BRD to set up advisory firm

The Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) has said that it will set up an independent private sector support firm to facilitate institutional and individual investors to make informed investment decisions. BRD says that its subsidiary—BAS Ltd will be charged with effecting and reinforcing the bank’s advisory function, especially within the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) segment that has limited access to advisory services. “This is basically going to be a service to address issues that exist on the market; people have business ideas but they don’t know how to go about them,” said Jack Kayonga, BRD’s Director General. “It will address deficiencies in structuring projects and also help the government strengthen Public Private Partnerships (PPP).” Officials said BAS will advise on how to sustain the investment over the entire project cycle—from project preparation to implementation, as well as restructuring. BAS will provide advisory services in four strategic areas. According to the BRD, the advisory services provided will be based on the investment growth in the country and innovated to propose and guide investors on how to better grow their businesses. The four key strategic areas of focus include investment advisory where advice will be provided on project identification, preparation, resource mobilisation from both local and regional bank or syndication as well as from financial markets. Under this service, investors will be assisted to carry out project evaluation, monitoring, restructuring, management as well as PPP structuring. The second category is the corporate advisory services where investors will be assisted in the area of formulating strategies and product development, social environment assessment, corporate restructuring, audit services and technical assistance. The other areas include microfinance development and other products depending on the evolving market needs. According to Kayonga, the service help investors in the private sector to develop viable project proposals and feasibility studies that can be relied upon and accepted by banks and other financial institutions when investors want to access credit facilities. Ends

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BRD to set up advisory firm