FINANCIAL LITERACY & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

 Is the world built by perfect people?, most probably the answer is no. Some of the world's inventors were once laughed at. You might not be an exception. Thomas Edison failed several times when inventing the light bulb. Dr. Ben Carson who separated the Siamese twins was always the last in class. What do the examples show us? No one is immune from failure. The late Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years but became president of  South Africa at an advanced age. Colonel Sanders of KFC was rejected several times but he did not give up. Today KFC is a global company. Google started from a garage.  The generation of today is skewed at viewing success only from the top. However that is a limited view of issues. The age of instant achievements makes many youths to give up on their dreams. Ideas rule the world. Ambrose Kibuuka in his book After University What Next noted that Music Dance and Drama was always a despised course at university. Today some of the most well paid personaliti

 I met a youth who wanted to become wealthy. I went ahead to ask him whether he had set clear plans to become wealthy and he had no immediate answer. We are living in a generation of instant expectations. A youth sees a good car and wants to buy it in a month. This is worsened by globalization  where the youths compare themselves with others in developed countries such as the United States of America and it leads to frustrations. How come there is an increase in insecurity of late? The talk that is dominant among residents of Kampala is whether they will survive kicks by gangs on the street. The population is living in fear. This was unheard of in the past where there was relative security and morals among young people. The instant expectations are making youths to by pass the natural roots to success. Brian Tracy in his books the 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success notes that successful people think long term. This was further clarified by Harv Eker in his book Secret

 A few months a go there was a story of a Ugandan who committed suicide. His death shocked the nation. Questions have been asked as to the cause of his death. During lock down there was a story of a man who burnt himself because life became so hard. As a generation we are at a crossroads. In fact cases of mental health are on increase. The question we need to ask ourselves is what is the ultimate source of happiness? In a generation that is skewed to monetizing everything, money has been identified as a key trait of a happy person. But I highly doubt of a piece of paper can define a person's happiness. The other question is do we know the true definition of happiness? One can find a youth taking drugs and when asked if he is happy he may say yes.   We have seen parents who have decided to nurture God fearing children who will become company executives and politicians. There are professionals who have established community organizations to mentor youths who do not have jobs. We have

On Ist July 2024 there was an article in the New Vision that was titled " plan better for the youthful population (page 20). The article further  points out that the preliminary results from the National Population and Housing Census 2024 indicate that Uganda is a country of young people with children below 17 years amounting to 50.5% ,while 22.7% are youths aged 18-30 years .  It is a public secret that unemployment is one of the greatest challenge that any youth grapples with .In the past there was only one university but today there are over 20 universities which produce over 100,000 graduates annually amidst about 90,000 jobs being created per year. We have seen the effects of youth unemployment in Uganda including an increase in crime rate and dependency. The government is trying its best through skilling programs. The education system is being transformed so that it matches the dynamic needs of the job market. This is worsened by the fact that we now live in a globalized wo