2000 students to be facilitated in Money Smart workshop

…to budget, save and spend prudently

Financial Literacy Month commenced on Monday with the launch of the Money Smart Kids workshop, designed by the Outliers Zone to assist children in making wise financial choices.
In collaboration with the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI), they are expecting some 2000 students from both the primary and secondary schools for the workshop on April 12.
Outliers Zone is a financial wellness institute that will engage the children on the dynamics of saving, investing, spending and donating.
Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Athalyah Yisrael explained that this activity eliminates the scourge of financial illiteracy by providing useful information at an early age.
Yisrael explained, “Our force is radical towards our children…The primary students will be able to learn about finances on their level…What we don’t want is for them to be there and struggle paycheck-to-paycheck.”
Since the 2017 launch of Outliers Zone, some 1000 persons have already benefitted from activities and discussions to control their spending habits.
Meanwhile, New Accounts Manager at GBTI, Frances Sahadeo stated that the financial institution has also been instrumental in providing saving solutions for all ages.
This is evident through their Early Savers programme, which has helped many children via the establishment of a saving deposit from a young age.
“At GBTI, we understand these needs and challenges, so we have developed solutions for customers at every level. We cater for the children, the retirees, small and large business people,” Sahadeo stated.
She added, “We believe that initiatives such as these should be endorsed and fully supported. We encourage parents to think of the kids’ future and we encourage our kids to get a piggy bank and start saving. It’s never too late to instil in our children, to start practising sound financial patterns”.
Tickets for the workshop will be sold at a number of schools. For the primary school level, the cost for one ticket is $500 and the workshop is slated for 09:30h to 11:00h. The secondary students are required to pay $600 and will be facilitated from 13:00h to 15:00h. Both sessions will be facilitated at the National Gymnasium.
Piggy banks are also available at the cost of $8995 but the children will be eligible to enter a drawing to win one of four such saving devices. The end goal is to enable 11,000 children from the various regions to be money smart.