Howard G. Buffett is an American businessman whose foundation has supported the development of a center pivot irrigation project in Nasho sector.
The Nasho Irrigation Scheme project is made of 63 center pivots irrigation system, irrigating 1,173 hectares belonging to 2,099 smallholder farmers.
The inauguration of the project was graced by President Paul Kagame in 2020. It was developed to modernize Rwanda’s agriculture sector and specifically improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.
The project, worth US$54 million, helps local farmers improve their livelihoods by enabling them to grow crops all year round, and allowing for a more efficient use of inputs, such as water and fertilizer, and by enhancing the yields and quality of the crops they grow.
Beneficiaries of the irrigation systems were grouped into a cooperative dubbed Nasho Irrigation Cooperative (NAICO); which utilize and maintain the infrastructure.
The scheme also consists of a solar power plant with a capacity of 3.3 megawatts to power the irrigation system, with 2.4 MW battery storage unit installed, to provide electricity to pump water and reduce the burden from farmers.
In addition, 144 houses (36 houses that are four-in-one) were constructed to resettle households from areas under pivot irrigation, and farm buildings.
About 24 km of existing roads within the project area were also widened and resurfaced and about 10 km of new roads created, which made it easy for installation of irrigation systems as well as transportation of inputs and produce.
Speaking at the inauguration of Nasho Irrigation Scheme last year, Kagame thanked Howard G. Buffett for the partnership that has become very productive in Rwanda’s agriculture and conservation to make a big difference for many lives.
WAKA Pay was officially launched on Friday 22nd October 2021 to ease customers’ transactions.
Individuals interested in the subscription can access the platform via provided website link www.wakaglobal.com/welcome-to-waka-life/
Sign-ups involve an upfront payment of Rwf 30,000 joining fee plus the first month’s payment of Rwf 25,000. Each month users are charged Rwf 25,000 automatically on their debit card of choice so they don’t have to save up for a membership or worry about coming in to pay.
Among others, gym enthusiasts will be entitled to recurring payments lasting for twelve months.
Subscribers using WAKA Pay will be allowed access to all services that were previously exclusive to particular clients. These include the use of desired equipment at their preferred WAKA location and attending group training sessions amid other fitness programs.
Payments will be made through https://payment.wakaglobal.com/choose-location.
Jeannetta Craigwell, the Chief Executive Officer, has said that the new platform will easily facilitate more people to subscribe to the fitness programs.
“We have always felt we were not doing enough to bring health and fitness to as many people as possible. Now with WAKA Pay, we can,” she said.
Wivine Gwaneza, the marketing manager at WAKA Fitness has explained that the new platform gives relief to customers who would struggle to pay for a subscription at once.
“We integrated the system with clients’ debit cards so that they can be able to pay annual subscription fees in 12 installments of Rwf 25,000 every month,” she explained.
“A customer first has to go through the registration process and choose the gym’s location whether in town or Kimihurura. He/she then uses the card to make payments which can’t take longer than five minutes! It’s fast, easy and affordable,” added Gwaneza.
WAKA started operations in Kimihurura [at Papyrus restaurant] in 2014. It has expanded and opened a new branch in town where it has had another gym in the Makuza building since 2018.
WAKA has a team of trained professionals who can put you on a fitness program based on your targets and subscription length. The center’s equipment ranges from cardio equipment like treadmills and stationary bikes, a mini basketball/football court, a climbing wall(the first in Kigali), spinning studio, among other equipment.
Rwanda FPU-3 IV contingent of 160 female-dominated officers left Kigali International Airport (KIA) at about 10am under the command of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Marie Grace Uwimana.
They replaced FPU-3 III commanded by SSP Jeannette Masozera, which also returned home later in the afternoon after a one-year successful tour-of-duty.
On arrival at KIA, the officers were taken through the Covid-19 prevention protocols before they join their respective families and resuming their policing duties back home.
Commissioner of Police (CP) George Rumanzi, Commissioner for Operations and Public Order in RNP, presided over the departure and arrival of the rotated contingents, on behalf of RNP leadership.
FPU-3, one of the two Rwandan Police contingents deployed in South Sudan, conducts its peace support operation duties in Central Equatorial State including the capital Juba.
Rwanda FPU-1 of 240 officers is deployed in Malakal, Upper Nile State.
While welcoming the replaced contingent back home, CP Rumanzi thanked them for representing their country ably.
He commended the contingent for their professional conduct in fulfilling their duties.
SSP Gaston Nsanzimana, who guided the replaced contingent back home, thanked all officers for their discipline, which played a great part in the successful tour-of-duty.
“We assumed varied responsibilities related to the UN mandate to support the people of South Sudan, mainly protection of civilians, supporting the revitalized peace agreement and humanitarian assistence,” SSP Nsanzimana
The contingent, he added, conducted patrol and escort duties, capacity building to train the local police and other community policing groups, and social responsibility in sanitation and hygiene at police stations as well as supporting the conflict-affected groups such as women and students living in IDP camps.
Terence Wilson — who went by the stage name Astro — performed with UB40 until 2013 before forming a breakaway band.
“We are absolutely devastated and completely heartbroken to have to tell you that our beloved Astro has today passed away after a very short illness,” his current band, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro, said on Twitter late Saturday.
“The world will never be the same without him.”
His former band confirmed the news, saying Wilson had died after “a short illness”.
UB40’s pop reggae cover of Neil Diamond’s Red Red Wine propelled them to fame, with the band going on to sell more than 100 million records.
They also held the record — shared with Madness — for most weeks spent in the UK singles chart in the 1980s.
Hailing from the British Midlands city of Birmingham, the group rode a wave of youthful discontent against the economic and political status quo, with their name referring to a form provided to people claiming unemployment benefits.
Drummer Jimmy Brown told the Guardian this year that the group had even been under surveillance by British intelligence.
“MI5 were tapping our phones, watching our houses, all sorts,” he said.
“We weren’t planning the revolution, but if the revolution happened, we knew what side we were going to be on.”
The country which once underwent serious economic downfall, is currently seeking to be back on its feet working with Rwanda as a gateway to restore global influence through cooperation with the African continent.
It was revealed on Friday 5th November 2021 by Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias on his visit to Rwanda after holding talks with his counterpart of Rwanda, Dr. Vincent Biruta.
During their discussions, Dendias and Dr. Biruta signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in Political Consultations that will allow both countries to discuss prospects for deepening bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interests including trade and investment, tourism, education and agriculture among others.
Rwanda and Greece also signed a MoU on cooperation in the field of diplomatic training to reinforce the collaboration between respective ministries of foreign affairs.
His visit coincided with the donation of 332,800 AstraZeneca doses of COVID-19 shipped to Rwanda on Friday 5th November 2021, an addition to more 200,000 doses secured from the country early September this year.
Minister Biruta said that the visit of his counterpart resulted from both countries’ commitment to strengthen engagements at bilateral and multilateral levels.
He also told the media that discussions with Dendias focused on exploring available investment opportunities.
“We have discussed and took them through available investment opportunities where they expressed willingness to cooperate with us to promote trade and investment particularly in tourism sector,” he said.
“The visit is a significant milestone in promoting bilateral relations in different areas drawing emphasis on trade and investment,” added Biruta.
Greece is among developed countries with its GDP per capita estimated at US$19,827 (over Rwf19 million).
The country’s economy heavily relies on services which account or 80% of GDP with tourism as the main contributor.
Greece is ranked the 7th country attracting a large number of tourists on the European continent and the 16th tourist destination globally.
{{Rwanda as gateway for deepened ties with Africa}}
Greece has not been actively involved in global investments mainly due to economic crisis the country has undergone since 2008, when details emerged that it had heavy, outstanding debts.
The Greek debt crisis was the dangerous amount of sovereign debt Greece owed the European Union between 2008 and 2018. In 2010, Greece said it might default on its debt, threatening the viability of the eurozone itself.
To avoid default, the EU loaned Greece enough to continue making payments.
Since the debt crisis began in 2010, the various European authorities and private investors have loaned Greece nearly 320 billion euros.
It was the biggest financial rescue of a bankrupt country in history.
As of January 2019, Greece had only repaid 41.6 billion euros. It has scheduled debt payments beyond 2060.
In return for the loan, the EU required Greece to adopt austerity measures. The country minimized expenses to get out of the situation, high taxes and repeatedly slashed salaries and pensions. The country has adopted national economic recovery plan that saw debts decreased, restored economy that it is currently on the path to normalcy.
Dendias has explained that Greece is back for international cooperation starting with Africa and a continent with promising economy.
“The latest bilateral agreement between our two countries was signed 35 years ago. To be open, we didn’t implement and this is totally unacceptable,” he said.
“We have decided that we want to enhance our relations with African countries, because, among others, Africa will be the economic powerhouse of the world. Some of the fastest growing economies are located in this beautiful continent,” added Dendias.
He explained that Greece found it necessary to cooperate with Rwanda as the right gateway to penetrate on the continent considering the country’s remarkable progress following the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.
“We, Greece, have no colonial past and by extension we do not carry any historic baggage. Also, thousands of my compatriots Greeks have emigrated to Africa and they have created thriving Greek Communities around the continent. For us, the gate to Africa should be Rwanda. Rwanda has recovered from one of the worst genocides in human history; a genocide that is within living memory of many of us. Rwanda has set an international standard for reconciliation, reconstruction and national unity. You have clearly set a benchmark,” revealed Dendias.
The annual World Bank’s Doing Business Report places Rwanda among the best African destinations for doing business and a fast-growing economy.
Dendias emphasized that it is an advantage to cooperate with such a country with favorable business environment.
He also stressed the need to fast track MoUs signed between both countries enhanced cooperation with countries that share the same principles and the same values ‘especially the belief that International Law should be the norm in relations between countries’.
After holding talks with Minister Biruta, Dendias visited Kigali Genocide Memorial where he paid tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi laid there.
Among others, Dendias and his delegation also met with President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro where they held talks revolving around strengthening bilateral cooperation between Rwanda and Greece, regional issues as well as the Africa-EU relationship.
He also held discussions with officials from different public institutions including Rwanda Governance Board.
Rwanda and Greece enjoy existing relations in different areas. In July 2021, Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Jean Bosco Kazura visited Athens, the capital of Greece to strengthen cooperation.
He was welcomed by Gen Konstantinos Floros, Chief of Defence Staff of the Greek Defence Force.
In 2018, both countries signed air service agreement.
This evaluation is derived after analysing banks through eight categories: growth, profitability, operational efficiency, asset quality, and return on risk, liquidity, soundness, and leverage. Overall, Equity was ranked 22nd in Africa and 761st globally based on its Tier 1 capital base of US$ 1,096 million.
Equity’s exemplary performance in the rankings comes on the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down several sectors of the local economy.
Prioritizing people and lives over profits, the bank made significant investments in protecting communities and stakeholders. In partnership with the Kenya COVID-19 Emergency Board, it provided PPEs to health workers in 56 county and national hospitals, and 60 faith-based facilities.
The lender also supported 17,800 Wings to Fly and Elimu Scholars to cope with the prolonged school closure. It provided them with solar-powered radios and lamps with a mobile charging unit that allowed them to continue learning while providing for their life’s essentials financed by a monthly stipend with the support of Mastercard Foundation.
During the multi-crisis year, Equity focused on social impact investment, forgoing Kshs. 1.5 billion in waived mobile transaction fees, waiving Kshs.1.2 billion in loan rescheduling fees and accommodating Kshs.171 billion (or 31%) of the loan book for up to 3 years of principal and interest repayment breaks to enable businesses to survive.
Commenting on the ranking, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi noted that the ranking is an indication that Equity remains robust despite the challenging operating environment.
“These global rankings are truly an affirmation befitting the financial strength and professionalism of the Bank, as well as the measures we took in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We strengthened our capital buffers by retaining profits and withholding dividend payouts, took long-term loan facilities that strengthened our liquidity buffers, supported host communities and our clients to mitigate the impact of the crisis on them by waiving fees and rescheduling their loans to match loan repayments to new cashflow patterns,” he observed.
Equity Group, which operates in six countries, weathered the COVID-19 disruption to register a 98% growth in its 2021 half-year Profits After Tax to Kshs.17.9 billion up from Kshs.9.1 billion the previous year. The Group, which is the largest bank in the region in assets, also reported a growth in total assets to Kshs. 1.12 trillion up from Kshs. 746.5 billion the previous year. Customer deposits grew by 51% to Kshs. 820.3 billion up from Kshs. 543.9 billion in the same period, retaining the lender’s position as the biggest bank in deposits, market capitalization and with a customer base of over 15 million customers.
The Banker’s global and regional rankings have been industry-standard measures of financial institutions performance for over 50 years. The Banker’s Top 1,000 World Banks ranks the largest banks by Tier 1 capital, a key measure of banking strength.
In addition, they analyse more than 120 data points tracked by The Banker Database year-on-year. The ranking is an invaluable resource for benchmarking bank-to-bank, as well as understanding the health and wealth of the global banking industry.
{{About Equity Group Holdings}}
Equity Group Holdings Plc is a Pan-African financial services holding company listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange, and Rwanda Stock Exchange. The Group has banking subsidiaries in Kenya, DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and a Commercial Representative Office in Ethiopia. It has other subsidiaries in investment banking, insurance, telecom, fintech and social impact investments.
Equity Group is the largest bank in the region in assets of Kshs 1.12 trillion (USD 11.2 billion). It is also the biggest bank in deposits, market capitalization of USD 2billion and with a customer base of over 15 million customers. The Group has a footprint of 337 branches, 56,772 Agents, 32,269 Merchants, 697 ATMs and an extensive adoption of digital banking channel.
The Banker Top 1000 World Banks 2020 ranked Equity Bank 754 overall in its global ranking, 62nd in soundness (Capital Assets to Assets ratio), 55th in terms of Profits on Capital and 20th on Return on Assets. The Banker’s Top 100 African Banks 2020 placed the Bank in position 7 overall among the top 10 Banks in
Africa, 5th place on soundness, position 9 on growth performance, 8th on return on risk and position 6th in terms of profitability and on leverage category.
In the same year, Moody’s gave the Bank a global rating of B2 with a negative outlook same as the sovereign rating of the Kenyan government due to the Bank’s strong brand recognition, solid liquidity buffers and resilient funding profile, established domestic franchise and extensive adoption of digital and alternative distribution channels.
Marios Themistocleous, the General Secretary of the Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health, responsible for the coordination and management of the National vaccination programme in Greece has explained the donation is a result of fruitful bilateral relations.
“This is a testament of friendship and deepened relations between Rwanda and Greece,” he said.
Themistocleous stressed that Greece wants to further strengthen existing ties in the future.
The vaccine doses which arrived at Kigali International Airport on 5th November 2021, are an addition to a donation of 200,000 doses Rwanda secured from the country recently in September.
At the time, Dr. Tharcisse Mpunga, the Minister of State in charge of Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health explained that the donation is a result of fruitful cooperation between both countries’ militaries.
He revealed that received doses would be used to increase the number of vaccine recipients in rural areas as the case for Kigali.
Over 4 million have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine while more than 2 million are fully vaccinated since Rwanda began countrywide inoculation program on 5th March 2021.
Kagame received their oaths on Friday 5th November 2021 at the parliamentary building.
It is the fourth time receiving oaths from newly appointed officials since the beginning of 2021.
The new Auditor General, Alex Kamuhire,44, was appointed on 13th October 2021.
His has wide experience in the financial sector and particularly in auditing state finances. He has been involved in financial audits for the past 18 years.
Prior to his appointment, Kamuhire was the Government Chief Internal Auditor in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the last six years.
In his role, he also provided internal audit services to the Central Bank, local government entities and public enterprises as well.
Before his appointment as the Office of the Chief Internal Auditor, Kamuhire worked as a Financial Management Specialist in the office of the Auditor-General.
He also worked as an Internal Auditor in the Ministry of Agriculture and he is among the first auditors in the office of the Auditor General since its establishment in 2003.7
Kamuhire took over from Obadiah Biraro who had served in the position for ten years.
DCGP Muhisoni who was also sworn-in on Friday was appointed the Deputy Commissioner General of Rwanda Correctional Service (RCS) in October 2021 replacing Jeanne Chantal Ujeneza who recently moved to Rwanda National Police (RNP) as the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) in charge of Administration and Finance in April 2021.
DCGP Muhisoni previously served as the Deputy Commissioner for Community Policing.
Meanwhile, Assumpta Ingabire previously served as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion since 2019.
Prior to the appointment, she had served as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Local Government for 2 years; after one year and half in the same Ministry serving as the Director General in charge of Inspection.
Ingabire has a strong background in project management from 7 years of experience coordinating various projects with Imbuto Foundation.
As he delivered remarks, Kagame wished success to sworn-in officials reminding that the country is undergoing difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic. He however revealed that the country has made possible efforts to contain the pandemic and thanked leaders and other Rwandans for their role to minimize its effects.
The President also said that the Rwanda was lucky to access COVID-19 vaccine where mass vaccination efforts are ongoing noting that Rwanda will start local vaccine manufacturing in the near future to save Rwandans and other Africans as well.
“In our country, we played our role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Had we not put up a proper fight, it would have taken more lives. Usually, it would have been better not to lose even one life but when the lives lost amount to thousands, it means that the pandemic’s intensity is increasing. I want to thank all of you our leaders, Rwandans for how we conducted ourselves during this pandemic time,” he said.
“It is evident that the pandemic has cooled down; its intensity has decreased significantly. In the near future, we will start manufacturing vaccines in Rwanda. Vaccines manufactured here will first help save the lives of Rwandans, and after, help other Africans and even beyond if we get enough. That’s our wish,” added Kagame.
Nikos Dendias who is in Rwanda for an official visit to deepen Rwanda-Greece relations and cooperation in areas of common interest was hosted at Village Urugwiro after holding talks with his counterpart of Rwanda, Dr. Vincent Biruta.
During their discussions, Nikos and Dr. Biruta signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in Political Consultations and diplomatic training.
His visit coincided with the donation of 332,800 AstraZeneca doses of COVID-19 shipped to Rwanda on Friday 5th November 2021.
Dendias has revealed via Twitter handle that his talks with Kagame focused on different areas including Greece’s contribution to the fight against COVID-19.
Rwanda, Greece enjoy existing relations in different areas. In July 2021, Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Jean Bosco Kazura visited Athens, the capital of Greece to strengthen cooperation.
He was welcomed by Gen Konstantinos Floros, Chief of Defence Staff of the Greek Defence Force.
In 2018, both countries signed air service agreement.
During his stay in Rwanda, Dendias visited Kigali Genocide Memorial where he paid tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi laid there. He also met with officials from different public institutions including Rwanda Governance Board.
GYAN Educational Services Ltd is a company which focuses on helping future African leaders to acquire quality higher education and skills.
The company works with many Indian universities. In addition, the company conducts workshops, training that are meant to help unemployed youth to acquire JOB skills to be fit for the job competition.
GYAN Educational Services Ltd opened doors to Rwandan and other African students in 2019 with a view to help to access quality education through helping students to study in India catering for the scholarship up to 55% of tuition fees.
So far, the company has helped nearly 70 Rwandan students to study in India through existing partnerships with more than ten renowned universities including Marwadi University, VelTech University, GITAM University, Jain University, KIIT University and Lovely Professional University and others.
Venkat Ramana Gudipati, the Co-Founder of Gyan Educational Services Ltd has said that the company also offers opportunities to students willing to pursue master’s and PhD courses.
He explained that the company chose to send students to India considering the fact that “India is the third largest higher educational destination for quality education [after the United States of America and China]. Besides, the most affordable cost of education in comparison with other locations.”
Venkat revealed that GYAN Educational Services Ltd opened doors to Rwanda to contribute to the country’s ambitions to become a knowledge-based economy.
“We are convinced that Rwanda is becoming an investment hub. That is why we want Rwandan students to access quality education and be equipped with competencies enabling them to contribute largely to the country’s development after graduation,” he said.
All students interested to study in Indian universities can submit applications at www.gyanes.com where they stand a chance to get scholarship up to 55% of tuition fees depending on obtained grades. However, the scholarship doesn’t include the cost of VISA, passport and flight ticket.
As Venkat explained, the company seeks to help 200 students per annum.
“I encourage parents to come to visit the GYAN office to get the support on how their children can benefit from Indian university scholarships,” he said.
For further details, students and parents can visit the company’s offices at Gisimenti, Remera in Mutsindashyaka’s building or contact them via provided phone number: 0785 754 943 or visit www.gyanes.com
