Miss Rwanda 2022 contestants
The Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Kigali (BK), Dr. Diane Karusisi has asked the 20 girls contesting for the 2022 Miss Rwanda crown to become the next entrepreneurs using their innovative minds besides beauty.
Karusisi made the call on Wednesday while having an interactive session with the contestants at the banks’ headquarters in the City of Kigali, March 9.
The ladies, clad in BK branded white T-shirts, caps, and jeans were excited to meet the bank officials.
The meeting was aimed at preparing the ladies and reminding them about their individual responsibility and role in nation-building but also inspiring them to be innovators to invent business ideas that lead to economic development.
“We (BK) are here to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. So my aim was to inspire and tell them that most successful entrepreneurs are those with innovation,” Karusisi said.
Karusisi stated that she hopes that through the contestants the bank can inspire more ladies and girls to do business and in turn become the bank’s clients but also contribute to the nation’s development in many ways in the next 20 or 30 years.
BK CEO briefed the contestants about the bank’s operations, especially the cashless economy drive. She said that the bank has a mission to support innovations that can improve people’s lives, one of the reasons the bank partnered with Miss Rwanda organizers.
As has become the bank’s tradition since last year BK is expected to once again sponsor the most innovative projects (Miss Innovative) and ensure their successful implementations with partners like Inkomoko- a social enterprise that offers business advisory tools and services that facilitate the growth of Rwandan Small and Medium Entrepreneurs – SMEs.
The bank managed to support one of the contestant’s innovative projects (Miss Teta Hense Musana) which has become a successful business project of making paper cups that are environmentally friendly to be availed not only on the Rwandan market but also in the region.
The last update on Musana’s project was that she was planning to purchase reliable equipment to kick start production amidst the high tides of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Miss Rwanda contestants, Darina Dushime Kayumba and Kevine Musoni said that they were inspired by the story of Karusisi as a woman in a leadership position and learned a lot about how to become innovative in their planned projects with aim to become equally successful.
“The meeting was amazing and educational. I was inspired by the CEO’s story of being a woman in power and how she managed to work through her challenges of self-confidence. Her advice will enable me to come up with a strong and visible project,” Kayumba said.
As an inspiration to use their beauty and brains towards innovation, the 20 female contestants also received gifts from the bank as part of celebrations to mark International Women’s Day 2022.
