50MAWS Project engages East African Financial institutions for more financial inclusion. Click on the photo above for the full story
Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR) - Rwanda
- Rwanda
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- Access to Finance
- Access to Capital
- Access to Capital
Access to capital for women entrepreneurs in Rwanda
Rwanda has put in place mechanisms to promote financial inclusion.
A National Financial Inclusion Strategy that is focusing on products and opportunities dedicated to helping women and girls to access capital has been developed and adopted.
The Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is now working with different Financial institutions in the efforts to promote financial inclusion.
The country has also initiated the Business Development Fund (BDF) which is providing guarantees and grants to accompany the ongoing financial inclusion initiatives with a deliberate effort targeting marginalised women and young girls.
In the same line, the Ministry of gender and family promotion (MIGEPROF ) and Ministry of ICT and innovation (MINICT) are initiating a Women and youth Investment Facility (WYIF) for new startups mostly emerging women and youth entrepreneurs.
Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR)
| About AMIR | AMIR is the professional umbrella organization of MFIs operating in Rwanda that seeks to build a flourishing micro finance sector in the country through different areas of Advocacy and Information, Research and Development, Responsible Finance, Performance Monitoring and Capacity Building. It was created in 2007 with 32 founding members and currently its membership has reached 342 licensed MFIs/SACCOs: among them micro finance banks, Limited companies and credit and savings cooperatives. Its membership represents more than 90% of the micro-finance sector in Rwanda with an aim of integrating all MFIs/SACCOs operating in Rwanda so that to serve them under one umbrella. Seven member institutions of AMIR started the pilot phase with the target to have 200 new women as best savers and 50 good borrowers in one year each and the pilot phase came to its end with 6 institutions that had implemented the product successfully,2576 accounts were opened by women after the implementation with 161,043,394 RWF as savings and 153,728,580 RWF as loans disbursed. AMIR also conducts training sessions on loan management for those women who have got the loan. Women trained are grouped in: MFIs/U-SACCOs | |
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| Loans provided | |
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| Brief description of the loan | 1. Tinyuka wigire Munyarwandakazi “THE PRIDE OF WOMEN” is a financial product for women with lower income earnings aged between 18-45 years that was initiated by the Savings Bank Foundation for International Cooperation East Africa (SBFIC East Africa) in collaboration with AMIR. The objective of this product is to improve well-being of low-income women through creating easy access to financial services and this enables them to access loans without physical collateral assets and instills financial discipline through conditional savings. The minimum loan size is 50000 rwf and the maximum loan size is 300000rwf |
| 2.Business loan | Interest rates | Between 17% to 18% per year. It depends on the institution |
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| Collateral | No physical collateral |
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| Grace period | N/A |
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| Duration | Six to twelve months |
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| Repayment terms | Monthly payment |
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| Requirements |
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| Contacts | Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda | |
Stories
The African Development Bank partners with EAC, COMESA & ECOWAS Regional economic blocks to implement the 50 Million African Women Speak Networking Platform Project.The platform is intended to empower millions of women in Africa to start, grow, and scale up businesses by providing a one-stop shop for their specific information needs. Click on the image for more information