Airtel Rwanda was the third telecom firm to launch services in the country over five year ago. The telecom has contributed significantly to Rwanda’s drive aimed at increasing access to mobile telephone services, including mobile Internet. It also supports tech innovations and the country’s drive toward a cashless economy, as well as the goal of becoming an ICT hub and knowledge-based economy. Airtel marketing director Moses Abindabizemu talked to The New Times about these issues and what the firm is doing to help government achieve its ICT agenda, among others:

Rwanda’s mobile phone penetration levels continue to increase. How has Airtel contributed to this growth as one of the key players in the market?

Airtel has done its best to provide customers with more advanced affordable products and services that serve their needs and those of other users that are not on our network.

Through Airtel Money, we have been able to contribute to financial inclusion by easing the ways through which people access their financial services, like banking, paying utility and restaurant bills, as well as facilitating e-payments, and enabling cross-border money transfers.

It is these services that have helped attract more subscribers and hence driven up mobile penetration rates in the country.

Rwanda is positioning its self as a smart city with a vision of becoming a knowledge-based economy and ICT hub in the region. How is Airtel contributing towards the success of this?

As Rwanda positions itself as a knowledge and ICT hub in the region, Airtel Rwanda is right there taking this journey with Rwandans.

Airtel is spearheading the smart cities agenda and, this year, Airtel partnered with University of Rwanda to launch an innovation hub at the College of Arts in Huye District.

The e-lab is equipped with all the requisite equipment students need to innovate, create and bring projects to life in order to boost sustainable innovation among university students.

We also launched the e-lab with the aim of promoting, facilitating and supporting the development of innovative ICT solutions by nurturing a community of entrepreneurs and mentors in universities.

What’s your contribution toward improving the ICT industry?

Airtel has set up projects to encourage Rwandans to take advantage of the good ICT infrastructure in the country.

In May, we partnered with UNICEF to launch an initiative tagged ‘Pitch Night’, an initiative aimed at motivating youth below 25 years of age to pitch their ICT-business projects that could provide solutions for health, environment or education sectors.

The main goal is to encourage Rwandan youth to acquire ICT skills and embrace its tools.

Airtel’s subscriber base has grown steadily since you started operations in Rwanda. How have you ensured customer satisfaction over the period?

Airtel’s journey has been of a great experience with various milestones. Our products and services have been tailored to meet the needs of customers.

This has been one of the reasons we have achieved much and provided customers a wide range of products and services on data (UnlimiNet), voice (Tera Stori, Wiceceka), Airtel Money transactions, while providing them with the latest technology to enhance their experience. This is why we continue to be the smartphone network of choice.

Tell us more about the ‘Touching Lives’ campaign you launched last year.

Giving back to the communities in which we operate is one of Airtel’s core values. Through initiatives such as ‘Touching Lives’, we give back to the community by supporting individual members of those communities.

‘Touching Lives’ is an initiative that was launched to offer practical relief, assistance, hope, opportunities and credible platforms to liberate and empower the less-privileged, disadvantaged and hard to reach persons in our communities. It was aimed at recognising and supporting individuals and groups that have made outstanding contributions to their communities.

Through such corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, we have received positive feedback from the communities that Airtel Rwanda has impacted financially and socially.

Our biggest CSR campaign has been ‘Touching Lives’ which saw many families receive houses, annual medical care, financial support to start business among others things.