In June, the cabinet approved the appointment of Thapelo Tsheole as the new chief executive officer of the Rwanda Capital Market Authority (CMA). The Botswana national has started his duties and he has a full in tray as he settles into his new role. With a distinguished career spanning 24 years in the financial market, Tsheole plans to use his expertise to bring Rwanda’s capital market to international standards. In an exclusive interview with The New Times’ Tesi Kaven, Tsheole said that though at infant stage, Rwanda’s capital market is full of potential and has the opportunity for immense growth in a short period of time. Below are excerpts: What was your initial assessment of Rwanda’s Capital Market? From my assessment, the capital market in Rwanda is at an infant stage, but with huge potential. The advantage with Rwanda is that one can see and feel the speed at which things are moving and so there is a huge opportunity to achieve great things within a short period of time. What are your priority areas as you take up this new role? CMA has two major tasks; to offer market regulation and also develop the markets in collaboration with other stakeholders in the economy. So, whatever we do must be aligned with the mandate of CMA. The priority for me will be to bring the capital market in Rwanda to international standards, while adequately serving the needs of the domestic economy. So, my priorities are two-fold; a broad-based capital markets growth domestically and internationally, where our presence needs to be felt. ALSO: Capital markets regulator gets new boss How do you plan to position Rwanda’s capital market for growth? The capital market, by definition. is a place where domestic, regional and international companies can come to access capital. Therefore, the capital market in Rwanda needs to be a place where companies can access capital. On the other hand, the capital market provides investment opportunities for citizens in the country as well as citizens in the diaspora who want to invest in the country. We need to tap into the foreign investors who are looking for investment opportunities. But most importantly, we need to build the ecosystem of the capital market to meet international standards. What new strategies will you implement to develop and stimulate more activity in Rwanda's capital markets? There are a number of ways to awaken the potential that lies in the capital market in Rwanda. Firstly, we need to look at the policy initiatives that are there because they need to be conducive for companies to be able to come to the market to raise capital. We also need to empower the whole value chain of capital markets. We need to build the capacity of institutions in this value chain, be it the stock exchange, the stock brokers, the unit trust managers, asset managers and also the regulators. In a nutshell, the strategy will include education, policy changes, infrastructure development and also capacity building for the whole value chain of the capital markets. ALSO READ: Who is Thapelo Tsheole, Botswana expert picked CEO of Rwanda Capital Market Authority? As you endeavor to bring change, what challenges do you foresee? First of all, capital markets development in its nature takes time and so patience will be required as well as concerted efforts from industry players, working together. Secondly, a lot of people do not have sufficient knowledge and information about the capital markets. But this is not a unique challenge to Rwanda but quite common in many developing markets. Fortunately, there is a positive acceptance of innovation in Rwanda, far much better than in many African countries, and this gives us a competitive advantage to develop the capital markets, making the most of the technological advancements in Rwanda. What lessons can be borrowed from your experience as the former CEO of the Botswana Stock Exchange? From my experience, I can say it is possible to develop the capital markets in a very short period of time with the concerted efforts of industry players. The government needs to be bold and deliberate in terms of designing policies and programmes that are geared towards the growth of the capital markets. The capital market holds a lot of potential to unlock economic opportunities and we have seen this in other countries. However, all institutions need to play their role. The Central Bank, the banks, the pension funds, the ministry of finance and others. What should we expect to see from the Capital Markets this year? By the end of 2024, we will see a lot of changes especially in the regulatory environment. There will also be a lot of education for the public and institutions concerning the capital market to ensure everyone is on board. Also in the pipeline and for the very first time, there will be one or two international road shows for the Rwanda Capital Market, because we aim to concentrate not only on the domestic market, but also on the international market.
