Ondiro Oganga, Diane Karusisi: Corporate-led Innovation l Africa/Week 2025

Quick Overview

Ondiro Oganga, a business and finance journalist for Bloomberg News, interviewed Diane Karusisi, CEO of Bank of Kigali, about corporate-led innovation, specifically focusing on how Bank of Kigali built its own tech stack and API platform to serve clients, including the Rwandan diaspora, and how they address the gap between local and global tech adoption rates in Africa.

Key Points: 90% of banks globally have incorporated tech into daily operations, but only 30% of African banks have, creating a significant gap. Bank of Kigali (BK) invested $650 million in tech and developed its own platform with an open API to better serve clients and cross-sell services. BK's CEO, Diane Karusisi, convinced her board to build the platform internally rather than outsourcing, citing the need to own the user experience. The bank's internal focus on tech development allows them to tailor solutions like digital account opening and potentially leverage national ID databases for better risk assessment. The digital gap in Africa is highlighted by the fact that 75% of people globally use digital products, but only 30% of Africans do, creating a significant exclusion risk. Karusisi emphasizes that for financial institutions, tech is not just an enabler but a matter of survival, especially in a market where established institutions are often slow to innovate.

Context: This video captures a fireside chat from Norrsken Africa/Week 2025, featuring Ondiro Oganga, a Bloomberg News journalist, interviewing Diane Karusisi, the CEO of Bank of Kigali (BK). The discussion centers on the state of corporate innovation in the African financial sector, particularly the challenges and successes of implementing technology, such as AI, within traditional banking structures on the continent.

Detailed Analysis

The conversation begins with Ondiro Oganga highlighting a significant disparity: while 90% of global banks have integrated technology, only 30% of African banks have done so, creating a large gap. Karusisi acknowledges this lag and discusses Bank of Kigali's proactive approach. She mentions that BK invested $650 million in technology and developed its own platform, including an open API, which allows them to offer diversified services and cross-sell effectively. Karusisi recounts convincing her board to build this technology internally, rather than outsourcing, because they wanted to own the user experience and ensure solutions were tailored to local needs, such as digital onboarding and identity verification integration. She stresses that in the African context, where digital penetration is lower (75% globally use digital products vs. 30% in Africa), tech is a matter of survival for banks. Karusisi contrasts the risk appetite of established institutions with that of innovators, noting that BK aimed to build solutions that were 'plug and play' and served both local and diaspora clients, rather than merely outsourcing back-office functions. She concludes by emphasizing the need for financial institutions to embrace innovation to avoid being surpassed by local tech companies.