The staff of Bank of Kigali on Friday, November 27, joined residents of Kirenge Sector of Rulindo District to plant trees

The activity, which saw over 800 trees planted on eight hectares follows the Bank’s Rwf25 million pledge to support a project that will see over 105,000 agroforestry and fruit trees planted on 250 hectares in Kirenge and Taba Cells of Rusiga Sector.

The project is an initiative of Enterprise Multiservice (EMS), a consultancy company in forestry, environment and biomass energy. It seeks to enhance the livelihood of the rural community of Rulindo District through agroforestry and fruit tree planting.

The district is among the areas prone to torrential rains, which erode the soils and hurt farming. Agroforestry is seen as the solution to restore the degraded land.

Aimable Gahigi, the Director-General of Rwanda Meteorology Agency (Rwanda Meteo) hailed the bank’s support to the project and reminded residents that, if harnessed, the trees could play a crucial role in environmental protection as well as in fighting air pollution.

BK’s support makes it the first financial institution to support projects aimed at environmental protection and conservation and Gahigi called for other financial institutions to follow the Bank’s example.

"BK did a good job by committing its support in this project and I would like to encourage other banks and financial institutions to join the cause to ensure that the communities are living in a pollution-free environment,” he added.

Earlier in November, the Ministry of Environment announced that Rwanda has already reached its 30% forest cover target through afforestation and reforestation.

Emmanuel Nkusi, Head of Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary at Bank of Kigali, said the support committed came as a result of the profits that the bank recently made.

He said, after discussions among the bank’s board members, BK pledged its commitment to support the EMS project after they were convinced of the impact it can have on people’s livelihoods and the country in general.

"BK is a financial institution whose prior target is to make profits out of which the bank takes some part of it to support the community through different impactful projects,” Nkusi said.

"If you take good care of the planted trees we can also promise to support more projects that target to improve the welfare of the people in this district,” he added.

According to Modeste Bizimana, the EMS project coordinator, the initiative could be extended to other sectors if more stakeholders are interested to join the cause and commit more funds in the initiative.

BK's Head of Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary, Emmanuel Nkusi (L) was among the bank's staff who joined residents in Rulindo District during a tree planting activity on  November 27. / Courtesy

A resident carries trees to plant in Kirenge Sector. / Courtesy