The yellow umbrella boys and girls you see on the streets facilitating mobile money transactions and other online services will soon enjoy better and safe working conditions as city officials have pledged to expedite the project to build for them modern kiosks.

The project was launched in September last year but nothing tangible is yet to materialize.

"We use umbrellas that are installed by the roadsides but it is very risky since they can be blown away by the wind at any time. We need safer places,” said Goretti Nyiraneza, one of the mobile money agents who is stationed in the Remera area of Gasabo District.

For Clémentine Uwineza, another agent added that some gangsters snatch their phones and runoff, but with the kiosks, they will feel safer.

Speaking to The New Times, Jean Rubangutsangabo, the Urban Economist at City of Kigali, said that city officials will hold a meeting with the contractor next week to discuss ways to fast-track the project.

"We have a meeting next week with the contractor to work on a new plan to fast-track the implementation and details on the way forward will be disclosed. But it is clear that there is a need to increase efforts and revamp the plan we have with them,” Rubangutsangabo said.

He added that the priority now is to meet the public’s expectations.

"The discussions will look at how best we can collaborate to implement the project,” Rubangutsangabo said.

One of the modern kiosks installed at Rwandex in Kigali. / Photo: Craish Bahizi

Toussaint Birakwiye, the Board Chairman at Rwanda Ex-Combatants Benefits Union Ltd that was contracted to build the kiosks told The New Times the project required a lot more work, hence the delays.

"This is a big project that is required to offer different online services. We first had to know the number of agents we have across the city and register them,” Birakwiye said.

The services to be offered in the kiosks include mobile money transfer, selling and topping-up of public transport cards, and irembo services among others.

Birakwiye pointed out that some of the agents are engaged in fraud and to avoid that they have to design a system to detect and eliminate shady agents.

"We also have to set up a system to eliminate such fraud,” he said, adding that they had to work with telecommunication companies, banks, local leaders, and the regulator of such services - Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) among other stakeholders.

"By October, we will have rolled out at least 150 modern kiosks across the city. It is a continuous project and we will gradually build more as urbanization grows,” Birakwiye disclosed.

Kigali has an estimated 30,000 agents and so far 15,000 have signed up to benefit from the kiosks.

Each kiosk will accommodate up to six agents offering different services. They will be solar-powered, and have hotlines for reporting fraud. The agents will have to submit their bio-data prior to being allocated a kiosk.

It is expected that each agent will rent the kiosk between Rwf5,000 and Rwf10,000 per month.