According to a report by the World Bank Group, more than 80 per cent of Rwanda’s workers are classified as informal employees — working in sectors such as agriculture or self-employed — and not typically covered by formal retirement plans.

Enter Ejo Heza, a voluntary defined contribution savings plan that launched in 2019 with the aim of covering all of the country’s workers. The plan, which is administered by the Rwanda Social Security Board, allows salaried and non-salaried members to contribute via a savings account. As of June 2026, roughly 4.8 million Rwandans are enrolled in Ejo Heza and it has more than RWF-69.8 billion (equivalent to CAD$66.5 million) in assets under management.

Built for flexibility

With informal workers facing more pressure from income volatility than their salaried counterparts, it’s not always possible for them to make regular contributions to savings plans, says Sebastien Betermier, associate professor of finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.

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“[As an informal worker], you may not know in three months that you’re still going to have a steady job, so you face a lot more risk. . . . If you’re given a [savings] product that requires very fixed contributions, that’s an issue. The other issue is workers in the informal economy don’t have an employer that’s contributing [to a retirement savings plan] for them on a steady basis.”

Ejo Heza overcomes this challenge with its flexible design and encourages workers to save through a user-friendly interface and the option to contribute different amounts month to month. While plan members may withdraw a portion........

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