Category: Business

Equity Bank Rwanda announces a 66% pre-tax profit

Equity Bank Rwanda has announced a 66% Growth in Pre-Tax profit in it’s just announced 2015 full year results.

In its best financial results yet, Equity Bank Rwanda posted a profit before tax of 2.1 billion Rwandan Franc up from Rwf1.2 billion recorded the previous year.

Speaking when he released the results in Kigali, Rwanda, Equity Bank Rwanda, outgoing Managing Director, Samuel Kirubi, said, the positive results have now placed the fast growing Bank on a profit path following a three-year trading loss streak.

Kirubi, attributed the Bank’s growth to profitability in just 4 years to a steady growth trajectory on its customers’ deposits from Rwf4.3 Billion as at end of Dec 2011 to Rwf68.5Billion as at end of December 2015.

Kirubi thanked the Government of Rwanda for creating a conducive business environment that has seen the Bank’s customer base grow to over 390,000
Equity Bank Rwanda, which recently listed at the Kigali Securities Exchange, saw its total assets grow from Rwf12.1Billion in Dec 2011 to 92.8Billion last year.

In a development that closely mirrors its Kenyan peer, Equity Bank Rwanda’s Net customer loans and advances have grown from Rwf 305Million in Dec 2011 to Rwf 61.4Billion last year. The Bank’s SME loan book now standing at Rwf11.6Billion last year, now represents 19% of the total loan portfolio.

Equity Bank Rwanda’s Foreign Exchange income grew by a significant 8% to Rwf1.3Billion in 2015, up from 1.2Billion recorded in 2014, representing 12% of the Bank’s total income which grew to 10.9B in 2015 up from 8.6B in 2014.

March 21, 2016
Government institutions asked to promote local products

Government institutions and agencies have been called upon to promote local products which they should be using in offices including furniture, instead of placing orders from outside the country, as a way of supporting the Made in Rwanda.

The 9th resolution during the recent 13th national leadership retreat stressed the need of changing Rwandans’ perceptions to embrace local products.

The Minister of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), Francois Kanimba requested government institutions to show exemplary practices by using Made in Rwanda products. He made the request yesterday during a press briefing.

“The decision has been taken at government level. The later requires all government institutions in need of furniture to buy them from Rwanda’s industries to promote ‘Made in Rwanda’ program,” he said.

Through the Made in Rwanda program, it is expected that much efforts will be concentrated in particular promotion of local industries processing local products including woods, milk, leather, minerals, textile and shoe manufacturing plants.
This Made in Rwanda program is in line with the plan to eradicate the importation of second hand clothes a cost of over USD 15 million every year.

Kanimba said that campaigns of mobilizing Rwandans to engage in production will concentrate on shaping perceptions and building their skills to produce unique and quality products.

Minister Kanimnba said that Rwanda won’t ban trade with other countries but will only import those products that cannot be locally produced.

The need to concentrate local products was also stressed recently during the African Transformation Forum held in Kigali where the UN representative in Africa for economic affairs requested African countries to increase industries manufacturing local products that are of good quality and unique.

It also emerged in the recent summit of East African heads who agreed to eradicate second hand cloth imports as a move to promote regional textile industries.

MINICOM has recently announced that imports have multiplied three times exported products.

March 17, 2016
Crystal Telecom to disburse dividends worth Rwf2.2 bn

Crystal telecom shareholders will soon receive dividends of Rwf8.2 per share following a decision by the firm’s board.

The dividends to be disbursed do amount to Rwf2,215,454,024, which represents a dividend of Rwf8.2 per share of 270,177,320 shares issued during last year’s Initial Public Offering.

Crystal Telecom has already communcated to the chief executive officer of Rwanda Stock Exchange, informing him and shareholders that the dividend will be paid out following approval by the shareholders’ annual general meeting.

Crystal Telecom last year sold 270.71 million shares, which is 20 per cent of leading telecom, MTN Rwanda.

The firm’s initial public offering was oversubscribed by 123 per cent receiving over 2300 applications from Rwanda, the East African region and beyond.

This is the second special dividend declared by CTL in less than one year, since its Initial Public Offer (IPO) in June – August 2015, that is, just six months after the public offer.

The company paid a first special dividend per share of Rwf 3.75 in October 2015. At this rate, given the total dividend of Rwf 11.95, the dividend yield on this counter is therefore 11.38 %, based on the company’s IPO price of Rwf 105.

According to CDH Capital, a local Broker and Finance House, by paying total dividend of Rwf 11.95 for 2015, the company shows its promise to its shareholders by above normal return on investment. “With a dividend yield of 12.57 % – based on the current market price of Rwf 95 per share – this is more than any other locally listed companies can provide so far. This performance is among the best if a regional comparison is made”.

Given the company’s good performance, brokers expect the price to rise as local, regional and international investors swarm in to take hold of the expected dividend. “We have already seen many positive reactions from the market”, stated an analyst at CDH Capital Ltd. “Our order book has started to increase with this news”.

When being pressed on the expected price of CTL in the coming days, brokers are somewhat prudent and optimistic. “While we need to be prudent not to fuel and create any price hike, in our opinion, based on the dividend yield of 12.57 % as stated above, there are good reasons to be optimistic and to believe that CTL will head north”, an analyst at CDH Capital states.

Reacting on the development, the chief executive of Capital Markets Authority Robert Mathu, said the disbursement was a ‘good return’.

He said the move to regularly pay out dividend by the holding company was a good sign to investors.

Currently, Crystal Telecom shares are priced at Rwf99 per share.

March 10, 2016
South Africa project tackles youth unemployment

Training centre in Johannesburg helps high-school graduates to find work in country with jobless figure of 25 percent.

Johannesburg – Rising unemployment levels is a challenge confronting most African countries.

Over the next 30 years, almost 400 million young people could be jobless across the continent.

Yet most African economies are not growing fast enough to meet the demand for employment.

Take South Africa. The official unemployment rate in the country is at least 25 percent.

According to the South African Graduates Development Association, there are more than 600,000 unemployed graduates.

Against this grim backdrop, a training centre in Johannesburg is hoping to help high-school graduates find work.

The Southern Africa Youth Project, located in the township of Diepsloot, teaches graduates basic technical skills such as computer courses to help them find employment.

Neftaly Malatjie, who owns the training centre and employs a few workers, points to some of the difficulties facing job seekers.

“When you say there is an opportunity, an opportunity that wants five people, you find yourself with over 2,000 people who apply for that opportunity,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Many young people are now distressed. They have lost hope.”

Rose Ringane, a geology university student, says she is aware of the tough prospects before her.

“It’s going to be hard for us to get a job,” she told Al Jazeera.

“But what can we say? It’s South Africa. A person must have a Plan B and C. I am aware I might not get a job.”

March 8, 2016
Airtel Rwanda unveils Next Generation Enterprise Business Solutions to Rwanda’s businesses

Airtel Rwanda the best Internet Service Provider, has set a new standard for Enterprise Business solutions with the launch of its business oriented sub brand, Airtel Business at an exquisite launch event held at the Hôtel des Milles Collines in Kigali yesterday.

The event was well attended by customers of Airtel business, government stakeholders, business executives and entrepreneurs. Guests were taken through the array of business products, services and solutions that Airtel Business provides.

Airtel Business provides custom-made end-to-end business and enterprise solutions with cutting-edge technology that delivers great value propositions for all forms of businesses on the pillars of reliability, value driven and quality. Airtel Business brings unprecedented innovation and simplification to customers, with a completely reimagined business suite that has varied but unique enterprisebusiness solutions to provide maximum choice to customers.

Phillip Onzoma, Director of Airtel Business commenting on the launch had this to say about their services; “We are proud to offer bespoke enterprise solutions are designed to meet requirements for every business, regardless of its size and geographical location. Our products are focused on communication, connectivity and collaboration. This is what we know best and we are committed to providing our expertise and creative solutions to help your businesses grow.”

Airtel Rwanda is capitalizing on its exceptional data technology, large footprint across the globe as well as its excellent reputation as the Smartphone network of choice in Rwanda to offer telecommunication solutions that will cater for all kinds of enterprise needs to boost the local business industry. It employs licensed point to point microwave, fiber and cloud connectivity to deliver high speed Internet, VPN and MPLS services to local and Multinational Operations all over the globe.

Speaking at the launch, Airtel Rwanda Managing Director Mr. Michael Adjei said; “We are the third largest mobile operator in the world. Airtel offers a full service business to business and business to customer portfolio. As of January 2016, we boast of up to 353 million customers across Africa and Asia and posting up to USD 15 billion in annual revenues. We are at a moment when businesses need to enter new markets and engage with their consumers through any channel. We believe that we can earn the confidence of our customers in Rwanda to connect them to our global network across 80 countries.”

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Youth and ICT, Rwanda,Mr. Didier Nkurikiyimfura the Director General, ICTsaid; “Seeing companies evolve into some of the most technologically advanced in the world and having one of them in Rwanda is a great opportunity for us. Telecoms have contributed a great deal to Rwanda’s development. Today we have seen Airtel Rwanda unveiling advanced solutions that enable us to communicate and do business with people across the globe. This is truly remarkable.”

Airtel Rwanda has over 300 sites offering reliable data connectivity to all its customers. This is complimented by the 2G network in areas where 3.75G is not present.

March 4, 2016
Local manufacturers urged to cut cost of products to stimulate consumption

The senatorial commission on economic development and finance has tipped local manufacturers on how to effectively reduce high costs of Made in Rwanda products to attract Rwandans attention to local products.

They revealed this yesterday during their visit to the ongoing exhibition of Made in Rwanda products held at the Private Sector Federation expo grounds in Gikondo.

The vice president of senatorial commission of economic development and finance, Sebuhoro Celestin said that manufactures have particular reasons rate their prices at specific ceilings including expensive raw materials and human resources, but urged that there must be a solution for the matter to attract attention of local consumers of local products.

Senator Karangwa Chrysologue said that manufactures must study the market before they produce to identify prices of foreign competitors who make similar products which to establish convenient price for Rwandans.

Senators have demonstrated that working in cooperatives among people making similar products is another solution for high costs since the later would bring in economies of large scale production, improved quality and benefits accruing to cluster anchoring of production.

Statistics from the National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda indicate that Rwanda imported products worth USD 1, 384,310,000 from January to September, 2015 and exported USD 426,200,000 worth of goods.

Rwanda targets to cut high prices of local products to support the Made in Rwanda program and attract local consumption.

March 3, 2016
IMF warns global economy is ‘highly vulnerable’

Report says G20 nations should develop measures that could be implemented quickly if global growth keeps wilting.

The International Monetary Fund has said that the global economy is “highly vulnerable” and urged the US and other large nations to prepare contingency plans that could be rolled out quickly.

The report was prepared for senior officials of the G20, the world’s 20 largest economies, before a meeting in Shanghai later this week amid falling stock markets, volatile currencies and signs of economic weakness.

The IMF report said a fragile global recovery has weakened further in the face of falling oil prices and diminished growth prospects in China and other emerging market countries.

“The G20 must plan now for coordinated demand support using available fiscal space to boost public investment,” IMF staff said in the report.

February 25, 2016
Moroccan unions stage strike over pension reform bill

The 24-hour strike by four largest labour unions aims at blocking a government draft bill to reform pensions.

Moroccan trade unions have held a one-day strike in a bid to block a government draft bill to reform pensions.

Public and private sector workers in Morocco’s four largest labour unions went on strike for 24 hours on Wednesday, protesting government efforts to overhaul spending on pensions and subsidies.

According to the largest labour union in the country, the national participation rate is nearly 85 percent.

Morocco has ended fuel subsidies and frozen public-sector hiring, winning praise from international lenders who say it has made better progress in controlling public spending than some other countries in the region.

The strike comes after the government last month adopted a bill to reform the pension system.

But protests such as Wednesday’s general strike, called by the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT) and three other union movements, have started to weigh on the Islamist-led government’s plans to curb deficits and revive public finances.

“We have been facing a stubborn government which does not believe in dialogue, but … in destroying people’s purchasing power,” UMT leader Miloudi Moukharik told Reuters, forecasting parliament would reject the pension bill.

“We have already delayed it three times inside the parliament and I can tell you that it will not pass.”

Dozens of workers gathered in the headquarters of UMT and CDT, chanting slogans against government and foreign lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The strike disrupted the port of Casablanca, Morocco’s biggest city, as well as transport and other sectors, a Reuters witness said. However, small shops, bars and cafes and some taxi drivers were working.

“We have always been in talks with the union and we will keep talking on the pension reform,” Communication Minister and government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi told Reuters.

He said called the strike unjustified and said without reform, the pensions of 400,000 workers would be at risk because the government would not be able to finance them.

The pension bill reached the second house of Morocco’s parliament last month but the government has so far failed to get it discussed.

Unions control 20 of the 120 seats in the upper house and experts say other opposition parties would join them in rejecting the reform.

Moukharik declined to give details on the unions’ next move, saying they will meet to decide on action.

The proposed changes to state pension funds include raising the retirement age to 63 by 2019, and raising contributions, according to a government statement.

Workers will have to pay 14 percent of their salaries by 2019 and government contributions will rise in tandem, from 10 percent before the reform, adding 1 percentage point each year to meet the new plan.

February 25, 2016
UZURI K&Y to revolutionize Rwanda fashion industry

With the growth of the fashion industry in Rwanda, fashion houses are emerging with new products and stylistics in the capital city of Kigali. UZURI K&Y is one of the vibrant emerging fashion houses which deals in shoe making with a great potential of becoming an international high-end brand. In an interview with IGIHE, UZURI K&Y co-founders Kevine and Ysolde, revealed they are introducing their spring summer collection in 2017.

Almost all fashion houses in Rwanda use the Kitenge fabric to make their products. This season, UZURI K&Y brought in a touch of originality by redesigning the traditional Kitenge fabric into a modern, at times futuristic twist. They as well introduced the Kente cloth, a plaited textile imported from Ghana which adds glamour to their brand shoes.

Many people would wonder what is so special about the Kente cloth, “The Kente cloth is a type of silk and cotton fabric made of interwoven cloth strips and is native to the Akan ethnic group of South Ghana. It was a royal and sacred cloth worn only in times of extreme importance and was the cloth of kings” (Achberger). We used the Kente cloth because we just wanted our ladies to feel like queens” said Ysolde in a jovial tone when we asked why they had chosen that specific type of cloth for their new collection.

Apart from that particular textile, UZURI K&Y do all it takes to capture the attention of fashion enthusiasts by using different materials for their products. They mostly use leather imported from Kenya, African prints and different other shoe making materials imported from many corners of the world.

That unmistakably shows that they truly value their customers and that they want to fit their preferences at whatever cost.

To ensure that their clients are satisfied with their services, they use some sort of user generated content strategies mostly on social media (Instagram, Twitter and Facebook) where clients express their opinions on what is being well done and what needs to be changed to their products. They as well provide a 3 months warranty after sale services where they repair your shoes at no cost when the damage wasn’t directly caused by the customer.All that gives a feeling of belonging to the customers and makes them stay true to UZURI K&Y.

Moreover, UZURI K&Y shoes are easy to maintain. During our conversation, the two partners shared with us some tips for a good maintenance of their shoes. All that it requires is brushing tenderly the printed part with some soap or detergents, dry the shoes on the sun but make sure they are not exposed for a very long time as it might damage the fabric and finally avoid dumping the shoes into water.

In an effort to provide quality and trusted products, UZURI K&Y seeks the support of fashion specialists. Now they are working hand in hand with a German expert who has been in the shoe making business for 61 years. Their collection is not anymore limited to sandals, they are varying their products and now they produce casual shoes as well. UZURI K&Y 2017spring summer collection will undeniably be a very modern and edgy assortment.

For further information, feel free to visit UZURI K&Y website at www.uzuriky.com or send a message to uzuricollection@gmail.com

February 25, 2016
KenolKobil exits Congo and Tanzania markets

Kenya’s third largest oil marketer KenolKobil has pulled out of Tanzania and Congo markets, perhaps bringing to the fore impacts of the global oil glut.

The oil dealer Wednesday announced its exit from the two markets, leaving it with the Kenyan subsidiary, where it has twice been relegated from market leadership to fall behind Vivo Energy and Total Kenya.

A brief statement sent to the Capital Markets Authority, and copied to the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation stated the firm’s pull-out without divulging much.

“We wish to inform the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) that KenolKobil Limited has relinquished all its shareholding interests in Kobil Tanzania Limited and KenolKobil Congo SPRL. Owing to the above said, the two companies shall no longer be subsidiaries of KenolKobil Limited,” read the statement signed by group managing director David Ohana.

The oil marketer, whose financial fortunes have been oscillating between profit and losses, made a comeback to the positive in its results for the year ending December 2014, despite lower sales.

The group’s net profit in the period stood at Sh1 billion, compared to Sh558.4 million the year before. KenolKobil posted yet another net profit of Sh918 million in its results for the first half of 2015, cementing its stability in the market.

The results would see the oil dealer award an interim dividend of 10 cents, a gesture coming for the first time in four years.

Yesterday’s move to pull out of the two subsidiaries, however, casts doubts on its strong comeback and the group CEO’s opinion on the subsidiaries last year that pointed to improving fortunes from them.

February 25, 2016