KIGALI - The School of Finance and Banking (SFB), yesterday,  held its fifth graduation and awarded 550 students Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) and Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degrees.

The school bestowed BBA degrees to graduands in Accounting, Finance, Human Resource Management and Marketing.

Masters degrees were awarded to 34 graduands in Project Management, Banking and Finance.

The Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree progaramme is offered jointly with Maastricht School of Management from Holland, and has been offered at SFB since 2004.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Rector of SFB, Dr. Reid E. Whitlock, urged the graduands to be active alumni and always endeavour to take part in the strengthening of the school and ensuring the quality of its products.

"When something bad happens that reflects badly on the school from which you have graduated, it devalues the degree that you have worked so hard to earn,” said Whitlock.

"We, here at SFB, are doing our part to train the movers and shakers of a vibrant private sector, the leaders of a healthy financial services sector and a professional civil service. Our work is important,” he said that all these efforts would be a waste if quality is not upheld.

In his speech, the Minister of Education and Chancellor of SFB, Dr. Charles Murigande, urged the graduates to humble themselves and serve the people.

"The economy needs your intellect to reduce the levels of poverty,” he said. "You have been equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to join the pool of graduates of this country and you should serve it diligently.”

He urged them to be pace setters, since as graduates from a business school, they have entrepreneurship skills.
He advised them to be prepared to start low, and move up the ranks and drop the tendency of thinking about starting with big jobs, because starting big cannot help them fully develop their careers.

"Preferably, we desire to see you creating your own jobs… we expect you to be innovative, hardworking people, who are characterised by humility and high integrity and above all, devoted to the development of our country,” the Minister said.

The Chairman of the board of directors, Prof. Manasseh Nshuti, revealed that plans are underway to address the various challenges faced by the institution, including, in adequate infrastructure and staff.

Ends