A child’s first school is the home — with a parent as the first teacher— so when at home, parents or guardians are advised to introduce financial awareness to youngsters.

Education experts argue that some parents are too busy working day and night, and so they miss out on guiding their children, for example, when it comes to handling finances.

They believe that if learners are encouraged to embrace a savings culture at an early age, the country stands to gain a future population that will be able to invest in viable projects and boost their standards of living.

Genesis Youth Saving Sacco in Kigali focuses on early savings among the youth, with the main objective to facilitate the youth’s financial aspirations.

According to the founders, the Sacco contains about 100 youths who are ready to invest, and every member brings in a certain amount of capital.

The members are mainly youngsters from secondary schools and higher learning institutions, and youth who are not in school.

Bertrand Rwema, a co-founding member of the Sacco, says that the Sacco is open to all Rwandan youth and that the association does not only help members in terms of financial support, but it also sensitises the youth on financial matters.

Why a saving culture?

Rwema says saving is like ‘hidden gold’ and that it’s the cure to unemployment among  Africa’s youth.

"We should know about short and long term savings. In most cases, what’s done is short term saving — to pay medical bills and clear other unforeseen eventualities, among others,” he says.

He adds that the issue, however, is what happens when these youngsters are 45 and above? This is when long term savings will suffice.

To achieve this, Rwema says that the culture of saving should be instilled at a young age.

John Nzayisenge, the director of Good Harvest School, Kigali, says it’s a good idea to teach students how to save. It’s good to train them and give them guidance on how to manage their finances.

He says that parents can give their children some money, and encourage them to save some of it.  After a certain period of time, they should share with their parents what they saved during that time. 

"When learners are encouraged to embrace a saving culture from an early age, it gives them the opportunity to have financial discipline,” Nzayisenge says.

He says that it does not matter how much one saves — small monetary gifts can also be saved; what matters is how long one does it. A saving culture needs to be part of the values that we instil in children as they grow.

Claude Harerimana, in charge of operations at Equity Bank, says that it’s important to teach the youth how to save as it will help them once they start earning their own money.

How it should be done

Financial experts believe that imparting a saving culture at an early age will open their mind and they will realise that the decisions they make will affect their survival for years to come. 

Harerimana says this will give them an opportunity to start being responsible at an early age.

This, he says, should be done through mobilisation by youth authorities or even banks.

Also, banks should have something that motivates the youth. For instance, at his bank, Harerimana says they have a savings product for children and students, which is free of charge to open.

Julius Zigama, a visual artist, poet and art trainer, says for teachers to succeed with this initiative, they should make sure every class has a saving group, where every student is a member.

Every term, a parent should provide an agreed amount of money with the school to keep in the child’s saving group.

Zigama adds that teachers should keep talking to students about saving, and school administrations should provide financial literacy enablers.

It’s important for schools to have financial education or inclusion, where students are taught about money and saving for the future, he says.

Regarding students, Zigama says that they shouldn’t wait for employment to start saving.

"As a student, learning how to save, or even going as far as limiting the way you spend, is vital as it is through this sacrifice that you will create the foundation for capital in the future,” he says.

A parent’s role

Florian Rutiyoma, entrepreneurship curriculum officer at Rwanda Education Board (REB), says parents have a responsibility to teach children the culture of saving right from childhood.

He says that this culture includes other cost cutting solutions, like switching off the lights when not in a room as it helps save electricity, repairing old clothes or shoes as opposed to throwing them away, and recycling, among others.

Rutiyoma says that parents should also teach their children to cook just the right amount of food to make sure nothing goes to waste; to walk to or back from school, among others. These small and simple saving habits, if encouraged, will help them realise that saving is not just about money, but even time.

According to Rutiyomba, REB has an initiative that supports saving among young people, and it provides a framework and guidelines to promote the culture of saving among young people through the Rwandan Curriculum.

He says the curriculum’s subjects such as social studies (primary school), general studies and communication skills; economics and entrepreneurship in secondary school all provide the necessary information for saving and rational spending, among others.

"Entrepreneurship education  aims at equipping learners with the capacity and willingness to develop, organise and manage business ventures, alongside any risks associated in order to make profit,’ he says.

Other initiatives, he says, such as entrepreneurship school, business clubs and ‘Saving Internal Lending Groups’ have been supported by REB to promote the culture of saving among the learners.

"These groups/clubs build on what learners have learnt in class to help them set saving goals for their identified projects. Learners contribute as much as Rwf100 to their saving groups, which can later on be used to fund their class projects,” he says.

This money comes from pocket money given by parents, money from jobs done during the holiday or after school, and other sources,” he adds.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw