Women in Fort Portal receive training on financial literacy

Fort Portal, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | At least 100 women in Fort Portal city have been trained on financial literacy by Stanbic Bank.

The three-day training at Gardens restaurant in Fort Portal targeted to help women access knowledge to finance accessibility, finding markets, suppliers and strong business records that can be based on by financial institutions while seeking to support women business enterprises.

The training also focused on helping women in business develop a strong saving culture, debt management, financial investment and networking in order to create continuity in women established businesses.

Laban Mawungwe, an expert in financial literacy stated that the majority of the Ugandan people are lacking financial literacy which has seen many businesses fail, leading more people into abject poverty.

Mawungwe says managing finance should be based on principles which are supposed to be respected to the dot if the women are to thrive in business.

Mawungwe also observed the need for women to learn how to budget, manage debts and understand where to invest their monies before spending. He is optimistic that once such skills are mastered, many women businesses will thrive from micro, small scale and later into medium business enterprises.

Prize Batamuliza, one of the beneficiaries says the women have learnt how to deal with finances and to access markets for their products among other skills.

Batamuliza says the government should not stop at sending funds to various categories of people but also invest in training beneficiaries on financial literacy so that the money rolled can serve the intended purpose especially on boosting the household income level.

Matthias Jumba, the head of echo systems at Stanbic bank said the training is meant to make women stronger and change the notion of inferiority in the world of business.

The State Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperative Harriet Ntabazi who was chief guest said the government is doing everything possible to find markets and called on women in business to embrace value addition so as to tap into the new opportunities that are readily available in the East African community and beyond.

****

URN