Former Rwandese students have turned a savings and investment club into a multi-million financial institution, which has created employment and boosted members’ incomes reports the New Times.
Gilbert Banamwana and colleagues Kigali Independent University attended an awareness campaign by the Capital Market Authority that inspired them to create sustainable sources of income by pooling their resources together to invest in the stock market or any income generating activity. Back then as students they mobilised to form a savings and investment group.
The enterprising students ended up creating the Cycle Investment Co-operative. In a group of 20, they mobilized an initial capital of approximately 6,314 US dollars to start the microfinance institution to a SACCO that currently has more than 189,429 US dollar capital base with over 1,200 clients at the moment.
“Most of the customers are youth, who subscribe to different co-operatives, and students. We are targeting over 2,000 customers in the next one to two years,” said Innocent Mwizerwa, a marketing officer at Cycle Investment Co-operative
The students partnered with the Capital Market Authority, National Bank of Rwanda, Rwanda Stock Exchange and other related government bodies.
The SACCO is headquartered in Gisozi, in Gasabo District in Kigali, Cycle Investment Co-operative currently employs seven permanent workers, a big achievement for the organization that started in 2014. However, they hope to expand and open more branched next year to serve youths outside Kigali.
Source: CCTV Africa