Residents in and around Kasoa benefit from Financial Literacy training through the Kasoa Konnect Meetup in April 2023

GhanaThink, in partnership with the Center for Financial Literacy Education Africa, held a Kasoa Konnect meetup on April 15th, 2023 at Pizzaman-Chickenman in Kasoa. The purpose of the gathering was to drive conversations around financial literacy and share some essential principles on personal financial management as part of the activities for the April Financial Literacy Month Campaign. Kasoa Konnect Konnect is a community of people who live or are interested in Kasoa and its environs. It is managed by the Kasoa team within the GhanaThink Foundation. It brings people, places and organizations in Tema together for opportunities, information and promotion.

During the event, leaders of GhanaThink and CFLE Africa gave a brief overview of themselves and their goals. GhanaThink is a social enterprise that mobilizes and organizes talent for the benefit of Ghana and the world. Their programs include Barcamp Ghana, Junior Camp Ghana, Ghana Volunteer Program, and Komseko. CFLE Africa is a non-profit social organization that develops and promotes financial literacy in Africans, particularly young Africans. They aim to empower individuals to take control of their finances one step at a time. The Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Movement is an initiative by CFLE Africa and The Financial Awareness Foundation to significantly improve financial awareness and literacy in Ghana.

Konnect Meetups are organized around the various Konnect groups which are led or co-managed by the GhanaThink Foundation. As is the tradition at Konnect Meetups all over Ghana, the attendees introduced themselves – mentioning their full names, locations, occupations, how they heard about the Konnect Meetup and their expectations for the topic. Konnect Meetups are organized to help young people catch up, hang out, network, learn, and share. All of these meetups and the group activities (virtual and physical) go to build a connected community in Kasoa and nearby areas, share information, and create networking and job opportunities.

Attendees at the Kasoa Konnect meetup were encouraged to share their experiences and money beliefs they grew up with or came to meet in society. They also shared the lessons they learned or picked up while growing up and how that disrupted the money beliefs they had encountered.

The essential principles around financial literacy were then shared, with attendees encouraged to organize their financial paperwork and keep them at a centralized location for easy access. Additionally, they were advised to keep an inventory of what they own and owe, know their social capital, track their income and expenditure, maximize their employment benefits, set financial goals, plan for financial independence and retirement, plan for major expenditures, understand investments, plan their taxes, protect themselves and their loved ones with insurance, plan their estate and gifting, and avoid procrastination.

The Kasoa Konnect meetup stressed the importance of sharing these essential principles with family and friends and making social media posts with the hashtags #FinancialLiteracyMonth and #ImprovingFinancialAwareness. The hashtag for Kasoa Konnect is also #KasoaKonnect, in addition to #bckasoa which is used for Barcamp Kasoa.

CFLE Africa highlighted that they are committed to touching 10 million Ghanaians by 2025 and the entire population of 30 million plus Ghanaians by 2030 through the Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Movement. The initiative has already reached over 2 million Ghanaians since its launch in 2021, with strategic partners including the Ghana Association of Banks, Chartered Institute of Bankers, KPMG, Deloitte, Prudential Life Insurance Ghana, Axis Pensions, UGBS, and GhanaThink.

The Kasoa Konnect meetup was attended by a diverse group of individuals who left the event with newfound knowledge and a better understanding of personal financial management. Attendees expressed their gratitude to GhanaThink and CFLE Africa for organizing the event and providing such valuable information.

The Kasoa Konnect meetup demonstrated the importance of financial literacy and the need for more initiatives to educate Ghanaians on personal financial management. It is hoped that more events like this will be organized across the country to promote financial literacy and help Ghanaians achieve financial independence.

Kasoa, Ghana – GhanaThink, in partnership with the Center for Financial Literacy Education Africa (CFLE Africa), held a Konnect Meetup at Chickenman in Kasoa to drive conversations on financial literacy and share essential principles on personal financial management as part of the April Financial Literacy Month Campaign.

The event began with a brief introduction of the organizations involved and the Improving Financial Awareness & Financial Literacy Movement, an initiative by CFLE Africa and The Financial Awareness Foundation to significantly improve financial awareness and financial literacy in Ghana. Since its official launch in 2021, it has reached over 2 million Ghanaians, with a goal of touching 10 million by 2025 and the entire population of 30 million plus Ghanaians by 2030. The strategic partners include the Ghana Association of Banks, Chartered Institute of Bankers, KPMG, Deloitte, GhanaThink, Prudential Life Insurance Ghana, Axis Pensions, and UGBS.

The discussions revolved around money beliefs and lessons learned while growing up. Attendees were encouraged to share the money beliefs they grew up with or encountered in society and the lessons they have learned that disrupted these beliefs. These discussions lasted for 25 minutes each.

Peter Asare-Nyarko presented some essential principles of financial literacy, as developed by CFLE Africa. These principles were designed to help people take control of their finances one step at a time. The principles were as follows:

• Organize your financial paper works – all your financial documents, both digital files and hardcopies, should be kept in a centralized location so you can access them easily, or at least one person in your family should have access.

• Keep an inventory of what you own (assets) and what you owe (liabilities); that is your net worth. Your actual financial position. Assets are things that have value or monetary value; personal assets (car, house, land, computer, mobile phone), financial assets (investments, insurance policies, cash in the bank, cash at hand, equity shares, etc.)

• Know your social capital and build strong social capital; goodwill is currency.

• Track your income and expenditure; that is your cash flow. Have a positive cash flow by increasing your income and cutting down on expenditure. Have multiple streams of income.

• Know your hidden paycheck; that is your employment benefits and make maximum use of them.

• Set financial goals and work towards them. Set short-term goals, medium-term goals, and long-term goals. Your goals should be SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

• Plan for financial independence and retirement.

• Plan for major expenditures; buying a car, pursuing further or higher education, etc.

• Understand investments and leverage them to build wealth.

• Plan your taxes.

• Protect yourself and your loved ones with insurance. Protect your wealth or assets with insurance.

• Plan your estate and giftings. Live a legacy. Donate to community courses and social change initiatives.

• Don’t procrastinate – tomorrow never comes, do it today.

• Share these principles with family and friends.

• Make social media posts this month with the hashtags #FinancialLiteracyMonth and #ImprovingFinancialAwareness.

The event ended with attendees asking questions and engaging in discussions on how they could apply the principles to their daily lives. The organizers emphasized the need for financial literacy and encouraged attendees to spread the word to their communities and social media platforms.

GhanaThink and CFLE Africa are committed to improving financial awareness and financial literacy in Ghana and will continue to hold events like the Konnect Meetup to educate and empower Ghanaians to take control of their finances. Those interested in learning more, can engage both organizations on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.