Need for more financial literacy programmes, says official

THERE is a need for financial inclusion activities and financial literacy programmes to be implemented in local level governments, an official says.
East New Britain Savings and Loans sales and marketing manager, Jessica Kuambu said when she was in high school, “my parents had an oil palm block and during the harvesting period, so much money would come in and people would just spend recklessly without any thought of saving”.
“I sometimes question why the Oil Palm Industry Corporation (OPIC) or Hargy Oil Palms Limited (HOPL) cannot conduct some training to teach the people how to save their money,” she said.
Last Friday, Kuambu was among 31 people awarded certificates by the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) to be financial literacy trainers.
Kuambu attended the training with two colleagues from the ENBSL office, chief executive officer Lavinia Taraika and business development officer Peter Wartovo. Having an ENBSL branch in Bialla is ideal for Kuambu to use to impart the knowledge and skills she gained from the five-day training to the local people.
“We are increasing the number of trainers in the ENBSL.
“We can now go out and train as many people as we can on financial literacy in the four districts io ENB,” she said. “We are also expanding throughout the New Guinea Islands, therefore, we are able to cover more territory in ENB as well as the nearby provinces.”
Kuambu is now encouraging her people to open bank accounts, save money and empower themselves with financial freedom.