Equity Bank through its branches reached out to 69 learning institutions during the Global Money Week where they tutored 5,147 students across Kenya about the advantages of saving and entrepreneurship in celebration of this year’s Global Money week.
The theme for 2017 was “Learn, Earn and Save”. In Kenya, the initiative is coordinated through the Kenya Banker’s Association and this year they extended the drive by a month due to the school holidays.
During the period, Equity Bank employees reached out to 50 primary and 13 secondary schools across the country providing them with the basics of financial education, learning materials that suited their age group and empowering them to be prudent from a young age. For the primary school pupils, some branches donated piggy banks to encourage saving.
Equity also reached out to six tertiary institutions by interactively teaching the youth on the importance of saving, being financially conscious and investing early in life. They distributed financial related booklets that addressed financial issues that suited their age category. Equity Bank has published 3 books targeting young people. They are ‘Fun with Money’ for the 6-9 years age group; ‘Smart Teen Smart Money’ for the 13-17 years age group and ‘Take the Financial Lead’ for the 18-24 years age group.
The Branch Managers of the respective branches led their teams in teaching and educating students how money management can help them gain financial freedom, and prepare them for the future. They encouraged them to start making the right financial decisions now so they build their understanding of how to earn, save and invest money.
Global Money Week, is an annual global celebration set aside in March for youths to learn about money, saving, creating livelihoods and becoming financially literate.
Over the years, Equity Bank, through Equity Group Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation has delivered quality financial literacy training and services to women and youth throughout Kenya, and particularly those engaging in entrepreneurial ventures. To date, over 1.4 million women and youth have benefited from this training.