Meet The Ceo: Faustin Rukundo Byishimo, CEO of Access Bank Rwanda

On this episode of Meet the CEO, we feature Mr. Faustin Rukundo Byishimo, Country Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank Rwanda. He shares insights on the evolving relationship between banks and fintechs, access to credit, and what it all means for women-led businesses.

This special episode is hosted by KFinancial CEO Arnold Kwizera and syndicated from our sister platform Pivot and Profit. Be sure to check them out for more compelling CEO conversations you may have missed.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:44

And 1850. 438 countries. We bring you the good morning Africa podcast. Good morning, Africa. Welcome aboard your platform, everything visited in Africa and with the donk. From also on Twitter, at the K Financial News, and you can find me at with the donk.

SPEAKER_04 1:02

And in this special edition, we have the MD of Access Bank, uh, Randa, Mr. Faustin Rukondo Bishemo. Uh, he is going to join us for this special edition. I'm your host, Arnold Quizera. Fostin, thank you for making the time. Thank you for hosting me. I want to start from there. What's a day like in the life of an MD of Access Bank?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

It's uh start by checking numbers and ends by checking numbers. But I think uh what we try to do is to ask yourself questions of what impact am I making today? Yeah. That's what really matters. And the impact is not only customers, it's also colleagues that you work with. So you check. We have, you know, an MD, a standard MD in Rwanda. You have regulators, uh, you have customers, uh, you have your own staff, and um you and the stakeholders are many. So the regulators, your own shareholders, your principals, but your staff and also uh the markets that you are serving. And um, since uh few years we're also focusing on sustainability, etc. So you try to see how your processes are strong, um, whether compliance is there, whether you you know serving customers correctly. So from customer experience, you look at the systems, whether they are fine. So you check your emails normally in the morning, you see where the numbers are, you see what you could do better today, what are the painnings of yesterday. So it starts early for me. Uh 4 a.m. Yeah, 4 a.m., 5 a.m. That's when I start. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

Ah, uh no, no, my mom used to say the early bird catches the worm. Uh many a time. I I still believe in in that mantra. I've seen access to quite a few things. Funny enough, at the gym I go to, uh, usually there at about 5 a.m., 5:30, I see a lot of access bank uh stuff that I've had to run into uh as we're coming for this interview. They're there super early, which leads me to the work-life balance kind of on a personal level. Do you believe in it?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

I've been I've been being pushed uh more often uh with my my my colleagues, but uh I don't think that uh I believe that if you you do what you like, um you don't count uh hours. Do you like banking? Yes. Do you love banking? Yes. So do you like or do you love banking? Both. Let's just put both. But that's what I chose to do. I've of doing it passionately um for the past you know 25, 26 years. I really like when you do what you like, you don't count um hours. When you when you don't like what you do, then it's a pain. Every one hour is a pain. But uh ultimately, and I think it's important to find that time. So we're aiming at best as we can to try and secure that time for the families. If you you do it at a personal level, you still need to respect that everyone might not have the same views. Um, however, we have um in case of access, we have a very young uh um uh staff uh personnel. Uh 75, 80 percent of our staff have below 26, 25. So it's it's uh young because we train a lot. So it means at that age and because of the skills, um work-life balance is not what should should be the primary uh um concern. It's more of them learning, uh acquire the skills that require, then putting the miles because they still have the time. And once they get that, then perhaps those will be concerned. But when you are training entry-level, fresh graduates, um, what a normal experienced person will produce in hours, they will produce in days. Means a bit more longer hours are required. But they're still young at 25, 26, they can take it.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

I want to take that step back when you look at your younger self, right? Uh there are things you look back and say, if I had done that differently, I could have either moved faster or could have had a different uh career path or done things a little bit better. Are there things you look back and you're like, hmm, this I should have done it differently? But when you compare it to this generation today and you try to uh accelerate that growth for them, there's a difference in how the messaging is received. Are there things you look back and you're like, okay, this should have been different?

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I think I envy this new generation in a few things. Um they have a lot more that we did not have. You know, just the internet and everything that comes. I had internet, I don't know about you guys, but by the time I remember those days when we started, you know, for you to go and you know, they say 99, 2000, for you to go and check internet. We used to go to IT because people are still fearing that may be insecure can get hacked. Today is it's open. Now, that is really basic. People do not even think about it. But it was that. It means now you have AI, you have YouTube, you have um uh Google, all that. It means the knowledge, the easy of knowledge that you can acquire, it's so immense that I don't understand they're taking for granted. That's what perhaps they take it for granted. So I envy them that's that ability uh to learn. Um they are smarter than we were. I mean, at their age. They're much smarter, more open, you know, a bit more free in their mind because perhaps they did not go through uh what some of us went through. So they are much free of thinking. If they can say I'm going to Dubai and work, as we did not have that openness. So, I mean, this generation is really blessed. I'm not sure whether they they appreciate it and use it to the right level. Uh, but I think I envy them that. So coming back to myself, I think we should one, if I was I had done things differently, I would be perhaps more on the business side, entrepreneurial, not being uh um in the salary world or uh employee. I think that's one thing that perhaps we could do. But we have to appreciate that those days uh opportunity was not it were not the same. Um we had, you know, we had only one brewery uh of that magnitude, you know. The companies today that you have in local market did not exist. Banks are now 11, they were much, much fewer uh back then. We did not have opportunities of careers that exist today in Rwanda. Um yeah, I mean, a lot have changed in the last 20 years. So, and we were a bit more linked to what our parents, you know, you go into a path and you continue it. Uh, but I think today people can do much more. There are much more uh to do.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

Well, a testament to that, 26 years uh in in the banking profession. The first day you stepped into a bank, did you see yourself stay there to be at the helm of one of uh the leading uh banks in the region? No. What was that first day like?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

The first day we first of all, we I think we spent a month being taught uh yeah, uh integrity, confidentiality, you know, you must come in a tie. You know, it was when we started it, we we we were lucky to start with the older generation. So my colleagues um that I founded, they started to work in banks in the 60s and 70s. So um, so it was a different generation. So um what you were asking my colleague uh 26 years ago, that's what we were being asked then ourselves. So when you tell someone I was born, this is like I was already branch manager for 10 years, you know, means uh it was a different generation. It means in terms of how the world was seen by that generation, it was completely different. It was a generation also that started their career or did three-quarters of their career without a computer. So when us we started, so we are that new generation. So when you come in, you're already eager to learn. I remember we're doing work much faster. Um, it was a different world completely. Um the CEO was a different monster than what we are, but I did not think that this was, but we're keen to learn. Um, we appreciated that things will come slower because our own bosses had cooked in, let's say, 10 years for them to be, let's say, chief accountant. So when you started, and is their boss says we're there 15, their boss said bosses were there 25. So that was what we knew was the path. So you were seeing yourself that for me to get there, I need to clock in 20, 30 years, which is different today. Today, uh, people believe that it can happen in one day. So we were in different generations completely. Do you believe it can happen in one day? No. And if it does, um then it's it's it's it's it's bad luck today. But or the people that you'll manage, it's bad luck for them. Because I believe in banking, the more you put in in terms of time, the more you learn. I still have a lot that I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

First, let's talk, let's talk some banking. Uh Access Bank has uh I've been amazed by some of the things uh I've seen the bank. I was telling one of your colleagues, I asked her uh some time back, I'm like, is it only ladies that work at this bank? Because literally everywhere I was going, as uh I was hardly finding any male uh figures, which is contrary or opposite to what I find in other uh places, countries, other banking institutions. Uh has that been a very deliberate uh effort by Axis to ensure that more women uh have opportunity and access within the banking system?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Definitely. I mean, at Access Bank Fundate has been deliberate. I can tell you five years ago that it was different. It was uh 60 male, 40 women. So we decided to go for it, you know, deliberately. At least I've been I've been telling my colleague that without saying it, so you just make it happen. Because when you start claiming, you create reactions unnecessary, but you just make it, but you offer opportunity to everyone. But intentionally, in some sectors, you make sure that you do that. Today it has been the reverse. Now we're almost 60 or 56, 57 percent women, and and uh the rest are male. And it's nothing uh contrary. So intentionally, in IIT it was all male. We now have women there. We had um information, even fields whereby it was not completely uh for males. So we intentionally did that. We have a training school in Nigeria where we sent our um uh fresh graduates, we sent a majority number in um in um uh female. But it's not that we intentionally or we did favor women, it just happened. It means women or young women in Rwanda have really evolved. They are much more outgoing, they're ready to take risks. In the old days, or our days when we started, parents to let a young fresh graduate to go for three, four months in Lagos where they don't know, uh it was not easy. So it's the society that has evolved. And I think we've just taken note of that and make sure that it happens. So if we have 60, 40 uh in favor of female, and it's it's reflective on our thing at management level. So that is the whole stuff. At management level, we are 50-50, so it's not only junior, etc. And uh I'm I may say without you know doubt that we are, if not, the first or the top bank in that uh position. We don't talk about it much because we take it, I think, for granted. But we we if you check in the uh financial sector, I think we are the one, the first bank that has 60% uh female workforce and 50 at uh at um at management level. We are even currently improving on our uh increasing the number of our directors. I've intentionally been looking only for females so that we increase uh that sense, and we believe by that process end of this year, it will be almost 40 uh percent. So we're really intentional about that. And as a group, access group, our executive directors at group level, most are women, you know, directors amongst women. So it's something that our late um one of our late founder, Herbert Wigwe, had really, really promoted. Um and he was intentional about it, and he will speak about it every day. So um one of the things that we started was the W initiative 15 years ago, when we started that, it was something that was not uh common. Intentionally having a desk dedicated for women. Everyone had it on uh on their mission, but very few uh made it happen. So that was who we are as a bank, and we are trying to move that to customers as well. Yeah, we have we have I think I may stop. We have had a W initiative desk for more than 16 years ago. We have financed a lot of um women.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

And I want to I want to hold you there because um recently I was at uh at the African Union and then the African Free Continental Trade Area uh in Accra, and uh I'm personally I'm biased. I have a big proponent for the economic liberalization of our continent. So you sit in a chair where you've been given uh much, and I believe to whom much is given, much is expected. Um one of the biggest challenges people face or women face, because majority of our traders across borders are women. Um majority of uh single parents are women. Majority, the first person to ever trade under AFC FTA. In fact, the first two people to ever trade under AFC FTA, which was uh the taking of coffee from uh Rwanda and then the bringing of chocolate from Ghana. It has been done by a woman, uh, best here in Rwanda, Bridget Harrington. She'll kill me when she sees this up there. The biggest challenge she has had, and the biggest challenges they've had, is access to finance. Because for so many reasons. Uh, reasons uh you and I could have a coffee or a drink or a beer or whatever it is, and best of the familiarity, uh you're going to give me access to capital based on how you even know how my businesses operate, which tends to be different to how women-led businesses operate. So she will want to go through the right channels and come to the bank and fill in the forms. And many a time they're neglected. You're saying the W initiative and other initiatives within the bank are garnered towards this. Why is it important to get access to finance for women-led businesses?

SPEAKER_01 16:32

I mean, one same as education. When you educate a woman, you know, there's a the multiplier effects is is significant in the society. So let's just put it then in the perspective of Rwanda, where majority of the population are women. So not financing women, it means you are letting a big chunk of the population outside. And if we agree that a significant portion of the businesses are women is led by women, I think the statistics are showing it's now getting closer to 50 in the 30, 35, it's it's it's increasing. Why will you leave a 30 or 40 percent of the whole business world outside financing? It's something that does not make economic sense. So it's not by charity, it just makes economic sense. So it's extremely important. As for any um segment of population or a business community that has not perhaps been favored, so you need to give it a bit of attention. One, to make it them feel free to access finance, to feel free to come to the banking. We are coming a long way. So laws were different, inheritance laws were different. Um, access to ability, to education was completely different. You know, if you just look at the 30 years, the laws that have been passed, removing some of the um, you know, things that were stopping women, even inheritance, you know, access to um, you know, parents, yes, uh to so it was not there. It was a law that was passed. Leave alone now the business. So we need to do that intentionally, proposing financials. As far as securities, it's not proper to women, it's an issue for SMEs in general. You being a male or a female in business, obviously, collateral will always, because for you to constitute a collateral, you'll have worked, you'll have, you know, purchased some assets to constitute collateral. So there are various ways you do that. You look at cash flow um lending uh based on the track record. We now have a possibility to have even not bank account, but mobile money as a way. So I think it's now upon us financiers to come up with a creative way to assess and not always go the traditional way where you're asking collateral. I think the challenge that women are facing now is a challenge that all SMEs are facing. One, they you know, you need to pass a certain number of years for it to be sustainable. You don't have collateral. So being a woman or a man, it's a challenge, uh, same as youth or startup. When you are startup, risks are perceived to be high. So they are coming in late, they are finding already market constraints. It's hitting them big time because it's almost all of them because they are in the starting. So we need to really find ways of uh of assisting them. That's why the W initiatives or W Desk, it helped because one, we're giving at cheaper rates so that the burden is there. But I can tell you it's one of the segments where we have the lowest non-performing loans. And the costs they pay, they pay back. At least those that have survived past the traditional SME, not women, but traditional SME, one-year issues or two years, you know, life span. They paid us and they loyal. So it's a segment untapped, it's a segment that needs still to be done better. But today, I mean, they are doing much, much better. It's at par.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

Again, I'm speaking with lots of biases. Uh, I was raised by a single mother, I grew up in a metriarchal, a very matriarchal society uh and home um where it women have a lot, they seem to figure things out. Uh when you look at uh the setting, even Rand as a country, right? From parliamentarians to people within the Senate, people within cabinet, there's a big push for women leadership in those places. When it comes to the people who are running successful businesses, because you wish you had done business at some point. Um majority of the businesses or the people who have had access to capital are not women. You sound passionate about this. We all draw our passions from somewhere. As I've mentioned, I draw my passions from my mom. Where do you draw your passion from?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

I think my family, I've not, um, you know, women in my family are very strong women. So um, my mom worked, was um, worked like I do. So since I was born, since she passed away, uh, she worked. She she worked. So I've never seen my mom home. She worked as we do, you know, morning, you know, you come back for lunch and you go back. So that's what I know. So I don't have even any um model of a woman staying home. My sisters, my cousins, my aunties, they're all work, they have that someone business. So I don't even consider it something. That's why sometimes we have I have an argument with some colleagues. Uh for me, uh, there's nothing even that stops a woman from doing whatever they want. Especially that the government has come up with the laws that create a you know a level uh uh playing field. So there's no there's nothing that stops them. Now, as I said, the issue is that because of the laws and the culture that have put the kept them aside of the business world, is what is making it coming late. Because you have a generation that needs to go from our mom or the mom generation whereby it was not even an option, because at that time most would have not even studied or do university. So there was a there were a lot of things that were there that the government of Rand has managed to put aside. So studying, they study, inheritance, they inherit. There's no permission that you need to open an account. Uh, they've made business account, opening an account or a business so easy that you do not need to go through people that might have biases. You know, you go to RDB, you go to one shop center, you open you being a woman or not. So, and the government have done so many campaigns that it has become so obvious. We realize that these things are not obvious when you go outside Rwanda, whereby some of those things governments have not given the required attention. So I think the government had created the platform for women to just fly now. The issues that they are facing, they are not facing it anymore because they are women, as far as SMEs are concerned, is no longer the issue. They are now facing issues that SMEs traditionally face. Now, support they need to give is that it's they have a double issue. Being an SME, then you face everything that SME, and then coming in late, then you are fewer. So the support that we are giving them as women is to try and unlock that segment that has been traditionally put aside. But they are facing today an issue that any SME faces because male-run business that are SMEs also have the same concern. Startup that is the same concern. So we by fixing SME issue, we are also fixing women and having some desk whereby we can give some collateral risk participation, um, a bit of um, you know, uh lower interest rates uh for women, etc., that can help that uh part of the population. But SMEs in general are facing an issue uh that we need to fix as uh as a banking system.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

If you look at the products that you're offering at the bank and you have to pick out one product, and you say this is a product that hasn't been fully utilized or people haven't taken advantage of, what is that one product?

SPEAKER_01 24:51

We have we have what we call uh uh uh credit programs for the SMEs. And for for for us, that is something that may, since we are talking about women, perhaps let me say that in the women we have what we call W power, women power. Okay, um, and our W initiatives and um women banking. We have a segment women banking for me.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

The levels that we are are not at the carding, you should want to take us back because when I was coming down to your floor here, I saw a sign post for women banking. I kid you not, I've not seen that at any bank anywhere on this continent. And it's my first time in access offices. What does why does access have a dedicated women banking section?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

As I said, we have we had our some of our promoters and uh one of our late promoters, how about 15-20 years ago, not even today, 20 years ago, they saw what perhaps most did not see back then. So if 15-20 years ago you create a woman desk. So today, 20 years later, we are talking about constraints. They saw an opportunity 20 years ago and made it a big deal to have a segment with dedicated products that are dedicated for women with a clear message whereby you position yourself as as a woman bank. That's what where it started. And Rwanda, we made that happen. We started the same. We finance many business here. It's just competition increases, they grew, they weren't in others, but I can, you know, we have testimonies. We have been under that same desk, we have been having yearly activities. Um, women prenez uh picture ton that we have been doing every year. We have supported exhibitions of some SMEs in um, you know, at um uh at the center here at the CBD, whereby they their product they are put. We have finance women in various sectors of the country. And we we started, we were pioneering. I think we we we we did not do well, you know. We we thought that we had it all. We need to do a bit more now. Um, we even we are now part of the weak code that was launched by by the governor, uh central bank, uh, and we where we have committed at increasing our portfolio and the size of our portfolio. We believe that we have about 35% of our customers that are women. Uh now we need just to dig a bit bigger and make sure that we finance and be a bit national. There are there are things the opportunities out there, the likes of DFIs that support women. Uh we need just to be creative. They cannot do it by themselves. Us, it's our responsibility to go and grab those opportunities, blend them, and offer them on the market. So we still have a long way to go. A few have been done, but we can still do much, much better. First, who is Faustin Rokundo, Bishemo? Who am I? Um I think I'm known to be a banker, but I'm a father, father of three, a girl and two boys. And um, I think that's that's that's mainly me. But I think I'm passionate, I'm a passionate banker. Um, one of the most passionate item uh um aspects of uh of my career is to try and you know push young people to do to much better, to be better bankers than I am. And I think it's what I would like to be remembered for. That um my few years in the banking, I helped some young people to grow. But that really is my passion, to see talents and push them to until they they do much better. So other than that, I mean, you know, sport is not my thing. I like to watch sport, not doing much. I think work-life balance, as you said, is I need to do a bit more, but uh yes. I don't believe in work-life balance personally. I think I think it's it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

I think I need to come, I need to call you so that you do a session to my colleagues. I don't believe in work-life balance. Yes. Oh, if you were to change one thing at any point in your life in the world, what is that one thing you wish you had the power to change?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

That's a that's a that's a very, very um interesting question. I just believe that uh I think one one one thing, you know, you see the news and it just keeps repeating itself. Um, if I was the most powerful, I would just make sure that, you know, there's a bit more fairness um around around the world. So it's not, you know, the powerful that decide on it all. A bit more power, you know, fairness and um, you know, education. Education uh with young people and push them to to learn a bit more. So do you believe in failure? Yes, it happens, but um failure is a way of learning more or better or getting better. Yes, we we do. I tell my colleagues that I'm I'm perhaps where I am just because I did more mistakes than they have ever done. So um that's that's what is called experience. So I've done big mistakes as a banker, you know, uh failing on loans and that failed. But the most important is how you learn from it. So yes, failure, I believe. And it's good. I had colleagues, I had a colleague who was a banker that he will not give you a loan if you have not failed. So if you have not failed as a business, he will be even fearless that you don't know. You are looking at the world as greener than it is. So, yes, something it's important to have sometimes. Which is the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?

unknown 30:50

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

I think the most important is those who have um accommodated me when I was much younger and inexperienced. Um, I think the kindest, you know, I mean, I've you know, every day, I can't really single something. Um, I think I I encounter that every day. Uh, but I think what someone has done is to push me, seeing potential that I did not have. And despite me resisting, and um they've made me what I am just because they forced me to do what I did not want, you know. I had a managing director that forced me to go in another department, which was completely not what I was thinking about my career. I refused, insisted, and he obliged me to go there, and that helped me to be who I am. So I'm grateful for forever for him to have done. And I've had colleagues that have accommodated me through my career, friends that have helped me. Yes. I have a friend, I moved from banking and I was about to come back. And I asked him, you know, over a beer, just ask calling, please. What do you think? And him telling encouraged me to do that, it changed my career. So you meet people, I've I've been lucky perhaps to meet friends all over my career and until today. Yes. What inspires you? What or who inspires you? For me, it's what has always inspired me since I started my career, it's um our current leadership in Rwanda and all those people that did whatever they did. Um we used to joke with friends that, you know, when we reached those ages that they had, when they were 20s, they were in their 20s when the, you know, when they struggle, when they took over the country and run the country and make it what it is. So you you like, you know, uh I can't, for me it's the leadership of this country, all those people that have done the wonders, I believe that, you know, they are the most inspiring people that I've I see them, I know them, and um, I don't know how uh how they do they did it and still doing it. And when I see I have a bank to run, how difficult it is, then I ask myself how it had been difficult. So that those are the most you know inspiring, starting from our our president all the way to all the people that have have been, you know, and in this. It has been it has been difficult, I guess. And that those are the people that inspire me.

SPEAKER_04 33:26

Q1 is done for for the year, three coaches to go. Where should we expect access to be when reading yearly results, access bank random when reading yearly results uh in 2027?

SPEAKER_01 33:40

We are we are we are not not a good year so far. Um we have not had a good year to our expectations. One thing that um uh defined us is our aspirations are extremely high. Um, so we are not happy with wherever we are. Uh but I think what we are struggling, despite numbers, what we are we are trying is to create value to our customers and create value to our shareholders. That's our aim. And as far as value to our shareholders and customers, so far we've delivered, may not always reflect in the bottom line, but uh we have we have we have done well. And I think we look, I look at access bank also differently. Um, one of the things that we have been doing is training young people. So every year we train about 50. My five years, if we train uh 200, 250 young graduates that we have made become bankers, it's one of the things that I'm most proud of. Because those people are the ones that are making the banking sector sound, you know, and stable, as you were saying uh from the monetary policy today. Those are the guys that are running the bank. If you go in any bank here at management level or at the bottom, you'll find someone that we trained. So as a contribution to society, I think it's something that we have done well. And if majority of those are women, then we are making the sector change to the better.

SPEAKER_04 35:09

Justin, my last question here, and it's it's it's it's it's one that comes up on X, Twitter, for the social media people. It's it's usually the debate regarding banking and fintechs, right? Banks want to be fintechs or are trying to move like fintechs. FinTechs want to be banks. If you look at any fintech builder out there, they are trying to build some form of neon bank, digital bank. The end goal is to try to be uh an access without uh the other other bigger assets. What's your take on these two? Are they competitors? Do they need to work in a symbiotic way with each other? Uh what's the banks versus fintech model for you?

SPEAKER_01 35:50

For me, these are those are partners. They're partners. Um while they're they can be competitors when they innovate, etc., but they are partners. Um, we are highly regulated. Um we in a special case, since they are coming, they have some advantages, but in a special case whereby we we leverage the capital of a bank, of a standard bank, even the biggest bank in this country, is 20 billion francs. But the asset and customer deposits, some banks have trillion. So that's why we are highly regulated because we really highly leverage and we use depositors money, so the population. Some of those constraints fintech do not have. But fintech are a bit more innovative than banks are. So it's a good partnership that we can do. One thing, for example, if you do the mobile money, without the mobile money, banking service would have not penetrated to the level it is today. So they have literally created a market for banks. So there's no bank, one of the uh telcos will have five million customers. There's no bank that has five million customers. It means they have created room for those people to grow, to know how to transact and to become eventually eligible customers for us. So for media partners, so if I integrate with one of telcos, I have access to those customers over there. So for me, they are partner in whatever way, in whichever way. And now, if they bring up new products that we are not able to do, it's better. They will create more convenience, etc. And it forces us to be uh uh so I'm not seeing them as uh competition, no. We always people say that they're eating our lunch, no, they are creating new actually, and they're making the pie a bit bigger. So they are partners, as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

The pie is a little bit bigger, that means there's room for everyone at the table. You've been uh watching, listening to another episode of uh the People Turn Profit Podcast by the K Financial Find it across all your podcast platforms, Apple Spotify. Thank you for making it the number one financial news podcast on the African continent. As always, Arnold Quizera today, a special guest for his first ever media interview appearance. He's the MD of Access Bank, Ronda, uh, Mr. Fostin Rokundo Bichimo. Have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

And a quick review of the other stories. Bitcoin flipped about 2% from about 2% to 56,512 on Thursday after US President Donald Trump track a hotel in an afternoon on the Iran conflicts allowing to hit the conflict in the house and white house translated complex operations at the end of the server or Iran USDOT. Thank you for all the clicking up the data after click and apple. If you have to cover the story to the website at the kit and apple.com or don't forget to describe, you can find the platform at the kit and apple and you can find me after the