Promoting financial inclusion in Rwanda: an interview with Esperance Uwimana

Through her work with a range of international NGOs serving the refugee community in Rwanda, mostly focusing on challenges facing women in general and women entrepreneurs in particular, Esperance Uwimana is now getting ready to launch her own financial inclusion-initiative WISE. I caught up with her to find out more.

Please describe who you are and what kind of business you’re setting up!

My name is Esperance Uwimana, and I’m a practitioner of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within finance, microfinance and access to finance, as well as livelihoods and economic recovery for economic active poor people, here in Kigali, Rwanda.

My expertise involves entrepreneurship promotion through MSMEs creation, market-based business skills development, small and startup businesses management, women's economic empowerment, access to financial services, financial education and financial inclusion. I enjoy empowering the community that I serve to become sustainable and passionate entrepreneurs through development of training materials, capacity building, business idea diagnosis, investment appraisal and feasibility studies.

I have worked on several Rwandan important programs aiming at promoting business development and income generating activities for women and other entrepreneurs in general. The business that I’m now setting up is called Women in Small Businesses (WISE), and aims to economically empowering women in small businesses in and around Kigali. WISE will do this through the provision of financial literacy and business management training.

What inspired you to start your business?

My work experience got me extensively exposed to women in small businesses, access to finance, training in business skills and access to financial services. In my line of duty, I came to realize the problem was linked to access to finance, especially for women. The matter becomes worse when it is about women in micro and small businesses.

Women living near Kigali are often the main suppliers of fresh vegetables and other fresh foods in town, and yet, they lack vital information on how to start a business, grow a business, marketing, and access to finance.

The plan is now to develop a WISE approach, through which women entrepreneurs will gain access to much-needed business-related information and will be trained how to start and grow their businesses, how to manage their money and know how financial institutions can help them grow their businesses.

What are the problem(s) your business tries to solve?

Women disproportionately face financial access barriers that prevent them from participating in the economy and from improving their lives. My aim is to contribute to and promote financial inclusion for women in small businesses to help them toward gender equity and poverty reduction.

• Limited financial awareness and understanding of financial products/ services

Women lack knowledge about available finance options, advantages and disadvantages, and costs of various options, benefits of borrowing, etc. This lack of knowledge generates reluctance to access finance from formal channels.

• Lack of adequate collateral

Access to collateral remains a key issue, especially for women entrepreneurs given the social context. Though in my country even if a woman legally owns an asset, male members of the family will often hold the title deed. WISE will tackle on how to do financial planning in the family but also will advocate for alternative collateral.

• Low level of confidence or hesitation to approach financial institutions

Women entrepreneurs tend to have less experience with banking institutions and could feel intimidated to approach a bank. Poor financial literacy often translates into inadequate accounting and financial management functions.

• Low or almost lack of startup capital

Women in the SME-sector struggles in getting startup capital. Their financial needs are often too small to attract attention from banks.

• Low exposure to opportunities, networking and events

Women in small businesses are neither organized in a given forum where they can meet and discuss their business problems, nor have an address where to find them when it comes to spread information about opportunities, training, events etc. WISE aims to be a channel of important information to women in small businesses in the capital and main cities.

How would your customers/clients benefit from your service?

WISE will provide urban poor women with financial and business education and management skills by teaching them the basics of savings, investments and loans.

WISE will train women about the meaning of loans, savings and investment, helping them to make the best out of their capital. Through financial literacy courses women shall understand the potential of their investment and learn useful business management strategies.

Women will be assisted to start or grow their own business by provision of micro capital. Empower women and make them self-confident in terms of access to finance.

Role models give women the opportunity to assess how successful entrepreneurs have faced and overcome different problems in their specific field, through field visits.

How do low-income people benefit from your business model?

Through WISE, women will access to financial literacy, business skills and tips to access to appropriate financial services. Moreover, the provision of microloans as startup capital or injection into the business. Through the promotion of financial inclusion, WISE will also provide linkages with formal financial institutions in order to teach entrepreneurs how to raise appropriate finance and become formally banked.

Thanks Esperance, and best of luck!