BK CEO Dr Diane Karusisi (2nd Left), entrepreneur Sina Gerard and Northern Province Governor Maurice Mugabowagahunde, together with other leaders as they prepared for meeting with businesspeople affected by the GOICO Plaza fire last month
MUSANZE – Bank of Kigali has pledged to continue supporting businesses and investors affected by the fire that destroyed GOICO Market in Musanze District, including through discussions on outstanding loans as they work to rebuild their businesses.
The commitment came during a client engagement tour in Musanze on Thursday, November 5, led by BK Chief Executive Officer Dr. Diane Karusisi and senior bank executives.
The visit was part of activities marking the bank’s 60th anniversary and was aimed at strengthening relationships with customers, understanding their businesses and projects, and identifying ways BK can support their growth.
The tour covered education institutions, an industrial company, as well as investors and traders affected by the GOICO Market fire.
The BK team began the day at Virunga Valley Academy, a school providing education from nursery through secondary level.
The discussions focused on the school’s activities and operations, as well as its partnership with BK. The bank thanked the school for its continued trust and said it would continue visiting other customers in Musanze to engage with them and understand their needs.
The team later visited INES-Ruhengeri, a higher learning institution focused on applied sciences, research and innovation.
Discussions at INES focused on the institution’s ongoing and planned projects and ways of strengthening its partnership with BK.
Karusisi said BK was proud of the institution’s contribution to Rwanda’s development and also praised INES graduates working at Bank of Kigali.
“We are proud of the contribution of INES Ruhengeri to the development of our country,” she said.
The INES leadership also presented projects for which it is seeking support, including a building currently under construction, student workshops and a Digital Hub.
The institution also plans to establish a clinic that would provide health services to people living around the school while giving students studying health-related programmes a place to gain practical experience.
BK officials toured more than 26 laboratories at the institution and discussed plans to further expand its capacity.
Fr. Dr. Jean Bosco Baribeshya, head of INES-Ruhengeri, praised the partnership with BK, saying the bank had supported the institution through different forms of financing, including loans used to expand its operations.
“We are pleased to receive BK today. It is a bank that wants the development of this country, and that is also what we are pursuing in education,” he said.
“Of course, it is where we channel the money we use, but it also helps us by providing loans when we want to expand our activities, which enables us to make further progress.”
He said INES wanted to continue working with BK on its planned projects.
The BK team also visited Excel International Academy, where discussions similarly focused on the institution’s activities, its relationship with the bank and areas where further support could be provided.
The tour also included A1 Iron & Steel Rwanda, where BK engaged with the company about its operations and investment plans.
GOICO Investors Seek Loan Relief
The most pressing discussions came when Karusisi met investors who participated in the construction of GOICO Market and traders who operated there.
The market was destroyed by fire, leaving businesses facing losses while some investors and traders still have outstanding loans.
The affected business owners explained the impact of the fire and the assistance they need to rebuild.
Tugengwenayo Theonase, Chairperson of the Private Sector Federation in the Northern Province, said BK had been involved in financing GOICO from the beginning and had continued supporting the investors when they encountered difficulties.
“In that investment project to build GOICO Market, which was later destroyed by fire, BK gave us a loan at the beginning of the construction, and even when we encountered challenges along the way, it continued to support us,” he said.
Tugengwenayo said loans amounting to nearly Rwf1 billion remained unpaid following the fire.
He asked BK to consider easing repayment conditions for the affected investors, including suspending interest payments while they deal with the consequences of the disaster.
The fire has therefore left investors facing two challenges: rebuilding businesses and meeting financial obligations linked to businesses that were destroyed or severely affected.
Northern Province Seeks Solutions With BK
Northern Province Governor Mugabowagahunde Maurice thanked BK for continuing to engage people affected by the GOICO fire.
He said the discussions were intended to find practical solutions that would enable traders and investors to resume their activities.
“We wanted to meet with BK today, together with those who built GOICO and those who operated in this market, following the disaster that affected our market,” he said.
“Some of those who operated in this market had loans from BK, and the building itself had also been constructed with a BK loan that had not yet been fully repaid.”
Mugabowagahunde said the province wanted to work with BK on ways of easing loan repayments for traders and owners of the market, while also helping other affected businesses obtain support to recover.
“We agreed that those who worked in this market and had loans, as well as others who need loans, should have an opportunity to discuss their challenges with the bank,” he said.
“The next step is to establish a mechanism at the BK branch so that everyone can go there, have their individual situation assessed and receive support from there.”
The governor also said the province wants other investment projects in Musanze to continue rather than being halted because of the difficulties faced by individual businesses.
He said continued investment would be important to maintaining economic growth in the district.
Mugabowagahunde also praised BK’s approach of visiting customers and listening to their concerns, and encouraged other banks to adopt a similar approach.
BK Says It Will Continue Supporting Businesses
Karusisi said the Musanze visit was designed to go beyond routine banking services by allowing the bank’s senior management to meet customers directly and understand the challenges they face.
“Today we came to Musanze, where many of our customers suffered losses, including those who built GOICO and those who operated there, so that we can discuss and develop strategies to rebuild, but also to revive businesses in Musanze more broadly,” she said.
Dr Karusisi said the people visited during the tour were BK customers whose businesses and projects the bank wanted to understand better.
“We thank them for working with us and entrusting their businesses to us. We also want to understand their ambitions and strategies so that we can help them implement them,” Karusisi said.
“A bank’s job is to support businesses so that their owners can achieve their dreams.”
She said supporting businesses and investment was part of BK’s wider contribution to Rwanda’s economy through job creation, increased production and tax revenues.
On INES-Ruhengeri, Karusisi said the institution had presented several projects that could contribute to improving the quality of education.
“INES Ruhengeri is a major institution that we have worked with for a long time. They showed us their plans, the buildings they have, where they want to build a Digital Hub and where they want to build student workshops to improve the quality of education,” she said.
“They showed us how far they have come and where they would like BK to support them so that they can complete those buildings.”
She said BK would continue discussing the institution’s needs and potential areas of support.
Part of BK’s 60th Anniversary Activities
The Musanze tour formed part of BK’s activities marking its 60th anniversary.
Unlike the bank’s earlier BK@60 public celebrations, including football and music events in Rubavu, the November 5 programme focused primarily on direct engagement with customers.
BK shared footage of the visits to Virunga Valley Academy and INES-Ruhengeri through its official social media channels under the bank’s BK60 campaign.
The bank said the customer outreach is intended to strengthen its relationship with clients, understand their projects and challenges, and identify opportunities for further collaboration.
The Musanze visit also comes as BK seeks to position itself as a long-term financial partner to businesses and institutions across the country.
Karusisi said that after more than six decades of operations in Rwanda, the bank would continue reaching out to customers, listening to their needs and working with them to implement their projects.
For the businesses affected by the GOICO fire, that engagement now includes finding ways to manage outstanding financial obligations while creating conditions for them to rebuild.
The discussions between BK, the provincial authorities, investors and traders are expected to provide a basis for affected customers to present their individual cases at the BK Musanze branch and explore possible solutions.
