Ecobank’s Kaby’inzozi to motivate increased savings

In order to achieve goals shared by the people and Government of Rwanda, there is need to advocate for increased saving so as to build financial strength which would boost investment and create wealth for the nation. However sensitizing the public to increased savings is not a task that the government alone can accomplish explaining why it is important that private financial institutions intervene. It is in the need to support the attainment of economic development that Ecobank Rwanda’s new product Kaby’inzozi was developed; to stimulate savings from individuals.
Kaby’inzozi, which is a promotional product, includes allocating incentives for customers who deposit and save their money and this is Ecobank Rwanda’s unique way of encouraging people to learn and appreciate the role of saving in development.

Ecobank envisions to exercise this through awarding those who save and in so doing encourage others so as to nurture the culture. Kaby’inzozi involves incentives ranging from a brand new Rwf35million worth RAV4, phones, shopping vouchers and Tablets among other prizes and anyone can win for as long as they have an account with Ecobank and save any amount of money for at least a period of two months.

You enter into a draw every time you;-
1. Deposit atleast 50,000frw into your new/ existing savings or current account.
2. Keep atleast 100,000frw in your account for two months.
3. Make any additional deposit of 50,000 frw to increase your chances of wining.

With every deposit, you are also entered into  the ‘EcoBank Giant Prize Giveaway’ where you could win a car.
During the launch of the product in Kigali on June 18th, Eric Rubega the head of Domestic Banking at Ecobank who represented the Managing Director at the function scored that Kaby’inzozi is one of the bank’s ways of facilitating economic development in the country. “Besides being a commercial bank that seeks to make a profit, we are a Pan-African institution whose only pride is to support Africa and its people to overcome the stinking poverty that has engulfed the continent for centuries. This dream is what Ecobank Rwanda shares and every product that we develop has to focus on achieving this objective.” Demarcus Ross is Ecobank’s head of Products and Marketing Unit scored during the same launch that many more products geared towards developing a savings culture among Rwandans are being developed and would be introduced to the market any time.

“As a bank, we cannot achieve our goals minus enabling the people in the markets that we serve to attain economic development. We however believe that developing culture is a foundation stone for people to reach development and wealth creation,” Demarcus offered. Through increased savings, Demarcus reiterated that the sources of finances for lending to the market would proportionally increase giving a boost to investment by Rwandans. Also higher savings would result into availability of loans at cheaper rates than can be afforded while trading externally acquired funds.

Ecobank targets an increase in deposits of Rwf16billion as a result of Kaby’inzozi bringing total deposits to 97.9billion by the end of the year. Also during the same period, Kaby’inzozi together with other products that are yet to be introduced on the market by Ecobank is expected to bring in 12,000 new accounts in addition to the existing 86,000. According to Demarcus, all the envisioned changes in the bank’s books will kick-start a series of events that will lead Rwandans to achieve economic development. “Our main goal is to support all those employees, business people, youths and every one to achieve their life dreams and when that happens, we at Ecobank will have met our dreams.”

The approach to achieving the development of a strong savings culture is not limited to Kaby’inzozi but is rather an all round one. It includes other Ecobank products that are specific to certain groups. According to Demarcus, the bank is going to put in place incentives to boost saving in different clusters of the market so as to build the culture from the roots. For instance, Ecobank’s Junior Savers account which has a number of benefits for young savers and targets the youth while technologically trendy ATM cards have been introduced to boost saving among the fashionable population. By and large, the “Kaby’inzozi na Ecobank” product aims to achieve three main objectives in a nutshell namely; encouraging the savings culture in individuals, promoting the banking culture within the Rwandan market, uplifting and taking the Ecobank dream of facilitating economic development in Rwanda higher.

Ecobank Facts

46% – the percentage growth in revenues of Ecobank Group in 2012 to US$1.8billion.

We have presence in 35 countries across the globe.

You can withdraw 24/7 using your card on 1.8million ATMs. Shop on 2.4million POS

1206 is the number of branches where you can bank conveniently like you were in your local branch.

Ecobank is the largest employer on the continent with 18,000 employees

With 25 years of experience in serving the African market, Ecobank is Pan-African bank to best unleash the potential of the continent