How to acquire money smartness
President Museveni (R) hands over an envelope with money to an official in Iganga District recently. Making someone understand how to make money is better than handing them money.
What you need to know:
While it is important for one to have money, it is more important for one to learn smart ways of making money.
She limped between wistfulness and financial despair. Her little business was doing poorly with little stock on the shelves and no capital for restocking. Several investments which she attempted had gone bad, mostly because she trusted her money with people who either had questionable character or poor investment skills.
In the attempt to make financial comebacks or simply to survive, she had borrowed a lot and was not making any headway repaying her lenders. It was at this low point that she thought of approaching a benefactor to bail her out.
After listening to her tale, the benefactor advised Susan (not her real name) to get in touch with Akamai Global and enroll for our Money Management Course. Luckily for her we had a class commencing in November which she joined.
By the end of the course, she had not only learnt a lot but made significant changes and progress as well. The session on managing personal debt enabled her to develop a debt payment plan and she now thinks the debt mountain will be removed after another 10 months.
She started banking all the sales she made from her shop before spending any coin. That is partly why she could find money to repay her debt. She became strict on herself to first give clear justification before withdrawing any money from the bank.
The knowledge she acquired and the interactions she made with her fellow participants in the course has helped her to come up with a plan for an asset that had been lying idle for long. Now instead of wistfulness, she is full of hope for the future.
Alongside the adult money class we also held a class for teenagers which we call Money Head Start. The Money Head Start course covers money management concepts, interpersonal communication and emotional intelligence. Two mothers gave feedback on the impact the course had on their daughters.
One of the ladies who was out of the country when her child attended the course was pleasantly surprised when she came back for Christmas holidays and found her daughter had come up with a business concept.
Often during graduation ceremonies, speakers advise graduates to become job makers instead of going out to be job seekers. Unfortunately, for many graduates thinking of how to create jobs is something that they neither learnt at school or from home. One of the aims of the Money Head Start course is to sow the seed of entrepreneurship into the lives of teenagers so that when they grow up they can nurture it into an alternative career choice.
The second parent was impressed by the financial maturity her daughter exhibited after the course. The girl took charge of planning the family expenditure and nowadays makes a costed shopping list before any shopping trip.
If one of her siblings asks for something that was not on the list she firmly advises that it should be discussed and considered for another time. The new attitude has greatly pleased and relieved her mother.
Space does not allow me to fully narrate the story of the 11-year-old boy who explained to a minister concepts such as debit, credit, investing in shares and return on investment.
Whenever I receive feedback like these I am greatly encouraged to know that financial literacy can make a real difference in the lives of people.
How I wish the benefactor of the NRM Poor Youth would give them financial literacy instead of sacks of money. How I pray parents with children in Senior Six vacation would use the time to expose them to financial literacy before they join university. How I wish many people who think that money lenders dispense financial help would make it their priority to acquire financial literacy.
James Abola is the Team Leader of Akamai Global, a business and finance consulting firm.
Email: [email protected]
