, what did we learn? We boil it down to seven key points:

  • East African crowdfunding markets are on the move. Crowdfunding markets in East Africa remain nascent, but are growing. According to forthcoming research by Allied Crowds and FSD Africa, crowdfunding platforms (donation, rewards, debt and equity) raised $37.2 million in 2015 in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. By the end of Q1 2016, this figure reached $17.8 million – a 170% year-on-year increase. Today, there are no platforms located in Tanzania, 1 in Rwanda, 1 in Uganda, 3 in Kenya, 10 in South Africa, with a further 55 located beyond these countries, but doing business within them. Ths platform landscaping report is scheduled for publication in July 2016.
  • East Africa’s platforms report promising progress. Since its launch in September 2012, M-Changa has raised $900,000 through 46,000 donations to 6,129 fundraisers. Popular uses of M-Changa donations include: medical expenses (24%), business activities (24%), education expenses (12%), and funeral expenses (7%). The platform also reports 100% year-on-year growth rates. Since the launch of its pilot phase in December 2015, Pesa Zetu has dispersed c.1,200 loans via mobile phones to low income Kenyans – of loan sizes between $20 and $100 – to test its credit models, processes and technology platform. So far, Pesa Zetu has dispersed c.$59,275 in total. Scale-up in Kenya is planned for Q4 2016. Since its inception in March 2015, LelapaFund has screened over 350 SMEs in East Africa and beyond, and engaged over 30 in due diligence and investment readiness processes in Kenya. Pending regulatory approval, it hopes to open access to its first deals on the platform in 2016. During the event, each platform reported regional ambitions.
  • Global crowdfunding markets are growing fast but also evolving. According to primary and secondary research by CGAP, the finance raised by crowdfunding platforms worldwide increased from $2.7 billion in 2012 to an estimated $34 billion in 2015. This figure is expected to reach $96 billion by 2025 in developing countries alone. Today, there are approximately 1,250 active platforms globally. They typically fall into four typologies (donation, rewards, debt and equity), but hybrids are fast emerging. In the UK, up to 40% of the capital raised by P2P platforms is institutional in its origin.
  • East Africa’s MSMEs express a demand for alternative finance, but they’re not always investment-ready or able to locate financiers. According to LelapaFund research, c.45% of Kenyan start-ups sampled require between $10,000 and $50,000 growth capital, while c.40% require between $50,000 and $250,000 for expansion/export (22%), marketing (23%) and product development (29%). For Kenyan SMEs, c.50% of firms sampled require between $100,000 to $500,000 for expansion/export (40%), marketing (21%) and product development (29%). Both start-ups and SMEs received more capital from friends and family than banks. Vava Coffee reported difficulties locating and accessing sources of non-bank finance, especially as a female entrepreneur. The firm also highlighted the importance of data and evidence when raising finance because it demonstrates a track record. LelapaFund has committed significant resources to identify investment-ready SMEs for its platform. Of 350 Kenyan SMEs screened, less than 10% proceeded to due diligence phase. Financial literacy training for SMEs, low cost due diligence models, improved signposting of SMEs to sources of investment and the use of Company Registry data were suggested as means to address a lack of investment-ready SMEs in the region.
  • There are both commercial and development opportunities for crowdfunding platforms in East Africa. Through their use of technology, crowdfunding platforms have the potential to mobilise and allocate capital more cheaply and quickly than the banking industry and development agencies. This could lead to the disintermediation of both through increased efficiency and competition, as well as increased access to finance for low income individuals and growing companies. Where mobile phone technology is currently used to provide micro-savings and micro-credit in East Africa, interest rate spreads remain significant – c.3% p.a. for saving, and c.90% p.a. to lend. This presents a market opportunity, particularly for P2P debt finance platforms.
  • Crowdfunding risks and the regulatory environment. Globally, many crowdfunding markets are not yet regulated. The unique nature of crowdfunding models means that they straddle traditional payments, banking and securities laws. In jurisdictions where financial industry regulators are not consolidated into a single unified authority, platforms may also straddle regulating departments. In some countries, such as the New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States, crowdfunding is subject to special tailored regimes. In the UK, for example, the Financial Conduct Authority has developed a Regulatory Sandbox, which provides a safe space for innovative firms to test products and services with real consumers in a real environment, without incurring all of the normal regulatory consequences of engaging in this activity. In East Africa, there is no specific regime for crowdfunding regulation. Instead, sections of existing banking and securities legislation are used, but are open to interpretation. However, there is evidence of innovation. In Kenya, for example, Section 12A‪ of the Capital Markets Act provides a safe space for innovations to grow before being subject to the full regulatory regime. During the event, the Kenya Capital Markets Authority, Rwanda Capital Markets Authority, Uganda Capital Markets Authority, and CGAP’s consumer protection specialist expressed cautious optimism about the future of crowdfunding markets in East Africa, noting particularly risks around: inexperienced borrowers and investors, digital fraud, data protection and non-performing loans/investments.
  • There’s appetite to do business and to learn more from across East Africa. A total of 65 participants attended the Indaba & Marketplace from all corners of the East African market: a) supply-side (crowdfunding platforms, impact investors and micro-finance institutions such as Pesa Zetu, M-Changa, LelapaFund, Novastar Ventures, Letshego Holdings), b) demand-side (SMEs and consumer protection specialists such as Vava Coffee, EcoZoom, Burn), c) business service providers (data analytics firms, law firms, market intelligence firms and technology providers such as Anjarwalla & Khanna, IBM, Zege Technologies, Allied Crowds, Digital Data Divide, Open Capital Advisors, Genesis Analytics, Intellecap), d) rule-makers (regulators and policy makers such as the Kenya Capital Markets Authority, Rwanda Capital Markets Authority, Uganda Capital Markets Authority, UK Financial Conduct Authority), and e) donor agencies (market facilitators, think tanks and aid agencies such as Access to Finance Rwanda, CGAP,  FSD Kenya, FSD Tanzania, FSD Uganda, UN Women).

So, what’s next?

First of all, for more facts and figures, please find all the presentations delivered during the crowdfunding indaba and marketplace here.

Second, we’re keen to move beyond discussion towards new partnerships and deal-making. With this in mind, please find a full list of participants here. If you’d like specific contact details then email Fundi Ngundi (fundi@fsdafrica.org), who will ask permission from the counterpart before connecting you.

Third, through partnership, FSD Africa will continue to support the development of crowdfunding markets in East Africa. The Allied Crowds platform landscaping research is scheduled for publication in July 2016. A regulator support exercise has been launched and will conclude in September 2016. It will be led by Anjarwalla & Khanna and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Where beneficial to the poor and the wider crowdfunding market, FSD Africa will also provide light touch support to platforms themselves. If there’s demand, there could be scope for a follow-up Indaba and Marketplace in early 2017. If you’d like to collaborate then please be in touch.

Lastly, thank you to all the speakers, panelists, facilitators and participants for your lively contributions last week. Albeit steadily, crowdfunding markets are on the move in East Africa!

Over 1,000 senior and mid-level executives to benefit from FSD Africa’s USD1.14 million grant to strathmore business school

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FSD Africa is pleased to announce that it has signed a USD 1.14 million grant agreement with Strathmore Business School – SBS to develop and deliver training to over 1,000 senior and mid-level executives in the financial sector in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. Funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, FSD Africa supports financial sector development to help reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

This grant builds on FSDA’s strategy of supporting the emergence of strong centres of excellence that provide best practice training to financial sector professionals.

Strathmore Business School has for the past 10 years demonstrated its ability to deliver transformative executive development programmes in Kenya which has positively impacted the business community. We are delighted to partner with SBS to spread this success into the region.

Julias Alego, FSD Africa’s Director of Professional Education

Since 2013 SBS has trained over 200 senior and middle level managers in Uganda under the Uganda Leadership Development Academy – ULDA. This grant will support the expansion of the programme into Tanzania and Rwanda until the end of 2018. It will essentially be used to develop faculty, course material, case studies and limited scholarships to pioneering financial institutions for the programmes.

Over the next three years, it is expected that the target financial institutions to which these course participants belong will develop innovative products and deliver effective service to reach out to up to 5 million of existing and new customers in underserved market segments.

This partnership with FSDA will further enable Strathmore Business School to expand its leadership development programmes in the region and thus reach out to more executives and change livelihoods. We are excited with this partnership and look forward to working closely with FSDA to change lives.

Dr. George Njenga, Strathmore Business School Dean