Embrace disciplined saving culture

By Macharia Kamau

Having a disciplined home saving culture among the bottom poor in society is key to wealth creation and poverty alleviation. 

Speaking at an award-giving ceremony for groups and individuals who had succeeded in saving the most during a six months home savings campaign dabbed Akiba Nyumbani, the Chief Executive Officer of Hand in Hand (HiH), a non-profit making organisation, Mrs Pauline Ngari, pointed out that young entrepreneurs should be equipped with savings skills in order to enable them grow their businesses.

She reckons that social mobilisation and enterprise development training are key to alleviating poverty in the country. Ngari said the achievement of Vision 2030 depends on how empowered young entrepreneurs and the rural populace are equipped with saving skills.

The campaign aimed at promoting a savings culture among Kenyans saw a small time trader in cabbages save over Sh100,000. “The campaign through Hand in Hand has demonstrated that even those who perceive themselves as poor can save so much. It is through such savings methodology that we are able to alleviate poverty and create wealth among the bottom poor in our society,” said Ngari.

As part of its campaign, Hand in Hand is also involved in training trainers on useful skills on wealth creation and how to effectively manage small enterprises.

The trainers undergo a vigorous training of eight months on among other things how to develop business plans, effective savings methodology, group mobilisation, enterprise incubation and financial management.

Noting that many small-scale entrepreneurs are not well equipped with the financial market knowledge, Mrs Ngari said her institution in collaboration with government departments like Nalep, Gender, and Provincial Administration has initiated training programmes to equip entrepreneurs with knowledge on financial management.

“Our institution, Hand in Hand, a non-profit making organisation is committed to help the small-scale entreprenuers grow their businesses by creating awareness to the stakeholders on the role of social enterprises in economic development,” she said.

Speaking at the graduation of the trainers and at the awarding ceremony, Ngari noted the way to grow small-scale entreprenuers is not through theories but by training them practically and giving them knowledge on how to gain maximally from their investment.

“The only way we can reduce the cycle of poverty is through capacity building. Institutions should move out there and do social mobilisation, train the entreprenuers before giving them monies to invest,” said pointed out.

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