Focus Media (Kigali)
8 July 2009
Frank Ngabirano, a teacher at Kagitumba High School, needed urgently to send money to a friend in Nyagatare. A bank transfer would take several days, so that wasn't a solution. Instead, he went to Atraco. "I have just sent money to my friend and I am sure that he will have it in less than three hours," he says.
Transport companies have indeed moved with the times. From the initial chaotic inter- and intra-city transport, they went to punctual services, started acting as courier services to deliver parcels countrywide, introduced the more comfortable coaster busses, and now they have found another gap in the market: rapid money transfers within the country.
"This is a very convenient service, says teacher Ngabirano. "You just go to Rubangura, and almost every transport company is waiting to have your business done."
Geofrey Kwizera, the coordinator of Atraco Courier Services, says that people have no problem in trusting them. "When you send money or a parcel we give you a receipt, so if anything would happen and the recipient does not get it you can come and claim compensation," he explains.
And word has spread fast, Kwizera notes. "A traveler will tell a friend of the possibility to send his packets or money with Atraco, because he has done it himself or just seen it being done on the bus he was taking. And we have many passenger, who go around the whole country," he remarks.
What is also remarkable, Kwizera says, is that the different operators act more as business partners than as competitors. "Sometimes we deliver parcels for other companies such as Fedex or Iposita when they need speed delivery."
Yet some clients are put off by the fee charged for the service. One Damascene Murekezi, for instance, once sent Frw 20,000Rfw for which he was charged 2000 francs, which he found a bit much. Nevertheless, he says that the important thing is that the recipient gets the money.
"Sometimes you need to solve an unexpected problem, and send something urgently, and then transport companies are an easy and efficient option. And even though I find them quite expensive, it is still worth it because getting the problem solved is often worth more than the fee they charge," Murekezi argues.
Nulfat Nsabimana, an operator at customer care service in Atraco Courier Express, says that prices differ according to what is being sent. Amounts below Frw 5000 are charged 500 francs, and above that sum the fee is 10% of the money sent. For big amounts of money, however, prices are negotiable.
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