FINANCIAL LITERACY & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

 As an activist for youth employability it has come to my attention that a number of university students require personal mentorship and guidance if they are to benefit from their stay at university. At a recent seminar that I presented to first year students at a certain university I was shocked when I asked the students to name their top 3 goals why they were at university and it seemed a " tough" task. One may quickly assume that simply because a student has joined university they have a clear purpose beyond the classroom That is far from the truth. A certain student almost got a retake when he did not put much attention to the assignment that they had been given. Instead he used most of his time to chat with friends. The marks he got were a wakeup call for him to work harder. I have also realized after interacting with a number of university students that many are not aware of how volatile the job market is. One of the greatest fears of any graduate should be lacking a jo...

 We are at a crossroads as a country. Almost everyday I receive a call from a recent graduate how they can maneuver the tough employment terrain. It is a dream of every graduate to attain a decent job. Graduates spend sleepless nights to read and pass exams only to find the real job world a real nightmare.  Where as there are a few lucky ones who are head hunted by big organizations not everyone is lucky. Today the job market is very competitive. In the past getting a first class degree made a lot of headlines but today it is very common to find a first class student doing "nothing " because there are not enough jobs. I saw a news session where a section of medical students were requesting for government to enable them to look for jobs abroad. In the past we knew that pursing a degree in traditional courses such as Medicine, Engineering and Law were shortcuts to employment. This is no longer the case because of the rise in population and the number of universities. This shows...

 We all have financial aspirations. This is one of the most important reasons why we wake up every day. However it is not easy to achieve them. We live in a highly volatile world where many graduates have completed studies but they do not know what next. It is quite frustrating to complete a degree and fail to access a decent job. In the 5 years of providing grassroot community financial literacy training I have found out that Ugandans are very hardworking and resilient people.  I have also found out that many want to save more but are currently stuck. One of the reasons why they are stuck is that they have lost the belief that saving small amounts can make a huge difference in the long run. The reason why I have hope in beginning small while saving is that a number of successful and wealthy leaders started small. The story of Equity Bank inspires any ordinary African that it is important to have a long term vision towards their finances. Equity Bank started as a small buildin...

 At a recent financial literacy training that I conducted for group leaders it was evident that no community is devoid of resources. The so many big financial institutions such as Equity Bank that started as a small building society and is now a financial conglomerate teaches us that without unity at the grassroot there cannot be meaningful development.  Over 70% of Uganda's population is below the age of 30 years. One of their biggest obstacle is lack of access to decent jobs and capital to grow their businesses. The youths of Uganda are very entrepreneurial and this is attested to globally. However most of their ventures collapse within one year. This means that community groups are a very good medium for mobilizing savings among the youths. Many youths can pool resources jointly and start income generating activities . Many youths are on online WhatsApp groups. These tend to discuss various issues ranging from finance to entrepreneurship. Perhaps it is high time the discuss...

 For the last 5 years of providing grassroot financial literacy training I should say that I have seen countless resilient Ugandans who are focused on altering their financial landscape for good.  Though life is never easy, so many Ugandans desire for a better life. Despite the hard economic circumstances ,a person with hope has a chance of making better financial decisions. There is one market vendor whom I met prior to the training who explained to me that she was in a financial mess. I listened intently to her story and gave her hope that she would overcome financial challenges.  This lady accepted to attend the financial literacy training and was very active in class. She accepted that she had previously made various mistakes and she started by writing down her financial goals. This was a moment of excitement for her. She set really big goals and always reported to me her progress. She started to pay off her loans slowly and today she is more confident than before. Sh...

 When the Black Americans were undergoing slave trade a certain Martin Luther King decided to choose a different path. When South Africa was undergoing apartheid the late Nelson Mandela chose a higher path. When Mother Teresa saw the suffering of the poor in Calcutta India, she chose to use her gift of compassion to serve them. These examples should inspire us to take action. Every day we see challenges around us. The issue is that we cannot solve all of them. The question is what are we doing about the challenges in our families and communities. There are many youths who lack a clear direction in their lives. Who is reaching out to them?  Very many youths have graduated and have no access to decent jobs, who is mentoring them so that they do not lose hope? We see rising incidents of crime especially among the youths. Who is reducing the gap? The knowledge that we acquire is not meant to benefit us individually but we should use it to transform our communities. I have talked t...