AFR head of finance Innocent Gatete believes numbers are a CFO’s compass

When Innocent Gatete joined Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) in 2021, the organisation was carrying out initiatives to update its financial management systems to ease data accessibility, ensure data accuracy and reliability as well as compliance with partner’s requirements - this was a recommendation from a previously-conducted audit. Only a few months into the role, Innocent collaborated with his team and the executive committee to streamline the process and address challenges that could delay the audit process. 

"A clean audit report is a requisite for enhanced reputation, stakeholders’ confidence and collaboration opportunities.  That was a monumental task for me, as the organisation was undergoing an audit process. With the help of our executive committee members and the finance team, we made people understand what was required. Everyone came together to help, and we got a clean audit," he says.

After the clean audit report notification, AFR continued receiving requests from various partners to explore new areas  for collaboration. In the time since, Innocent has come to learn the importance of involving his team in the entire cycle of financial planning. He often starts them off with basic tasks like bookkeeping, then gradually allows them to handle audits and donor reporting. This way, he marshals every team member's strengths towards the tasks they are best suited for and ensures the department can continue running in his absence.

“When you encourage your team, they can handle things when you are not there. But you should make sure that you have less than a week's maximum backlog. Trust me, if I had a backlog of six months, no supervisor would allow me to go on leave,” he says.

In his 12 years as an accountant, he has noted that many do not process transactions daily, making it difficult to keep track of things. He therefore impresses upon his team the importance of processing transactions incrementally to prevent backlog.

Unconventional journey

“If you have, say, three months of backlog, and directors are calling, donors are calling, and your management is asking, ‘how are we doing in terms of budget execution’? You won't have that information because you forgot that accounting and finance is a day-to-day job. When you process things every day, you go home certain that you've done your part. Transactions are well booked and well filed. For you to pay taxes you need to have accounted for them each day, not on the last week of paying taxes. For example, if you are moving to a new system, and people are not familiar with how it works, the head of finance should push his/her team to make sure they book those transactions even if they make mistakes or have challenges. Because if one month passes without reconciling, it will be like a post-mortem. You are trying to assist someone who is already dead,” he explains.

While the rudiments of the profession seem to run in his blood, Innocent’s training could not be further from finance. In secondary school, he studied biochemistry in preparation for a career in the sciences. He ended up securing the highest score in his final year, but he did not qualify for the engineering course he wanted. He was selected to study food science and technology at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology instead.

In the 2000s the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda (ICPAR) was established with support from various donors, and the government of Rwanda began to sponsor auditors and public accountants in the public sector to take professional accounting courses including ACCA. At the time, Innocent was doing odd jobs like printing notes and taking attendance for one of the tuition providers to sustain himself at the university. He soon built a rapport with some of the tutors, and they encouraged him to take the ACCA course despite his science background.

“I spoke to the head of the tuition provider, and he told me that after the students had already gone inside for their classes, I could just sit at the back and learn quietly. They gave me access to old textbooks, and I started learning from there. I remember not even knowing what an invoice was,” Innocent recalls.

Making an impact

Despite the challenges, he managed to pass his first three papers and even became one of the top performers. When he completed the first level, the tuition provider offered him a role as a finance officer to start him off.

“So, I continued and finished ACCA in 2015 and became an affiliate. I became a member in 2016. Then I realised people were asking questions. ‘You have these professional courses, what was your degree?’ I realised I needed to do my master’s in finance or something related, so I did an MBA in 2017 with the Edinburgh business school at Heriot Watt University. Recently, I started CFA and passed level one just a few weeks ago. I'm very excited to continue with level two,” he says.

Although Innocent has served in various roles since his first, it is at AFR that he feels he is most impactful. AFR’s primary focus is financial inclusion for vulnerable populations such as women, persons with disabilities, refugees, and other underserved communities. Innocent and his team of four ensure the funding received is well-managed, reported on, and used according to approved budgets. He is also excited to take on the responsibility of piloting a digital infrastructure that will act as a one-stop payments solution in 2025.

“Before, I worked in finance roles at for-profit organisations. And in such companies, your bosses are your shareholders. It’s about creating value for their investment, and you have very limited impact. But here, I’m doing things at the country level. They're impacting millions of lives of my compatriots. A lot has been said about Rwanda’s history, but my input, my small contribution is doing something. There's nothing comparable to that. You sleep well at night knowing you’ve done your part,” he says.