Bank of Kigali (BK) on July 15 launched an SME Centre which is tasked to deliver a range of products that are specifically tailored to the peculiar needs of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) owners.

The centre is also living up to the bank’s promise of easing pain and paying attention to the details that matter most to SME owners.

According to Diane Karusisi, CEO of BK Groyup, the bank came up with the centre after realising that they didn’t provide enough care to SMEs as much as they needed when Covid-19 hit.

They also found out that around 80% of the businesses they work with are big organisations and that SMEs were not getting sufficient loans.

"In our research, we found out there is a gap concerning the loans SMEs need. We found out that we will need to inject 1 million USD to help them rise, and so we came up with this special centre to tackle that financial gap and we also know that SMEs take a big part of the country’s economy and employ many Rwandans,” she said.

According to Karusisi, BK staff who are working at the centre were trained on how best they can support SMEs and help them to thrive and turn into big organizations.

"We want them to work well. You’ve seen that many clients no longer go to the bank to pick cash. Many have embraced cashless and digital models. What they need is advice. At this centre, they can talk to our staff and tell us their plans and we can see how we can help them to develop their businesses,” she said.

She added that at every branch, they will have special space for SME owners where they can find a BK employee specifically tasked to support them.

Faustin Kashugera, who owns an SME that distributes BRALIRWA products sees the centre as a facility that is going to ease the services he seeks from the bank in a more conducive environment hence helping him do his work better.

He noted that since BK has many clients, most of the days he went to its headquarters, he would find a long queue and sometimes go back without getting the service he wanted whenever he had other quick plans.

"But here,” he said.  "A client will come and get someone to provide quick service because there are many rooms,” he said.

Darius Mukunzi, Head of Department of SMEs at BK added that the centre will offer financial services such as loans and financial advisory as well as non-financial services including training clients on tax declaration, among others.

He noted that the Bank has over 16,000 SME clients, adding that the centre can receive 50 at any time, adding that it can handle traffic of 100 people per day.

The interior of the centre was designed by Dead Construction & Consultancy Company (DECOCO) led by Brighton Ruzibukira as Managing Director.