Rwanda must attract, build and retain a pool of highly specialised financial professionals to serve and support the growth of its financial centre, if the country is to realise its vision to become a financial services hub. This is according to the Financial Sector Skills Survey released by the Kigali International Finance Centre (KIFC), aimed at taking stock of the existing financial talent pool in Rwanda's financial sector and determining the gap in terms of capabilities and skills. Rwanda Finance Limited, the agency tasked with promoting KIFC, targets to attract $600 million in assets into the centre by 2025. However, according to the report, gaps in the availability of skilled and experienced professionals and the current fragmented training system, pose a significant challenge to the growth of the financial centre. According to Anita Mutesi, Senior Capacity Building Program Manager at the Rwanda Finance Limited, the financial sector lacks certified specialised professionals. Only 2 per cent of the approximately 37,000 professionals employed in Rwanda's financial sector, are certified, she said, adding that these professionals are not sufficient to serve the investors coming in through the KIFC. ALSO READ: FEATURED: KIFC, a beacon of financial sector stability, progress in the region Mutesi noted that the skills gap in the financial sector, if not addressed, will jeopardise the efforts of the financial centre. If investors come in and do not find the skills they are looking for, they either leave or bring in their own people, defeating one of KIFC's purposes of creating jobs, she said. Rwanda Finance limited CEO, Nick Barigye, said the survey also highlighted the need for emerging skills for the future. “The demand for expertise in areas such as corporate governance, FinTech, green finance, risk management is growing exponentially,” he said, adding that there is an opportunity to develop specialised training programmes and partnerships that cater to these needs. Employability The report indicates that while 60 per cent of finance and accounting graduates are employed, only 9 per cent actually work in the finance sector, indicating that the sector is not absorbing the graduates. This low employability rate, the reports says, indicates a need for better alignment between university curriculums and industry needs. Christine Baingana, Rwanda Academy of Finance steering committee Chairperson and CEO of Urwego Finance, said there is a need to address the non-alignment of education curriculums and industry needs. Overhauling the education sector is a massive endeavor, but adding elements like critical thinking, analytical thinking and financial modelling would be a good foundation on which the financial sector can build on and upskill the professionals,” she noted. Richard Tusabe, the Minister of State in charge of the National Treasury at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), said the survey should serve as a wake-up call to the education sector ALSO READ: How can the skills gap among youth be addressed? The skills gap and low employability rate of graduates, highlights the urgent need for targeted strategies to realign the education system in our country with industry demands, Tusabe said. Gender disparities The survey also brought to the fore the gender disparities in the financial sector, with more men employed than women. Simon Kibe, a human resource consultant, emphasised the need to do more to accommodate women in the financial services sector, citing a bias towards men. There is a bias towards men in the sector probably because they can spend long hours at work. The sector needs to customise the workplace to accommodate the needs of women, especially those with young children and enable them to play at the same level as men, she observed. A number of financial institutions in the country have established a mother's room, designed to cater to the needs of nursing mothers and their infants during working hours, a move that is slowly helping to promote gender equality in the financial sector. Low hanging fruits Developing specialised skills for the financial sector takes a significant amount of time, but given its target to become a financial hub in the region and the wider continent, the country does not have the luxury of time. “The private sector should be encouraged or incentivised to provide internship to graduates, Kibe said, adding that mechanisms such as waiving Pay As You Earn (PAYE) for interns in the short employment period could encourage the culture of professional internships. Kato Kimbugwe, Managing Director, Vanguard Economics, said, The low hanging fruit for me is internship programmes, driven by the private sector, and linked to universities.” The report also recommends a training levy that will be used to train staff in specialised roles and reduce poaching. To attract and retain specialised skilled staff in the financial sector, the report recommends salary incentives, by benchmarking with other countries in the region or by offering performance-based bonuses.
