The USD16 million plant is a result of discussions of the company and the government of Rwanda.
Speaking at the event, Gatare said that it is a remarkable step since the country started to promote the development of mining sector.
“Today we have made a great step by agreeing with this experienced company to establish a plant in Rwanda, supporting our made in Rwanda programme and value addition for our products,” Gatare said.
The first of its kind to process Tantalum and Niobium in Africa, the plant will be constructed in Bugesera District based Industrial Zone and will have its mining quarries in Ngororero District.
According to the mining board, the plant will also diversify Coltan production excavated in all Rwanda’s mining quarries.
The Chief Executive Officer of PRG Plc, Ray Power
said that construction activities of the plant will be finalized in nine months and first production will commence in twelve months from the signing of the memorandum.
“Rwanda stood out as a clear choice because of its stability and transparency in doing business,” said Ray Power at the event.
RDB’s Clare Akamanzi said that the MoU is another effort in promoting sustainable development through mining sector.
PRG Plcis based in Slovenia and works from different countries in Europe and Africa.
In one incident which happened in Izuba Village of Rukiri Cell in Remera sector, Gasabo District, one Claudine Yanfashije, 25, allegedly attacked her husband with a knife and stabbed him multiple times, accusing him of infidelity.
“Police was alerted by residents about a reported violent domestic conflict, police officers were dispatched to the scene where they immediately rescued the victim and took him to the hospital, and arrested the suspect for aggrevated assault,” said Supt. Emmanuel Hitayezu, the Central region Police spokesperson.
In a related development, Police in Kigarama sector of Kicukiro District is also holding one Marie Uwase, who also assaulted her husband with a knife.
The violent attack also ensued out of domestic disagreement, Police said.
At the closure of the campaign IGIHE talked to Dr. Diane Karusisi, Bank of Kigali (BK)Chief Executive Officer, for insights into the importance of savings week.
Under the same campaign, Bank of Kigali is running a nation-wide savings campaign dubbed Bigereho Na BK. Excerpts below.
{{IGIHE: The annual National Savings Week closed yesterday, how important is the initiative to lenders like Bank of Kigali and how did you get involved, especially in helping spread its awareness to Rwandans?}}
{Karusisi:} We regard savings as the lifeblood of the banking industry that keeps the “heart” of the sector, which is lending, investing. In other words, it is almost impossible to imagine banking without savings. Whenever banks lend with inadequate domestic savings, the cost of credit goes high, hence the unending complaints about high interest rates.
We, therefore, appreciate and support the government’s efforts through the Ministry of Finance which is at the vanguard of the National Savings Week to encourage Rwandans to save. For us, this year’s savings week complemented our ongoing national savings campaign dubbed “Bigereho Na BK” that started in September during the Rwanda International Trade Fair.
During the savings week, we dedicated all our media platforms, including social media to share or re-share messages on the subject. Although the savings week has ended, Bank of Kigali will continue with its savings education and mobilization activities until the end of the year.
{{Give us an update on ‘Bigereho Na BK’ campaign}}
This is the tenth week since we launched the campaign and we are happy because Rwandans are overwhelmingly responding to our “call to action” which is opening a Bank of Kigali savings account, or re-activating dormant accounts and depositing money. We have exciting prizes to be won and dozens of customers have already tasted the experience of winning.
Last week, a woman from Nyagatare won a cow while another client won Rwf1 million. Dozens of others have been won, including bikes, solar systems and electronics. In the same period, almost 15,000 new accounts were opened and, thanks to the campaign, close to Rwf2 billion has been mobilized in personal savings. This is the money that was outside the banking sector. Now that we have it, it means we can lend it to more small-and-medium enterprises to help them expand and create jobs and pay taxes for national development.
Most importantly, the people who deposited this money also earn a good interest on their deposits as borrowers pay interest on the money. Here, we are talking about an entire value chain. When you save in a bank, your deposit is traded, lent to a local investor and the ultimate result is economic growth.
{{How critical is strong savings culture regarding long-term investment?}}
IIt is very critical and like I said at the beginning, we regard savings as the blood that runs in the veins of the banking sector.
Currently, commercial banks can hardly rely on domestic savings to support long-term investment because most savings are short-term in nature. Simply put, if you keep your savings in the bank for just six months, theoretically a bank can’t lend it to an investor for a period of two years unless. This is what is called in our jargon the mismatch between a bank’s assets and its liabilities.
Therefore, as we promote a savings culture, we must also encourage long-term saving to facilitate lending for long-term investment. Today, banks rely on international financial institutions for long term credit to facilitate big and long-term investments in the country.
{{What are some of your products that encourage saving?}}
At Bank of Kigali, we offer a wide range of saving account products that are tailored to meet the varying needs of our customers. ‘BK Kira Kibondo’ is the newest product, targeting parents aiming at saving for their children to build for them a firm financial foundation. At an annual yield of 8 per cent, we are happy to say the product is currently the best deal on the market for parents.
We have other savings products such as the BK Special savings tailored for individuals with surplus funds and would want to save to cover for future cash outlays like home construction, university education or retirement. With this account, depositors earn favourable interest rates that are among the prime in the market.
We also have the fixed deposit account or term deposit where the account holds a specific amount of money for a specified duration at an interest rate pre-agreed with the bank. Others include the student savings account for students interested in saving money for their college upkeep, study materials and personal utilities they would wish to acquire as students.
But we also encourage Rwandans to save by investing on the stock market where Bank of Kigali shares are listed and, currently, earning good yields for shareholders. You buy shares today and any value gained tomorrow is a return on what you invested.
{{The public has often complained of high interest rates and yet commercial banks attribute the high cost of finance from global lenders. How is Bank of Kigali helping to ensure customers access credit at lower rates?}}
High interest rates are an effect not a cause. We believe low interest rates will be among the long-term benefits of an entrenched savings culture. But in the short-run, we are encouraging customers to build strong credit histories and ensure strong corporate governance standards, especially business owners, to be able have an attractive risk profile for banks.
In banking, every client is risky, but the risk varies. In lending terms, high risk customers attract high interest rates while low risk clients enjoy low interest rates. We don’t have a blanket price for all customers. If you need to learn how to improve your risk profile as a borrower, contact us at Bank of Kigali for free credit risk assessment for individuals or businesses.
{{How much should one save from their monthly salary?
}}
Karusisi: I would refer anyone to the 50/30/20 rule of thumb which advises that at least 20 per cent of your income should go towards savings; 50 per cent (maximum) towards necessities while 30% goes towards discretionary items. Now, there’s no criminal charge for breaking this rule, it only requires strict personal financial discipline to follow.
Kagame was speaking today in the ‘Head of State Dialogue at the Africa Global Business Forum’ in Dubai
Moderated by John Defterios, a CNN journalist in the Middle East, the conversation with president Kagame focused on the Imperative of Regional Integration in Africa
“History divided the continent, and this prevented Africa to be as prosperous as it should have been, now people want to cooperate in doing business and we started seeing development” Kagame said.
Speaking about the equilibrium of governance, the head of state said that the balance is about what the people of any country want and feel about the outcome.
He said that even countries with old democracies still face challenges.
“Democracies will always be challenged what matters is looking at the overall level of progress” he said.
Speaking about Rwandans’ role in leadership, Kagame used himself as an example of how country’s leadership is founded on people’s choices.
“The people of Rwanda still call me President because in the end they are the ones who decide” he said.
Kagame was selected to participate in the dialogue as the president who championed for unity on African continent through different activities like opening borders for other foreigners in Rwanda and joining international communities.
The two-day Africa Global Business Forum was organized by the Dubai chamber. It is exploring the potential for leveraging technology to accelerate growth across Africa, discuss the power of the emerging private sector and identify the opportunities for financing and partnering with Africa’s most dynamic businesses.
The move was announced yesterday in the general assembly of RFTC members.
RFTC, started with the investment of Rwf790 million and today the cooperative has over Rwf13 billion. According to members, constructing a Rwf45 billion bus terminal is a sign of good performance of the cooperative.
The RFTC’s Chairperson Col. Dodo Twahirwa said that construction works will start in 2018 and added that more car parks will be constructed after Nyabugogo
“We chose to renovate Nyabugobo Bus Terminal because it is modern and strategic to every city passenger or visitor,” he said.
According to Dodo, after Nyabugogo, Kayonza, Musanze and Nyagatare car parks will also be renovated.
The State Minister in charge of Transport in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye said that renovating Nyabugogo Bus Terminal will help sustaining the good infrastructures of the city.
“This is a good project that will help to keep the good image of Kigali City and the country in general. Nyabugogo is the gateway to the city. It should leave good impression to visitors,” he said.
Nyabugogo bus terminal will also have commercial buildings and passengers’ waiting points.
As difficult as landing a job may seem, you can get lucky if you adopt the following steps.
{{Send part of your resumè}}
Find a company you intend to work for. Write an impressive cover letter, telling them why they should give you a chance, and pointing them to check out your resume. It’s better to not seal the envelope or add any resumè to the envelope. They might assume that the resumè fell off the envelope. Make sure you attach your number to the cover letter.
It is 90% certain that they will call you for an interview – if such a position needs filling. When you are finally called, sell yourself as much as you can.
{{Consider sending direct mails}}
Make use of the power of direct mails – I don’t mean Emails. Emails can be trashed with ease, but a direct mail has the power to be treated with respect. Locate up to 5 companies you wish to work for. Look for a contact in your network and ask them if they know anyone who works in any of the firms you listed out. If they give out the names, collect permission to forward your resume via email and always mention your contact in the cover letter.
{{Send email chain letters}}
Create a list of up to 20 companies you intend to work for and send an email to everyone you know, requesting to know if any of them knows someone who works in those firms. Ask them to contact you if they know someone so that you can ask for referrals. Finally, you can also ask them to forward the emails to 10 more people in their own contacts. Employed persons are to disregard this process as it can endanger your employment.
{{Call up a human resource department}}
This requires some gumption, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Pick up the phone, call up a human resource department. You can ask them what outside agency or third party or recruiting firm they use.
They will surely ask you why you want to know. Pitch your skills. Remind them that since they are not recruiting now that you are available, and who knows, maybe they can redirect you to another organization that may need your services.
Do not ignore the aforementioned. I know they may appear out of the ordinary, but like I said, sometimes, you need to do the unusual to get what you want. Good luck!
Source: {{www.elcrema.com}}
According to the report, Rwanda rose to 41 from 56 on last year’s global ranking.
Rwanda is the first country in Africa that implemented reforms of monitoring and stabilizing commercial companies in the past nine years.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Vincent Munyeshyaka welcomed the position saying that it shows the potential of government’s reforms in doing business.
“This shows us that Rwanda is developing. It is the first time for the country to be ranked in the first 50 positions globally. We should keep good practices, solving some remaining problems as well as planning new activities that will lead us to more development,” he said.
The Rwanda Development Board Chief Executive Officer, Clare Akamanzi said that the rising was attributed to five reforms that were implemented last year.
Among the implemented reforms are; improving issuance of construction permit standard process, easing property registration process and easing payment of taxes by using online payments systems among others.
Reforms also helped small investors by setting up good control systems with transparency.
In East African Countries, Kenya was ranked 80, Uganda 122 and Tanzania 137 globally.
Gasana was speaking at Tuesday at the launch of Security and Hygiene Campaign month in Kigali; a campaign conducted under the partnership of Rwanda National Police and City of Kigali.
He said that cleanliness should come at the forefront of every activity and fight the vice of abusing drugs.
“Though we celebrate peace and security, there are things that still deter us like seeing youth using drugs, break-ins, revolt, gangs and disorders among others,” he said.
Under the security and hygiene campaign month, different activities will be conducted including cleaning gardens, planting trees and preparing marshlands.
Ntamuhanga is a former journalist at Amazing Grace Radio in Kigali.
Speaking to IGIHE, the RCS spokesperson, CIP Hillary Sengabo confirmed that three inmates escaped from the prison last night.
“It happened last night, he escaped with two more inmates by using ropes and jumped over the prison wall,” he said.
Sengabo said on Tuesday morning RCS officers found abandoned but seemingly used ropes at the prison wall which prompted them to start investigations.
Ntamuhanga had been co-accused with Jean Paul Dukuzumuremyi, Agnes Niyibizi and Kizito Mihigo.
In 2015, the court convicted Ntamuhanga of treason charges and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
Other escapees are Sibomana Kirenge who had been sentenced to 20 years on murder charges and Theogene Tambirije who was serving 16 years on rape conviction.
The ceremony which took place in Kigali was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Community, Louise Mushikiwabo and TV5 Monde Managing Director, Yves Bigot among other officials.
At the event, TV5 Monde unveiled a free ‘phone application’ that will help smartphone users in Africa to watch their news.
Speaking at the event, Mushikiwabo hailed TV5 Monde for bringing the unveiling ceremony in Rwanda saying that Rwandans will benefit from it based on how ICT continues to be embraced in the country and the different opportunities presented therewith.
“Our country is investing in ICT and as a result internet is available in Kigali City and all secondary cities. TV5 Monde will be followed by many Rwandans as they use different languages. French language is taught in Rwandan schools. Through this platform Rwandans will be connected with fellow Africans,” Mushikiwabo said.
According to TV5 Monde’s Bigot, celebrating the anniversary and launching the platform in Rwanda is pleasing saying that they chose Rwanda following Honourable Mushikiwabo’s invitation last year, when they met in Francophone Summit in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
He said that the invitation was a symbol of how Rwanda likes French language. Bigot said that the channel can be a tool of talks between government of Rwanda and France over Political matters.
“This is a culture-based channel, dialogues are the main tool to solve political issues, and we shall explore all possibilities to encourage dialogue,” he said.
TV5 Afrique started to operate in Africa in 1992 and is the most subscribed channel in all TV5 Monde Channels.
TV5 Monde is sponsored by five states, France, Switzerland, Canada, Quebec and Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles and reaches 84 French speaking countries.
