Female students have been urged to pursue careers in banking and other financial sector professions, as the industry is still dominated by men.

Diana Kwarisiima, the head of human resource at I&M Bank, said female students, especially finalists in higher institutions of learning could always take advantage of internship opportunities at the bank to try out the various career options in the financial industry.

"We have a retention strategy at the bank, where students who impress during internship training could be taken on as our staff,” she added.

She was speaking during a sensitisation training of students from Green Hills Academy on financial matters, which was part of the annual international Global Money Week that started on March 9 and ends today.

The Global Money Week aims to engage children worldwide in learning how money works, including saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment, and entrepreneurship.

In Rwanda, it was co-ordinated by AIESEC and local banks, most of which trained youth in financial literacy, and handling money.

During the training held at I&M Bank head offices in Kigali, students were also able to interact with the bank staff from different departments who explained to them about their roles and other banking activities.

Michael Obiero, the general manager for operations, internal services and branches at the bank, explained to students the different banking services and products, including forex trading; loan processing and coordination between commercial banks and the central bank.

"We are regulated by the National Bank of Rwanda and hence all our operations are done in accordance with the rules by the central bank. Therefore, customers need not to worry over safety of their savings,” Obiero said while replying to some of the questions from the students.

He advised students to develop a savings culture as part of their life-long strategy to set aside money for future investment.

"Students receive a lot of money from parents and guardians, but only a few save some of this money. Therefore, it is important to understand that as young people you need to save to safeguard your future,” Obiero added.

Henry Umunnakwe, the country co-ordinator of AIESEC, said the project operates in 125 countries, targeting mainly the youth.

"Our target is to reach one million youth who are fully aware of financial operations,” Umunnakwe said.

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