BK Group has, on January 25, launched a philanthropic subsidiary dubbed ‘BK Foundation’ aimed at supporting Rwandans across the country to transform their livelihoods.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Marc Holtzman, Chairman of BK Group, said that the establishment of this foundation was inspired by the incredible work led by the first lady to touch the people of this country and beyond through the Imbuto Foundation.

Beata Habyarimana, CEO of BK Group, said that this is a continuity of different activities carried under corporate social responsibilities over the past years but they will, henceforth, be structured and aligned with the group’s overall mission.

The group has supported the community in different areas such as covering medical expenses, providing coding and robotics classes to students, providing access to finance for underserved women, among other initiatives.

BK Foundation will be headed by Ingrid Karangwayire as the Executive Secretary.

It will start operations with an estimated Rwf1 billion capital from the other four subsidiaries, including Bank of Kigali, BK General Insurance, BK capital and BK techhouse by dedicating one percent of their net operating profit.

BK Foundation will operate on the basis of three main pillars including education, innovation, and environmental conservation.

At a later stage, the support will be expanded to other components, according to Habyarimana.

"In education, we want to build a skilled workforce starting at the early stage with early childhood development centres, participate in market driven programs for technical and vocational skills in the schools, and a special touch on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths),” she indicated.

In innovation pillar, the foundation will support fintech solutions and other business startups through application and pitch competition, while also supporting environmental protection initiatives such as waste disposal and recycling, pollution management, water resource management, green space in urbanization, as well as solar panels in rural areas.

"Of course being a financial holding group we have a special focus on financial literacy, we're also going to engage strong partners to support some key opportunities in Rwanda,” Habyarimana added.

She highlighted that the foundation will rely on evidence-based data to determine the most effective funding solution and also be able to support the continuity of the life cycle as any grant organization.

Holtzman noted that they are going to have a very methodical approach of getting the biggest return on investment in improving people’s lives

"We are making it easier for people to apply for support than to know the types of things that are necessary during the application process for support but I would add that we’re also trying to encourage the other banks, our competitors in the market to do the same because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

In the first nine months of 2022, the group registered Rwf33.5 billion, reflecting an 18.4 percentage increase from the same period in 2021.