URWEGO offered its first loans in July 1997 to Rwanda's economically active poor. After 9 years of rapid growth, URWEGO has emerged as the premier Microfinance Institute (MFI). We use proven methodology in Rwanda and we serve 21,241 active clients and their families through access to credit and savings facilities as well as training. These clients compose 560 Community Banks and 54 Solidarity Groups and we operate in eleven of Rwanda's twelve former provinces. Eighty-six percent of URWEGO's clients are female. URWEGO was named "Best MFI in Rwanda" in the 2004 "Year of Microfinance" through a joint assessment by the government of Rwanda, the United Nations, and Harvard University.
Mission:
To alleviate poverty in Rwanda in the name of Jesus Christ. Loosely translated, the Kinyarwandan word "URWEGO" means ladder and the aim is to help our clients "Climbing the Ladder of Economic Empowerment."
Vision:
URWEGO strives to become a financially self-sufficient institution, with an outreach that is broad, deep and significant in impact on poor people's lives.
Where We Work:
URWEGO currently operates in all five of the new administrative regions. Expansion plans are underway to cover all the new administrative districts that are not currently covered, especially those in the western and southern region. See the chart below for our specific locations.
To learn more about this author, visit Nii Simmonds's Website.
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Nii Simmonds
(Visit Nii's Website)
Nii Simmonds is founder of NAFRICOM, a
non-profit trade association for IT
Software and Technology Services industry
for Africa and a blogger on African
development. Mr. Simmonds is also a
Co-founder of EmergingictGroup, a global
ICT research, training, and
advisory/consultancy. Under Mr. Simmonds
leadership, his organization NAFRICOM
organized the 1st annual 2003 Ghana
Outsourcing Conference.
Through his experience working with many
African oriented organizations in the
field of Information Technology,
development, and globalization, Mr.
Simmonds has become a leading speaker and
presenter on African development, ICT
policies, outsourcing/BPO market in Africa
and other emerging markets, social
entrepreneurship, technology education,
and Globalization. Professionally Mr.
Simmonds is a consultant specializing in
corporate finance, globalization, business
strategy, and outsourcing.
Mr. Simmonds has been acknowledged for his
research in globalization and offshore
market by Mckinsey, IBM Global Services,
AT Kearney, Keane, Wharton School,
Harvard, Government of Ghana, Ghana
embassy, Smeal College of Business,
Harvard Business School NeoIT, ITESA,
Summit Circuit, Bloomberg News, Wall
Street Journal, Avaya, Affiliated Computer
Services (ACS), Data Management
International and many others.
Mr. Simmonds got his B.S. in
Management/Finance from Smeal College of
Business at Pennsylvania State University
and a minor in Information Systems and
Statistical Analysis. Mr. Simmonds holds a
Business Process Outsourcing Master
Certificate from the Wharton School.
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