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How well do you understand your money?

Financial conversations and education need to become an integral part of our lives.

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by BY NJERI MAINA

Kenya30 April 2024 - 14:40
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In Summary


  • A survey by Allianz named Kenya as 1 of the 3 countries with the poorest pensioners globally.
  • The lack of money is the root of all evil.
Nigerian Naira

Money, many of us have a bittersweet relationship with it. If most of us reflect deeply, we will all agree that our education system never taught about money, yet even the good book says money answers all things, Ecclesiastes Eccl 10:19.

So, how did we all learn about Pythagoras' theory and the history of the British in Kenya we have many adults who are retiring poor, while others have no retirement funds.

Why is it so hard for us to openly talk about money? What went wrong?

Kendi Ntwiga and Dolly Sagwe, created Prosper PATH, a company focused on enabling individuals and families to make informed financial decisions at all stages of their lives.

The company recently held a Financial Literacy Summit to educate and share information to empower individuals financially.

“I have made so many mistakes. When I was growing up 40 years ago, my mum always told me to save in my bank account. I saved but did not know how to grow the money,” shares Muthoni Njoroge, at an attendant at the Financial Literacy Summit by Prosper Path. “I started learning about investing at a very late stage. One mistake that I don't want repeated, is not teaching my kids about money.

I make them do small jobs to earn money. In addition, they have bank accounts and I opened money market funds for them. They will do better than me financially.

Dolly Sagwe, a seasoned personal finance educator and Co-Founder at Prosper PATH said, “The statistics on the state of Financial Literacy in Kenya are scary.

According to the 2021 Global Financial Literacy Survey, only 38 per cent of Kenyans have some sort of financial education.

A survey by Allianz named Kenya as 1 of the 3 countries with the poorest pensioners globally.

Financial conversations and education need to become an integral part of our lives.

Through our summit, we shared and learned about money for all ages. This is a good step to empowerment without shame.”

The summit included several educational sessions with thousands of people accessing personal financial knowledge essential for the well-being of the individual and the whole community. The theme of the event was “Inform, Inspire, Ignite” - Financial empowerment starts with learning.

“Everyone has a unique value proposition. Packaging yourself well will position you to make money. We got work to mobilise capital not to pay bills. You must always pay yourself or you have committed yourself to poverty, explains Pius Muchiri, Founder and CEO of Nabo Capital.

“Even if it is one shilling, you must always pay yourself. You create a portfolio where you pay yourself and build your storehouse and watch the growth of your passive income.”

Kendi Ntwiga, the Co-Founder of Prosper PATH also shared her struggles and challenges with money before embarking on a journey of financial empowerment.

“I grew up in rural Kenya and understood what it meant to live on limited resources and I wanted to break from this life,” says Ntwiga. “I wanted to make it desperate and quickly. I used shylocks, pyramid schemes and also hired purchases. When I was in my mid-20s, luckily, I met Dolly who taught me about money. I acquired knowledge that I had never learnt.”

One of the most important ways of educating people is by adding financial education into our curriculums like in Zambia.

According to the World Bank, The National Strategy on Financial Education for Zambia 2019–2024 Priority programmes include financial education for schools inclusive of a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system.

“My siblings and I worked in my parents’ kiosks by the age of 10. Today, we are in our early twenties and we are living on that knowledge.

We used to do bookkeeping, customer service and even purchase of goods. We had money and business discussions at the dining table.

My peers in their twenties often spend money on drinks, parties, and access phone loans.

It is very sad for me when most of my friends are always broke from their lifestyles. We need money for education,” commented John Owino, who also attended the forum held yesterday in Nairobi.

The lack of money is the root of all evil, said Mark Twain.

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