Sometimes we think we know things and yet we don’t. We enter into business and just think we are supposed to make money.’ It is not this simple, of course. The words are from one of the beneficiaries of the Financial Knowledge for Africa (FIKA), a program aiming at equipping entrepreneurs to face the many challenges linked to running a business. A program developed so that entrepreneurship always rhymes with success.
Small scale traders in Kenya have been undergoing training on personal and business finance skills for the last five months. More than 98, 000 traders, mostly youths have so far been trained under a program dubbed Financial Knowledge for Africa (FIKA) that seeks to train 1 million Kenyans.
The Ksh. 1 billion program initiated by Equity Group Foundation which is run by the Equity Bank Group, a Kenyan bank whose target market are Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs, in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation seeks to boost financial literacy among the country’s small scale traders.
According to equity Bank Group Chief Executive, Dr. James Mwangi , the FIKA training program which equips traders with skills on money management , borrowing and saving has had positive impacts.
“The discussions we hear the communities holding shows there is enormous values we are imparting through the program. They’ve adopted budgeting process, planning for their businesses. We see a saving culture that is very different from what we initially had. We’ve also an improvement in credit performance.” said Dr. Mwangi.
During the 12 week free training program participants are taken through financial aspects such as banking services, budgeting, debt management, financial negotiations and savings. These skills are expected to fill the financial literacy gap common in Kenya as well as most African countries that has seen many small businesses fail due to poor money management skills by their owners.
The program hopes to reduce loan defaults among borrowers by enlightening entrepreneurs on how to save, when to take a loan and how to make wise investments decisions as has been attested by one beneficiary of the program, Margaret Gucheri Rutere who owns butchery.
“Sometimes we think we know things and yet we don’t. We enter into business and just think we are supposed to make money. I didn’t know loans are supposed to be taken for investment or to upgrade your business, but now I know we should take loans wisely and use them,” said Margaret.
Approximately 10,000 entrepreneurs who go through the FIKA program will eventually be selected to attend a much more comprehensive training and mentoring programme where they will receive support needed to expand their small businesses. Participants will also have access to a Ksh. 30 billion fund set aside by the bank for lending to the FIKA program graduates.
The program is particularly focusing on the youth and women who have little information and experience difficulties accessing financing and thus are worst affected by unemployment and poverty.
“Over the years, women and youth in Kenya have faced difficulties with regard to employment, access to finance and business knowledge. Training these two key demographic groups in financial literacy is aimed at providing them with financial advisory services, supportive networks and knowledge that will facilitate their path to accessing finance to start and grow their businesses.” reckons Dr. Mwangi.
Through the 3 year program university students have been trained and deployed to rural areas to train traders. Here is another great opportunity for entrepreneurs in Africa. And one step closer to many more business successes. Africa Report.
No comments:
Post a Comment