Zongo Financial Literacy Training 2022
Event
German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation (DSIK), Zongo and Inner-Cities Development Secretariat organized its second business games training for Zongo market women from the the Mfantseman Constituency. A total of 32 market women from Mankessim, Saltpond and Anomabo in the Mfantseman constituency in the Central region of Ghana, were trained for five (5) days from the 7th of February 2022 to the 11th of February 2022 at credit union training center in Kasoa. The organization of the participants were done by the Member of Parliament for Mfansteman Constituency, Hon. Ophelia Mensah Hayford.
Training in Photos
The Member of Parliament for Mfantseman Hon. Ophelia Mensah Hayford adviced and encouraged the women to take the training very serious and build their financial literacy skills. She emphasized the importance of planning their income and the need to save to help them in times of emergencies. Additionally, she urged them to use the skills and knowledge they have gain to improve their businesses and expand to create more employment to reduce the unemployment rate in the country. The Regional Coordinator, West Africa for German Sparkassenstiftung, Mr. Kwang Yung-Jung also addressed the women and talked to them about the organization’s goal for the training and the importance of the Business Games. The director – policy, planning, research and development - Zongo and inner cities development secretariat, Mr Stephen Luke Dapaah was also present and shared reasons why the secretariat and German Sparkassenstiftung keeps collaborating in organizing the training.
Participants
The participants, all women, from 18 to 55 years were entrepreneurs/ business owners, and their businesses ranges from stationery, provision store business, selling of cereals, seamstress, Food vending, Selling of fish etc. The mixed age range coupled with years of experienced the market women made the sessions very productive as some shared their experiences and really worked well in their teams. As they were of varied educational background, a mix of local languages Fante and Twi and English were used during the training for a better understanding by all.
Lessons Drawn from the Training
The training increased the financial knowledge of the market women on how to manage their business or store by taking decisions on growth opportunities, diverse challenges, threats and business opportunities. They were also made to consider diverse internal and external factors that influence the business. They learnt to prioritize, create a household budget and plan ahead, understand the importance of saving money to be able to achieve goals and increase quality of life. Some take aways for most of the market women are as follows
- Pay themselves salary
- Keep records of their business
- Put money aside at the end of every month/week
- Do a good forecast before buying raw materials
- Take their monies from customers anytime they sell to them
- Ascertain their profit
- Spend on things they need
