MSME Owners and Financial Inclusion in Rwanda FinScope Rwanda 2020 Thematic Report

ABOUT THE REPORT:

Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) is honoured to present the 2020 FinScope MSME Owners and Financial Inclusion in Rwanda Thematic Report. This report is a result of collaborative efforts by different stakeholders whose contribution is appreciated.

First and foremost, we are grateful to our Funders, namely, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Mastercard Foundation, Sweden, and USAID who financially supported the development of this report.

Our sincere appreciation goes to the members of the FinScope Steering Committee, made of representatives from Access to Finance Rwanda, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the National Bank of Rwanda, the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, and FinMark Trust for their overall technical guidance and for overseeing all FinScope related activities.

Executive summary

The main aim of this report is to try and give insights into the micro small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector by profiling adults that are business owners or self-employed and examining their challenges in business as well as their interaction with the financial sector. While this will not represent the entire MSME sector, it will give insights and guidance to MSME engaged in by a significant proportion of the adult populace. This is done to identify areas for policy intervention that will help in enhancing the role of financial sector in the economic transformation in Rwanda. Based on the analysis of key variables from the FinScope Rwanda Consumer Survey 2020 and the comparison against the FinScope Rwanda Consumer Survey 2016.