FINANCIAL LITERACY & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

 1st May is the day when the world celebrates the human workforce. This is noble because without a qualified human resources other resources can not be discovered and effectively utilized. All countries that have developed intentionally develop and utilize their human resources. A case in point is Singapore which is landlocked but its leadership intentionally developed a skilled labor force. Uganda has one of the world's youngest population in the world. Over 70% of the population is below 30 years. This youthful population can either be a curse or a blessing. In my career as a Master Trainer with Bank of Uganda, I have interacted with several youths especially at higher institutions of learning to shape their destinies regarding employability and prudent financial management, I have picked up a number of lesson . One is that Uganda's youths are very enterprising and hardworking. Many strive to set up businesses but there are a number of bottlenecks in the environment that hamp...

 Who predicted that the United States of America would cut funding? Who predicted that Covid- 19 would disrupt our lives? This seems to be the norm in today's world. We live in a volatile, Unpredictable ,Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA ) times. As a Master Trainer Financial Literacy Trainer of Bank of Uganda I have had the privilege of interacting with several youths in the financial literacy trainings that I conduct. One lesson that I have picked is that some of the youths are not well prepared or unaware that change comes very fast. For example a particular youth told me that there is no essence of opening an account in a bank. This is a signal of lack of awareness for future financial planning. A few months ago I saw a video circulating on social media of a man who carried large sums of money in a plastic bag and it was all falling. In times of financial scarcity this person was risking their lives. The other question that I want to ask is , in our circles what do we mostly talk abo...

 At a recent meeting with one of my business mentors one of the lessons that I picked was that it was business unusual. Why is this the case? Look at how organizations that were funded by the United States government were affected by the reduction in funding. With an increase in population and an educated workforce, we have to devise better and more effective ways of combatting youth unemployment. Statistics reveal that Uganda's universities churn out over 400,000 university students per year amidst a job creation rate of 90,000 formal jobs. The question is where do the rest go? On a good note Uganda has been credited as one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world. The question is, how are we harnessing this entrepreneurship potential? How comes that Uganda is not dominating the list of countries with the biggest companies? When we move through Kampala we are able to see very hard working and enterprising women in their microenterprises. The Uganda National Business Deve...

 Everybody desires to become successful in life. Bookstores are full of books about stories of entrepreneurs who began from scratch and are now successful entrepreneurs. Iam motivated by the story of Professor Gordon Wavamunno who gives a detailed account of how he started his journey and is now a very successful Ugandan businessman. Iam inspired by the story of Oprah Winfrey who started off life as a poor little girl in the United States of America and today is one of the most successful black American ladies. What about Dr. Washington Carver who was a black American who read books on candle but he is remembered for having initiated over 100 patents out of potato.  Iam also motivated by the story of Equity Bank which started as a small building society in Kenya and today it is one of the largest financial conglomerates in Africa. The key question from all these successful stories is, was it an easy journey for them? Not really. For example Oprah Winfrey was driven by a great ...

 Everyone desires financial success. Check the internet for one of the most common searches and the desire for wealth is one of the most significant . The question is, why is it that only 20% of the population owns 80% of the wealth? What enables the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates to be immensely wealthy? Why is it that a number of university graduates are financially struggling yet we would assume that a university degree is a precursor to financial advancement? We all know of entrepreneurs who dropped out of school and own very successful businesses that are employing thousands of graduates. I do not have all the answers to the above questions but in researching and observing rich and successful people one trait that separates them form the masses is that they intentionally develop their mindset. They believe in the beauty of their dreams. What makes the likes of Madhvani and Aghakan families maintain their wealth for many years while our businesses collapse within the fir...

 At a recent Trainer of Trainers Business Development Services Trainin g I appreciated the role that advisory services can play in developing enterprises. According to the Uganda National Business Development Strategy of 2024, over 90% of the economy is dominated by the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises . These are the engine of growth for Uganda's economy. However they are dominated by a high degree of informality. This limits access to capital as they are viewed as risky by financial institutions. This forces the entrepreneurs to seek alternative sources such as loan sharks. More still the informality makes these institutions lose out on competitive tenders because they lack operational systems and records to back up their sustainability. More still a number of microentrepreneurs are unregistered.  For the past 5 years I have been training microentrepreneurs on entrepreneurship development and financial literacy and I have appreciated the challenges that entrepreneurs face...

 A recent media article showed that over 10,000 businesses were to be deregistered. The Uganda National Business Development Strategy showed that over 90% of Uganda's economy is dominated by informal sector. However it highlights the fact that a number of them face challenges such as lack of access to capital and weak business management skills. This is detrimental to the economy because most of these businesses do not survive beyond their second birthday. This means that this affects the job creation rate and loss of revenue to government. It is important to promote formalization of businesses because it enables them to attract funding from different development partners and private institutions such as Banks. Due to a high level of informality, a number of them opt for high cost sources of capital. This means that they find it hard to break even and in the end they collapse.  A number of start ups have attributed their development and evolution to Business Development Supp...

 Life is tough. Amidst the toughness of life there are those extraordinary individuals who have used their setbacks as stepping stones to wealth creation. Professor Mohammad Yunus used personal resources to start a microfinance project to help the rural poor in Bangladesh. Today Grameen Bank which has humble beginnings is one of the largest microfinance banks in the world. Oprah Winfrey who is one of the wealthiest black American women did not start off wealthy. All she had was a dream that she would become wealthy. I have been in the financial literacy training space for the last 5 years. I have been inspired by countless youths who are resilient in their financial journey. In particular there is one youth who attended a financial literacy training that was organised by Equity Bank. The youth has been able to employ other youths in his village.  The message to today's youths who form the bulk of the population is that they should never allow temporary setbacks to determine th...