Karatina University’s School of Business, in collaboration with Equity Bank Foundation, carried out training to students and faculty on Financial Literacy in two sessions, one at the School in Town Annexe on Wednesday 22nd November, 2023 and another one at Main Campus on Wednesday 29th November, 2023. The training was coordinated by Dr Stephen Macharia, Dr Paul Kiumbe and Mr.Sylvester Onyango, all from the School, on behalf of the Dean.
Equity Bank Foundation facilitated the training, in terms of training personnel and other resources, which attracted 250 participants from the School of Business and 260 from various areas at Main Campus.
The training was opened by the Ag. Deputy Vice Chancellor, Planning, Finance and Administration, Prof Richard Kiai, who is also the Dean of the School.
Dr. Kabethi Miano, the Head of Department, Business and Economics opened the training session at Main Campus on behalf of the DVC, PF& A.
In his opening remarks, Prof Kiai welcomed Equity Group Foundation and said that he looked forward to more linkages with them in future.
Prof Kiai gave a brief history of the success behind Equity Bank where the Bank “saw and exploited a gap in the banking industry in the 1990s”. Similarly, he encouraged students to see gaps in the economy and exploit them using the entrepreneurship knowledge acquired in their studies.
On financial literacy, he noted that it is important to understand how money works early enough. The DVC further said that managing small money opens opportunity for managing large amounts. Students were encouraged to think digitally and see different opportunities in the digital world.
He thanked the trainers for choosing Karatina University for the training amongst many other institutions.
The training mainly focused on the following three areas:
Financial Literacy: Participants were taken through the importance of financial literacy especially when one is a student. This is because financial education enhances one’s knowledge, skills and attitude and leads to prudent financial management. Other areas covered were sources of money, budgeting, spending and saving habits, borrowing and investing. Student were advised to be cautious when setting financial goals, which should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely), budgeting, spending and saving.
Entrepreneurship: Participants were urged to adopt the mindset of an entrepreneur whose qualities are the ability to; identify and utilize valuable gap, handle stress, seek social support, take risk and invest money for higher returns.
Digital Literacy: Students were reminded that they belong to a generation where technology is everything, and that there are very many opportunities such as: payment cards, training on fraud prevention in digital platforms, digital marketing, and content creation among others.
The Equity Bank Foundation trainers were, Doreen M. Musamb, William Kagiri and Jedidah Kihia from Nanyuki branch, Esther Njugna, Kerugoya branch, Tabitha Benu, Karatina Branch, and Jessie Thuo and Nora Ruth, Othaya Branch.
