Rwandans ought to celebrate successful homegrown brands

Editor, RE: “Is BK feeling the heat?” (The New Times, March 4). I beg to differ. On the contrary, perhaps a case of markets authority intervention as BK is clearly usurping all manner of challenge. I mean we are talking of one monstrosity of a profit spewing behemoth here in BK! 35% of total banking assets is verging on regulatory competition commission. And with the ongoing concerted drive to emancipate a service sector led economy; which of the big lenders has better clout and capacity to service such huge loan books akin to RwandAir’s Kalisimbi, Kigali Heights et al – without being in breach of single entity loan exposure risk quotas by BNR? Only BK can. So there you go. Don’t forget the bancassurance, and fintech collaborations by MTN, Tigo. Plus of course the sleight of hand the Government of Rwanda provides: pretty much first call on all juicy government tenders/deals. And this banking organisation will safeguard Rwanda from the pillager foreign banks that have long since been jettisoned from Kenya’s hyper competitive banking sector, hence the localised wealth building by Equity Bank’s Mwangi, Munga et al. But look at the theater of the absurd in Uganda’s case. UCB/SBU: privatized. Stanbic, DFCU: pretty much foreign owned too. Decades later Mutebile & Co. remember the warning by renowned financier Ezra Suruma (UCB/MoFPED) not to fully liberalise Uganda’s banking sector. Now dreaming of reconstituting and recapitalising UDB. Rwandans ought to celebrate and support BK with a renewed sense of pride. Ggwanga Mujje

Opinions

Rwandans ought to celebrate successful homegrown brands