Event Overview
Small and landlocked, Rwanda is hilly and fertile with a high population density, of about 12. 2 million people (2017). With the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Rwanda has been able to make important economic and structural reforms and sustain its economic growth rates over the last decade. The country has so far developed in different areas including but not limited to agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, finance, and digital technology. However, like other countries accelerating economic development, the country aims to boost investments, as well as digitalizing most of the services including making the country cashless by 2024 according to the WorldBank (2018).
This is challenging vision. Thus, different Rwandans need to invest tremendous efforts to help the country achieve this challenging goal. As a partner to development, Rwanda Events Group Ltd. Proposes FinTech Friday, an event hosted every two months and that will bring different people together to discuss financial and technological trends, as well as exchanging ideas on how to implement those trends on the Rwandan context.
Why Does It Matter?
Normally, the fintech industry doesn’t really engage many people due to the fact that it is considered reserved only for highly educated and business people. However, the trends showed that it is becoming part of people’s quotidian life through mobile technology, and more digital approaches. Therefore, it is very essential that we, Rwandans, go with that trend if we really want to achieve our economic development goals we’ve set so far.
Moreover, the National Bank of Rwanda aims to make the Rwandan economy cashless by 2024. We therefore need to engage and sensitize all Rwandans to contribute to that goal through different digital approaches like payments, banking, stock exchange, and much more.
Finally, this is also the time to attract the youth take part in fintech discussions as a way to collect different ideas on how to improve the fintech industry in Rwanda.
Event Objectives
- Discussing global trends in financial technology and bringing them to a local context
- Enhancing collaboration between startups and well-established companies in the industry
- Contributing to NBR’s goal of cashlessing the country economy, analyzing standby SWOTs, and recommending possible action steps
- Transform customer experiences through mobile apps and other digital services
- Improving the financial sector and encouraging people to take part in it
- Connecting different people in the financial technology industry for networking purpose through critical discussions and cocktail reception
- Encouraging youngsters to get into the financial technology industry and giving them a professional support
- Learning from successful professionals in the fintech industry
