KICUKIRO - The School of Finance and Banking (SFB), yesterday, held its fourth graduation ceremony, awarding 383 students with degrees in Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA), and Masters of Business Administration (MBA).

The schools bestowed BBA degrees to 339 students in the Accounting, Finance Human Resource Management and Marketing options.  148 were male, and 135 were female.

Masters degrees were awarded to 48 in the options of Project Management, Banking and Finance.

This is the second time that the MBAs, which are offered jointly with Maastricht School of Management, are awarded.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Education, who is also the Chancellor of SFB, Dr. Charles Murigande, requested the graduands to steer the country to development.

"As a country with meagre natural resources, our country highly depends on the educated young people like you to steer it to development,” Murigande said.

He also said that it was the government’s wish for institutions like SFB to produce a critical mass of business professionals who will competitively lead both the private and public sectors.

The minister added that SFB’s ability to produce professionals will front Rwanda as the best country to invest in and help the government in its bid to woo more investors because they will be assured of an excellent workforce.

Addressing the congregation, the newly appointed Rector of SFB, Dr. Reid E. Whitlock, told the successful students to use their newly acquired power well, if they and the country are to benefit.

"We are celebrating your acquiring of knowledge which is the power. From today hence fourth, you will not be cheated, you will be able to know that someone is promising what they will not deliver because you have now joined a class of the privileged few”. Whitlock said.

He, however, cautioned them not to be arrogant because they are among the few privileged members of the society.
"Get at the heart of things; get involved in all issues that affect the country through research. Remember, saying that I don’t know is not a crime, but remember to add that I will find out,” he advised.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Prof. Manasseh Nshuti, said that the school has achieved a number of successes since its inception in 2006, despite having met some hurdles like the lack of adequate infrastructure and human resources.

The SFB campus was originally designed to accommodate 200 hundred students, but the current population stands at 2,734 students, stretching the existing infrastructure.

However, with the new administration, Murigande said he was optimistic that all those issues would be resolved.
He also announced that Jean Damascene Gasarabwe, who passed with a First Class Degree in Finance, would be awarded a presidential scholarship to further his studies.

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