She was speaking at the 8th “Ring the bell for gender equality” ceremony held on Friday 11th March 2022.
The ceremony seeks to bring to limelight the importance of private sector collaboration towards attaining gender equality and women empowerment.
It was organized by Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE) in partnership with UN Women and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), aims to attract attention to the pivotal role the private sector can play in advancing gender equality to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
Hakuziyaremye said that BNR has put in place initiatives to support women through financial inclusion and access to financial services from all relevant institutions in Rwanda.
She stressed that research is of critical significance to identify the gaps and challenges that women face in the financial sector.
“We make research-informed decisions to advocate for women. Research has proved that informal traders pay loans at 95%. When these women face challenges, we intervene as the National Bank of Rwanda through advocacy to enable access to requested loan” she said.
Hakuziyaremye underscored that BNR remains committed to support women and encouraged financial institutions to use research findings to accelerate women empowerment.
Pierre Célestin Rwabukumba, the CEO of RSE observed that financial institutions need to give attention to gender equality and women empowerment for sustainable development.
“If people are given needed resources, they will contribute to national development. We call upon the private sector to increase its efforts in gender equality and women empowerment because it is not only beneficial to individuals but also to the country at large,” he said
Rwabukumba also talked about various RSE initiatives for women empowerment like the investment clinic and advocating for investment in profitable women startups.
Denise Umwali wa Ngoga, the Gender Joint Programme Manager at UN Women said that their partnership with RSE gives a clear picture of what can be achieved with regards to gender equality and women empowerment.
“Our strong partnership has evidenced that it is possible to achieve desired outcomes in women’s economic empowerment and gender equality,” she noted.
Even though there is still a long way to go, other participants of the event called for multisectoral collaboration to meet envisaged objectives.
Leave a Reply