MoU signed with Kirehe District...

Rwanda has 30 districts as municipal governments. They are decentralized and self-governing municipalities under five governors who are appointed by the central government. Districts are governed by Mayors who are elected by the citizens.

Among them is Kerihe District that is located at the far south eastern corner of Rwanda under the governor of Eastern Province. UOB has been exploring various ways to work together with Kirehe District from three years ago.

Finally, UOB and Kirehe District has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on February 21st, 2014 to expand collaboration between two organizations.

This MoU has been signed after UOB was able to provide agricultural production loans for more than 7,000 farmers in the last months of 2013 in a short notice. These farmers grow maize and rice, primarily.

Kirehe District is among top districts for growing maize, rice and beans all of which are strategic agricultural crops for UOB's agricultural financing program. Moreover, Kirehe District's Mayor has been well known for his proactive leadership and innovative approaches to excellence. For the past five years, he has made tremendous progress in several fronts, including agricultural farming and Umurenge SACCOs. Umurenge means sector and Kirehe District has 12 sectors.

UOB will explore additional possibilities to help out the farmers in Kirehe District for the purpose of expanding financial inclusion in this district. The first item on the agenda is to sign up 12 Umurenge SACCOs in Kirehe District as mHose agents. If this materialzes, citizens in Kirehe District will have much easier access to formal financial services through mobile and agent banking scheme.

May the Lord bless us with this endeavor! - Jeffrey

Shalom Bible Study (SBS)...

Seonjun, Yeongsup, Jaejoon, Jonghak, Bin, Jihyun, Kristin, Jungwha

Shalom Bible Study (SBS) started five years ago with three KOICA volunteers. KOICA stands for Korea Internal Cooperation Agency, Korean government agency for international cooperation and volunteers.

SBS was not a shepherding ministry but a disciple-making ministry. SBS has focused on strengthening, equipping and empowering Jesus-followers to be effective in loving and serving Jesus, particularly through godly lives that reflect the true light, Jesus Christ.

SBS has since then received and graduated approximately 35 people. Most of them were KOICA volunteers. They came and left SBS as they completed their two-year assignments. Some were residents in Rwanda, including a couple of missionaries. Also there were interns to UOB and several visitors.

What has been encouraging us is that a few of them started SBS Seoul after they went back to Korea using the same material that we have been using in Rwanda.

SBS has studied several topics, including Ephesians, Colossians, Romans, God's Names, Full Armor of God, Acts, Beatitudes, Kingdom of God, Good Steward's Financial Management and Hebrews.

The last study was on the book of Hebrews and the last and 26th session was held on Friday, February 21st, 2014. It also was the last off-line session for SBS because we have decided to go on line as we take a sabbatical leave in 2014.

Jooheum, Jihun and Sangmin, First members

We started with Jooheum, Jihun and Sangmin five years ago and ended with the attendance of Jihyun, Junghwa, Yeongsup, Jonghak, Seonjoon, Bin and Jaejoon. In between there were many others.

SBS has been a tremendous blessing to me and Kristin. The time of fellowship has been edifying and it has helped me greatly grow in the Scriptures through thorough preparation time for the study.

On the last day, SBS members gave us unbelievably precious gifts: contemporary Korean traditional clothes. We could not meet the request to put them on, but I have included their photos here. They are invaluable gifts and we will treasure them dearly. Thank you all!

I have put some photos of SBS history, including the first group, Christmas dinner, special song at St. Etienne Christmas Carol Concert, special song at Agape Church etc. What lovely and unforgettable moments for us! Thank you, Lord, for the blessing we have received through SBS! I pray that all SBS alumni will receive your favor in living their lives as godly as you wanted them to be to be the light of the world reflecting your true light in the dark world! - Jeffrey

Special Song at Agape Church 2012

Hayan Lee Send-off Nov 2013

SBS After finishing Ephesians March 2010

SBS after split into two groups in 2011

Christmas dinner in 2012

SBS July 2013

After the last session in 2012

Christmas Carol at St. Etienne Cathedral Carol Concert

SBS members who were Interns to UOB

Vietnamese wrap dinner Feb 2013

College Tuition Loans...

Grace Uwantege

UOB has launched many special purpose loan and deposit products. One strategic area is education finance or EduFinance in short.

Under UOB's EduFinance program, UOB has launched school fee loans to provide funding for parents to pay the school tuition for their children or loved ones to be paid over a school term. UOB has financed almost 1,000 parents or 12,00 students.

UOB has also launched school improvement loans designed to help small private school entrepreneurs who provide quality schooling for children nearby. These loans are used to build additional classrooms, establish computer labs, install fences or buy land for expansion in the future. This product was pilot-tested in 2013 and is being scaled up in 2014. To date, we have provided these loans to 15 schools.

UOB has also launched college tuition loans that are designed to help students or parents finance college education costs. This product has been struggling mainly because of the uncertainty related to the job insecurity after the schooling. But we have had some success with vocational students.

Here is one story that exhibits how the college tuition loan has helped this young lady, called Grace Uwantege. .

Grace's father learned about an American institute, Akila Institute for Women, which focuses on providing first class academic training for girls about the hospitality industry. The school's tuition is expensive, but the school arranges scholarship for all students for the most of  the tuition fee. Naturally, the selection process is rigorous. Grace passed the admission test.

Although Grace passed the admission test, she still had to secure a funding for the balance of the tuition fee because Grace's family income was approximately $224 per month, which was not enough to pay for Grace's tuition, plus living expenses for seven members of her family. 

Grace also learned about UOB's college tuition loan program and received the loan to cover all tuition costs until graduation. 

Grace completed her education, earned a good score and has been hired by Marriott Hotel as an intern to be trained in Dubai for a year. She is expected to be one of the starting staff for Marriott Hotel under construction in Kigali, Rwanda. This Marriott Hotel is the first Marriott branch in the Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Here is Grace's statement:

“To me this was a wonderful experience as I learned to live in a country far away from my parents. My internship was successfully done and I am in Rwanda as MARRIOTT STAFF waiting for new appointment in Rwanda, as one of the supervisors. I am really grateful to UOB RWANDA that decided to support young students through this kind of tuition fee loan. It just opened the new door of opportunity for me and I know I am not the only one.”

It is my prayer that there will be more students like Grace who can complete their college training to become contributing citizens of Rwanda. - Jeffrey

Central Bank's Monetary Policy Statement...

Vice Governor, Governor and Chief Economist

National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) is Rwanda's central bank. It holds a conference to update on the monetary policy and financial stability twice a year.

On February 12th, BNR held its semiannual conference on the topic as of December 31st 2013.

Despite the macro economic challenges Rwanda faced in 2013, Rwanda continued its growth with an estimated 6.5% growth in GDP. That is a tremendous progress in light of the significant challenges many people and institutions suffered last year. Meanwhile, Rwanda's inflation remained well tame at 3.5% in December 2013.

Rwanda's currency devalued a little faster than before mainly because the foreign currency supply was disrupted while the demand remained stable. It devalued approximately 6% against USD, 8% against GBP and 10% against EURO. But Rwanda registered a healthy growth in exports while keeping the imports low, thus improving the import coverage to 25%. Including the informal trade primarily with Burundi and DR Congo, this ratio improves even further.

Due to sluggish economy, BNR loosened up its monetary policy by lowering the key repo rate to 7% from 7.5%, thus easing the money supply. Bank credits increased 15%, a healthy gain, despite the sluggish economy, although bank credits centered around hospitality industry and tourism.

Meanwhile, ATMs, branches, agents continued to increase in 2013, thus expanding the delivery channel.

Participants

Rwanda continues the cruising and praise the Lord!

People enjoy attending this conference. Almost everyone who is interested in Rwandan economy and monetary policy attends. This time the attendance was the record high. Even government ministers and parliamentary members attend, in addition to news media and those who are working in the financial services industry.

2014 is expected to see a better performance overall. It is my wish to see the country to continue developing and improving until it shines like a star among developing countries and until it is recognized by the world for what the country has done over a few decades after the tragic genocide. - Jeffrey  

Pico Hydraulic Power Plant...

This is the pico hydraulic power plant

Rwanda is short of electricity. It is a developing country and the demand for the power has been rapidly increasing. But the supply of the power has not increased as rapidly despite the government's efforts to diversifying the sources of power, including methane gas extraction, hydraulic power plants, charcoal power plants.

In addition to these on-grid power generation and supply, the government has encouraged developers to establish off-grid village power plants. The most popular type is pico hydraulic power plants. It is called pico because of its micro size of the capacity to generate the power. Typically, this pico type includes any micro hydraulic power plants up to 50 kw.

Water channel to collect water

UOB received approval from GIZ EnDev program to be the financial institution to manage up to Euro 4 million to support project developers of these pico hydraulic power plants  and suppliers of solar lighting. GIZ is the German government's implementing organization of various international development projects. EnDev stands for Energizing Development covering all aspects of development projects that may help and enhance the livelihood of the target countries. The funding organization is Department for International Development, the United Kingdom's agency for international development. DFID has six pilot projects to support the energy development around the world and two of them are in Rwanda: village grids and solar lighting.

Pico hydraulic power plan works this way. The operator detours water through a channel and collect the water at a pool at least 20 meters of height. From this pool, the water is dropped through a pipe unto a turbine to produce energy to generate the power.

Field visit team

It is a great honor that they chose to work with UOB, but this area is a new field for UOB. So we took a field visit to see how the pico hydraulic power plant works on February 13th. The team comprised myself, UOB's chief operating officer, loan underwriting team leader, Dr. Lee who is specialized in electrical engineering, along with three people from GIZ.

We visited one in Nyamagabe District in a deep village. This particular plant's capacity is 12 kw and is barely serving the needs of 28 users. Specialists found that the wiring was poorly done, resulting in voltage drop during transmission, and the turbine may not be functioning properly because it was not installed properly. These represented an opportunity for the village to benefit from this EnDev program. The executive secretary of the sector was excited to hear that they may improve their power generation and supply for the village.

We have come back with a hope that this project could benefit many people in the village with the electricity. May the Lord bless us in the design and implementation phases of this program. - Jeffrey

Ministry Updates - January 2014...

Kristin with Yaramba Nursery children

It was like yesterday that the new year 2014 began. But the first month has already passed by. I realize that we should be better prepared to live each day to make the most out of it.

The following were highlights of what has been done in January 2014:

1. UOB Day was held on the second Saturday. We have selected this year's spiritual and management theme for UOB to be SHINE based on Matthew 5:14-16. To learn more about UOB Day, click here. 

Apophie, Recipient of Holistic T-Award

2. One of the highlights on UOB Day was recognizing four clients who received UOB Transformation Awards. They each received Economic, Social, Spiritual and Holistic T-Awards. Their stories are fascinating and we were so blessed by what Christian micro finance can do to the poor people. To read their stories, please click here. 

3. I visited two groups of UOB clients in Gicumbi. The first client is one of UOB's micro business loan (MBL) clients, who runs a chicken farm. The second group was four groups of clients in a village whose population is predominantly Muslims. We have been serving these clients for the past five years and we have been bearing many fruits. It was a blessing. To read about this story, please click here.

Clementine, UOB client who raises 7,000 chlckens

4. We submitted a proposal to GIZ, the German development agency, to be the financial institution to implement its Energizing Development (EnDev) program for village grids and solar lighting lamps. Among four pre-selected institutions, UOB has been accepted. We still have to iron out many details, but UOB will be able to manage up to EURO4 million for these projects. Another blog will be posted on this. Praise the Lord!

5. Most of UOB staff performance evaluation was done in January and MoUs with business units have been worked out to deliver the goals and objectives established for the bank.

6. Opportunity International Germany has received approval on its proposal to finance UOB's agricultural programs starting from the second half of 2014. Details need to be worked out, but we indeed experience God's continuing provision of the resources we need. Thank you, Lord!

7. January was another month of receiving several visitor groups. Among them were OI Global CEO Vicki Escarra and several women business executives and donors and Tom Phillips, a long time supporter of UOB and 10 students who are involved in Service over Self (SOS) in Memphis, TN,  Transformation always works both for clients and donors. They all should learn and be challenged by the needs in the field.

Vicki Escarra, OI Global CEO

8. Yaramba Nursery (Gicumbi) was formally open and 61 students who have registered. Kristin is traveling to Yaramba once a week to teach the young children English songs. We are blessed by the progress being made.

9. Jeffrey continued serving God's people through teaching at Shalom Bible Study and preaching at UOB and Agape Church Rwanda. We both participated in the Korean Missionary Fellowship prayer meeting. We are equipped and edified through these ministries.

10. We both met four students whom we have been supporting for the past three years. One has graduated To learn more about Rwanda's education system and these four students, click here.

With four students we have been supporting

from the secondary school and three are continuing their study at secondary schools. They have grown quite a bit and more mature than before. We were grateful for the opportunity of serving them.

11. We have prayer requests. Please remember to pray with us for the following subjects:

• The search process for the next UOB CEO continues. Please pray that we may be diligent in searching the CEO whom God has bestowed upon UOB so that he or she may arrive in time for timely handover in April.
• Please pray that SHINE theme may be shared and implemented among all UOB staff to be an effective light spiritually which shines according to God's will and also to focus on eight management themes to be effective in serving the clients we have been called to serve.
• Please pray that UOB may continue progressing T24 R12 model bank migration project that has been progressing smoothly to date. We honor our Lord for His grace upon this project.
• Please pray that mHose and client service point strategy will be expanded further to relieve our lending staff from handling by at least 90% by the year-end.
• Please pray that UOB will develop capacity to manage grant programs effectively as God provides more resources. This program management involves effective implementation, accurate monitoring and evaluation, and timely reporting. 
• Please pray that Kristin and I may be able to discern God's will for our next ministry opportunities. 
• Jeffrey has been involved in translating a book, titled "The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good" into Korean. The first draft for publishing has been finished and please pray that the final editing process will go smoothly. It is scheduled for publishing in February 2014. Also pray that this book may help many who are involved in the ministry of "doing good."
• Please pray for our children who are in transition. Amanda and James are in transition through training for a new aircraft that James will be flying. Joyce will finish her Peace Corps volunteer service in May and will be looking for the next opportunities. May God be with them in their transitions. 

Thank you very much for your standing with us in these ministries. You are invaluable to us in these ministries.

Gratefully in His services,

Jeffrey and Kristin Lee in Kigali, RWANDA

Africa: 10 things you need to know about Africa in 2014 [This is an article written by Jonathan Bhalla at Africa Research Institute.]

Africa Research Institute, by Jonathan Bhalla -January 13, 2014

On Tuesday 7th January I attended a fascinating event organised by the Royal African Society: "Africa in 2014: Prospects & Forecasts". The speakers were Patrick Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Africa Confidential and Africa-Asia Confidential; Razia Khan, Regional Head of Economics, Africa at Standard Chartered Bank; Lanre Akinola, Editor of This is Africa; and Yemisi Mokuolu, Founder of Hatch Events. Here are 10 of the things I found instructive.

1. A vaccination for malaria might become a reality - Mosquirix, developed by GlaxoSmithKline, is being touted as the most advanced and effective malaria vaccine for infants and children to date. Targeting the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes the most deadly strain of malaria, the introduction of Mosquirix has the potential to radically alter the treatment of the disease in Africa. 2. Trade unions continue to bang on the door of government - In 2013, a series of public sector strikes over pay disputes rocked Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, three of Africa's most dynamic economies. But it is in South Africa that things are really heating up. The National Union of Metal Workers (Numsa), the country's largest trade union, officially withdrew its support for the ruling Africa National Congress ahead of the 2014 elections. Numsa has since called on its federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), to follow suit. The signs are that suspended secretary-general of Cosatu, Zwelinzima Vavi, will champion calls for an anti-Zuma vote by Cosatu in the forthcoming elections. 3. But is this a swansong for unions? - Unless unions can deliver tangible benefits for their members, they are likely to lose clout over time. In South Africa, the majority of job creation has taken place in the informal and service sectors, which are notoriously difficult to unionise. Frosty relations between the ANC and trade unions might be an opportunity for the ruling party to develop a more independent political position not beholden to "worker demands". 4. More growth - Ongoing political risk and instability in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mali are unlikely to impact on the continent's growth prospects. The economic outlook for 2014 is positive, with the continent projected to grow by 5.5%. Why? Africa's largest economies are driving growth, notably Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Angola. In the coming year, the power and influence of these countries will become further entrenched. 5. There is more to growth than commodities - The stabilisation of demand, rather than a renewed surge in the price of key commodities, will underpin Africa's economic performance in 2014. African economies have not benefitted from high commodity prices to the extent that is commonly assumed. A more detailed look at national economic data highlights the prominence of the African consumer in driving growth, with commodities playing more of a supporting role. Resource exploration will, however, continue to gather pace, and is likely to have a significant impact on future growth trajectories. 6. Nigeria is a microcosm of the continent - In 2004-10, the Nigerian economy grew at a rate of 7% per annum. Over the same period, poverty levels also grew by 6.5% a year. The gulf between those (few) who benefit from economic growth and the poorest in society will become more pronounced in 2014 - and not just in Nigeria. Job creation is not taking place on the scale needed to reduce poverty. As such, there is a pressing need to untangle the continent's investment narrative from development realities 7. Regional integration is essential, but not inevitable - Most economies in Africa are too small to attract much-needed investment on their own. Increasing market size by integrating economic policies and procedures with those of neighbouring countries is the only realistic hope for sustained growth over time. While the East African Community is arguably the best illustration of what can be achieved through regional integration, the pace of these developments across the continent remains sluggish. 8. It's not all about China - Bold steps continue to be taken by new development partners. In December 2013, Turkey became the 78th member state of the African Development Bank. In the same month, Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) intensified its activities on the continent by opening a branch in Johannesburg, South Africa - only its third office overseas in just over half a century of operating. 9. Introducing MINT (Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) - Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the acronym BRICS, tips MINT countries to assert their economic credentials in 2014. They stand out, he argues, because all four have favourable demographics for at last 20 years and possess a unique economic potential. 10. Africa is not rising - It is changing. Period

UOB Transformation Awards for Clients ...

Transformation impacts of UOB's micro finance program on its clients have been tremendous. But we could not share these transformation impact stories enough with others who may not be familiar with them.

Thus, UOB established its own UOB T-Awards in July 2013. T stands for Transformation. These awards have four categories: Economic, Social, Spiritual and Holistic.

All business units submit their applications for these awards based on their client stories. Then, senior leaders will be randomly assigned to visit and interview these clients to validate the submitted stories and also to learn more about the clients. Through these interviews, home office staff and senior leadership members can experience the transformation impact stories firsthand. So the transformation impacts are also on staff.

All senior leaders who participated in the interview process present their client stories to the group, and through discussion and debates, four winners are selected each for four categories. The selected clients receive cash prizes of Rwf50,000 for economic, social and spiritual and Rwf80,000 for holistic T-award recipients. The business units that submitted the applications also receive the same amount of cash prizes to acknowledge and appreciate their efforts.

These clients are invited to UOB Day and after the praise and message, their stories are shared with the entire staff and prizes are given to them with UOB T-Award plaques.

For January 2014, their stories are summarized below:

 UOB Economic T-Award: Marie Claire Mukantagwabira served by Kigali East EBU
Marie Claire started borrowing Rwf30,000 (USD45) from UOB only five years ago and is now borrowing Rwf15Mn (USD22,400). When she first joined UOB, she had only a sambusa (triangle-shaped deep fried food) business, but now has two supermarkets, one gift shop, one spare part shop and one restaurant. She now employs 13 workers. Marie Claire has a plan to expand her business even further to own a bakery, juice factory and wholesale business. When all are completed, she will employ up to 50 people.

It is an impressive story of tremendous economic success accomplished just over five years. Through the process of expanding her business, she has purchased a house and a car, and has been able to send her children to school. She deserves to receive the Economic T-Award.

UOB Social T-Award: Salam Ingabire served by Karongi EBU
Salam owns a restaurant. His relationship began in 2009 with the first loan of Rwf15,000. He is now taking Rwf600,000 and she is now the leader of the trust group she belong to. When she started her relationship with UOB just four years ago, she was renting a small room for Rwf3,000 a month. Now she owns her own house, one cow, a sizable banana plantation and a good restaurant business. She is paying for school fees for three children.

Social T-Award was given to her for two reasons. One was that she came back from DR Congo and had to start from scratch with nothing. Extreme poverty degrades humanity but over a short period of time, she was able to gain the respect from the local community and to make significant contribution to the community. She organizes the Women's Day for the village, coaches other women in doing business, provides a room for the women meetings and also leads the trust group as president. Also, she offers her restaurant as the gathering place for the group. The second reason is her proven ability to share her faith despite her family's roots in Islam. As her name indicates, she is part of a Muslim family, but she is a believer and she is able to talk about Jesus and her faith in her family based on her economic achievement. She attributes her success to God's blessing and her faith has grown over time. We definitely want to see more stories like Salam's.

UOB Spiritual T-Award: Eric Hategekimana served by Gicumbi EBU
Eric owns a bakery. He has been raised by a single mom and he studied up to only primary 4. He had to leave the school because his mom could not afford the school fees. He married to his wife who also dropped the school after senior 3.

Eric joined UOB's trust group in 2007 and received his first loan of Rwf50,000 and started expanding his business. Initially he did not have any capital so he was using beans grown in his own garden. But with the loan, he was able to buy baking equipment and expand the business lines. He owns his own house, a plot of land, two motor cycles. He now employs 10 people five of whom are staying at Eric and three of whom have been married. Now he borrows Rwf1,500,000 and is able to pay without any past due. Eric is also active in serving the community as a civic servant. Eric is also proud of being able to send his wife back to the secondary school to finish her study, rather than seeking his own study. He plans to send her to college.

Spiritual T-Award was given to Eric for three reasons: One, Eric used to be a Roman Catholic but now fellowships at ADEPR, a Pentecostal denomination in Rwanda, based on his conviction of the Christian teaching he has received from UOB staff. Two, Eric has been attending church services three times a week and has been taking care of many visitors to the church by offering his residence. Three, he has been practicing Good Samaritan spirit by helping several neighbors with the love of Christ, such as paying for medical bills who could not afford to pay, paying for wedding expenses for his three staff and paying school fees for two orphans in his village.  May God bless Eric and his family to be a greater blessing to many others in Christ's name.

UOB Holistic T-Award:  Aplphie Nyirabaziga served by Rwamagana EBU
Apophie was the first one who received the most highly recognized Holistic T-Award. She joined UOB's trust group in 2009 with a Rwf50,000 loan. She is now borrowing Rwf1.2 Mn. When she joined a UOB trust group, she was in the cowhide business, but now she runs an auto spare parts business. She employs two permanent staff and eight temporary staff.

The Holistic T-Award was given to Apophie because her transformation was well balanced in all three aspects of her life. Economically, she has been able to grow her working capital from Rwf300,000 to Rwf2.5 Mn., to buy two cows, a forest, a banana plantation and a water tank for her family. Socially, she has played several important roles in serving her community, such as the president of her trust group, a member of the local sanitation board, a member of savings SACCO at the sector level and a woman representative at the local cell level. Spiritually, she has transformed from a church goer to a committed member of a local church, now as an elder of the church. Because of her faith, her husband has been converted from Islam to Christianity. Also, she has adopted three orphans and takes care of them. All these exhibit a wonderful example of holistic transformation that has taken place in her life. May the good Lord produce holistic transformation in more lives in Rwanda, like Apophie!

I am so blessed to witness these transformation stories first hand along with my colleagues. May the Lord bless them to continue the transformation in their lives to be a blessing to others around them! - Jeffrey

UOB Day - January 2014 - SHINE

UOB Day is a day when all UOB staff gather together from all over the country. UOB Day has been held twice a year, in January and July.

In uniform, all staff feel the unity immediately. As we gather together, we praise God Almighty with all our hearts and minds. UOB Gospel Singers lead the praise time and soon many others with musical talents join them. The entire staff rock the place. Unity then is apparently in spirit as well as in appearance.

We also listen to the Word spoken through an invited speaker. This time, Laurent MBanda, Anglical Bishop of Shyrah Diocese in Musanze was the speaker. He is a scholar and used to be a senior leader at Compassion International. He was Vice President responsible for Africa. He knows, therefore, business, management, leadership as well as mission. He was a perfect fit to speak to us who are running a Kingdom enterprise of UOB.

UOB is not just a bank, but a bank as mission. UOB is mandated by its shareholders not to maximize the profit, but to pursue holistic transformation of the clients based on biblical principles while UOB staff is being transformed in the process together with clients.

UOB Gospel Singers Leading the Praise

UOB has a theme every year. This theme is for both the spiritual and management purposes. For the past four years, the themes have been ARISE (2010), SHALOM (2011), IN CHRIST (2012) and TRANSFORM (2013). For 2014, we have chosen SHINE as the theme.


God is the light. Jesus is the light. Jesus followers have been called to be the light of the world while Jesus is away and until He returns. As the light of the world, Jesus followers are called to shine their lights before men. (Matthew 5:14-16) As a Jesus-following enterprise, UOB should also be the light of the world and so are all UOB staff. Throughout the year, this theme will be analyzed and studied in depth to make sure all staff will understand what it means and how they may apply it to their work and personal life.

Bishop Mbanda Preaching

At the same time, this theme signifies what the bank is pursuing as major goals and objectives. It is used as an acronym. SHINE stands for:

• Stabilize and sustain operations
• Scale up agricultural finance and education finance
• Secure sufficient resources
• Succeed in T24 R12 model bank migration
• Help reduce PAR, write-off and frauds
• Increase loan disbursements, outreach and recoveries
• Expand the CSPs to remove cash-handling

We also honored four clients who have been selected as recipients of UOB Transformation Awards. We have four of them: Economic, Social, Spiritual and Holistic. I will write a separate blog post on this.

After the UOB T-Awards ceremony, we reviewed how the bank performed overall in all areas. Also we reviewed the major business KPIs to remember and implement in 2014. Key senior officers gave a presentation about their teams' highlights.

We also honor our staff who has newly joined for the past six months, who has worked for UOB for five, 10 and 15 years, and who has been promoted as of January 2014. It is a celebration to officially welcome new staff to UOB, thank the staff of long service and congratulate the staff who have been promoted. 

Help Association is the staff's voluntary savings and loans program. They collect savings and lend the money to staff, and distribute interest income to the savers. It is a mini bank for staff within the bank. The treasurer for Help Association also reported the performance.

At the end, we all knelt down and dedicated ourselves to the Lord to do our best in serving the people whom He has called us to serve for the next six months. 

Lunch is a great time of fellowship among our staff. For many staff who is living and working in rural areas, this lunch outing is a big treat and a valuable opportunity to meet colleagues whom they know only by names. We had to run the entire schedule very tightly because many traveled early in the morning to attend the UOB Day and had to travel again to return to where they live. So by 2PM, all programs were over. Very intense, but also very productive. It is remarkable that all programs run almost right on the clock. It is very unusual in the Rwandan context. That much our staff has been trained to be conscious of the time and punctual. 

This UOB Day was my last one at UOB. I was asked if I would say farewell to staff. I declined because I would be still working through April 3oth, and I did not want to distract their attention that has to be focused on SHINE. I prayed on my knees that God will continue to be gracious to UOB in the years to come. 

Kristin also joined us in the program along with Dr. Yong Woo Lee and his wife Jong Ran. - Jeffrey

Kwibuka Flame...

As many of you know, Rwanda went through the genocide against Tutsis in 1994. Approximately 10,000 people were slaughtered every day for 100 days. It is recorded as the genocide that has progressed fastest in human history.

Every year, there are commemorations starting on April 7th and lasting until July 4th, the Liberation Day. The formal mourning lasts for a week, but the overall atmosphere is somewhat gloomy and solemn until the Liberation Day. During this period, some people, particularly genocide survivors, have the flash-back memory of the horror and go through traumas.

2014 will be the 20th anniversary. So the Rwandan government has planned and launched a new program. It is called Kwibuka Flame. Kwibuka means "Remembrance" in Kinyarwanda. On January 7th, there was a special ceremony at Gisozi Genocide Memorial where more than 200,000 people are buried. The Genocide Torch, also called Kwibuka Flame, was lit using the Rwanda's traditional way of making fire, called Urushingo. It will be carried by boys and girls who are younger than 20 years of age to all 30 districts. After the tour, it will return to Gisozi Genocide Memorial on April 7th and will be used for the special commemoration to take place on the day.

The fact that the torch will be carried by boys and girls of 20 years or younger signify that this generation of people who did not go through the genocide can be united. One Rwanda and One Rwandan.

This year's theme is Remember - Unite - Renew. The message seems obvious but I read it as a message to remember the genocide, unite as one nation and renew the determination and courage to never repeat the genocide again.

"Never Again."

'Never Again' has been emphasized over and over as the theme not to repeat this horror again ever.

Minister Louise Mushikiwabo

The minister of foreign affairs and government spokesperson, Louise Mushikiwabo, delivered the key note speech on January 7th. Her message summarizes the spirit and intent of this year's theme and Kwibuka Flame:

"As we turn our attention to the twentieth commemoration, we invite the world to remember with us. We do so not to inspire pity or guilt, but rather because the lessons of 1994 have resonance far beyond Rwanda's borders. It is a time to recommit ourselves to the simple but powerful idea: Never Again. Not just for Rwanda, but for the world. For 'Never Again' to be a reality, and not just words, 'Never Forget' must also be our creed."

Well said. 

It is my prayer that a genocide will not occur again anywhere in the world. Ever. - Jeffrey