RSwitch, Rwanda’s national electronic payments switch, has joined the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR), financial institutions and the Ministry of ICT and Innovation in a public awareness campaign promoting digital payments and the eKash platform. The latest outreach took place in Nyabugogo, a busy commercial area of Kigali, where organisers educated residents on how to send and receive money quickly and conveniently across banks, mobile money providers and other financial service providers.
The initiative forms part of broader efforts to accelerate adoption of eKash, Rwanda’s national instant payment system operated by RSwitch. Since the full migration of domestic interoperable retail payments to the platform in mid-July 2026, transfers between bank accounts and mobile wallets have been processed through a single unified infrastructure at a flat, low cost.
Campaign activities focused on practical demonstrations of how digital payments work in daily life, including person-to-person transfers and merchant payments. Officials highlighted the speed, affordability and security of moving money between different providers without the need for multiple intermediate steps or high fees.
eKash supports account-to-account, account-to-wallet, wallet-to-account and wallet-to-wallet transactions. It replaces earlier bilateral arrangements that created higher costs and complexity, particularly for smaller institutions and users. Early performance data showed millions of transactions processed in the initial weeks following the national rollout, with strong success rates and rising merchant payment volumes.
Rwanda has prioritised interoperable digital payments as a foundation for financial inclusion and a cashless economy under Vision 2050. RSwitch, established in 2003, manages the national switch and the SmartCash local card scheme while operating the Rwanda National Digital Payment System (RNDPS). The eKash platform, built with open-source technology and support from partners including AfricaNenda and Mojaloop, is designed to connect banks, SACCOs, microfinance institutions and mobile money operators on equal terms.
Public education remains a critical component of the strategy. Many Rwandans still require clearer information on how to use the new system confidently. Campaigns such as the Nyabugogo event, held under the “Twagiye Kashiresi” banner, aim to bridge that gap by reaching communities directly in high-traffic locations.
RSwitch and its partners are expected to continue similar outreach across Kigali and other parts of the country as they work to embed digital payments more deeply into everyday economic activity. The success of these efforts will help determine how quickly eKash scales from infrastructure readiness to widespread, habitual use among households and small businesses.
