Competition gets learners talking about money
"The winners are the audience because they learn so much from the speakers."
THE KwaZulu Natal Financial Literacy Association Trust (KZNFLA Trust) says more than 11 million people in the country are debt trapped and do not understand the extent of financial implications. Twenty-two years ago the Trust established a financial speech contest with three schools, with the aim of getting learners to talk about money. To date, more than 1000 schools in the province take part in the competition.
This annual competition is organised by the KwaZulu-Natal Financial Literacy Association (KZNFLA) Trust in partnership with KZN Treasury, KZN Financial Services and the KZN Department of Education.Its objective is to encourage careers in finance, entrepreneurship and financial planning in particular, and to promote financial literacy in schools.
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Artwell Hlengwa, who is the chair of Trust said: “What we have discovered as an organisation is that people are not aware of the many financial products available to people to help them prepare and save for the future. People are also not spending wisely, we need to develop the education of finance, people must be taught how and when to use money. When we started with the competition the aim was not to get a winner, but to spark a conversation about money among young people.”
“An integral part of the Trust is to contribute significantly towards changing behavior, attitudes through educating and empowering consumers to make better informed quality financial decisions. A lot of people are living false lives because they do not want to be called poor. The positives is that the younger generation are taught from a young age about the significance of money. The difference between the competition and others is that winners are the audience who attend the competitions because they learn so much from the various speakers,” he said.
KZNFLA Trust is an initiative of the KwaZulu Natal Provincial Treasury. The KZNFLA Trust was established to serve as a focal point in enhancing financial literacy awareness in the province. This is achieved with a host of KwaZulu- Natal Financial Literacy Association partners who are representatives of the Financial Services Sector, the Insurance Sector, the relevant Regulators, different Government Departments and other Industry experts who resonate with the Trust mandate. The Trust also runs its programmes with specific, relevant and tailor-made programmes to match individuals and groups that are most in need of financial literacy and to find the best ways to reach them.
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