Sylvia Juuko
22 April 2008
Kampala — AFRICA should urgently address the lack of financial literacy if regeneration of wealth is to be achieved, Patterson Timba, the chief executive officer of Renaissance Holdings, said last week.
"The issue of lack of financial literacy has to be addressed. We are totally ignorant when it comes to financial matters.
"Africa is one of the few continents where you come across an MBA graduate who cannot describe what bonds are or what the capital market is," he said.
He was speaking during the 2008 Kikonyogo Capital Markets Awards ceremony at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel.
The investor education award was won by Crested Stocks Securities.
Martin Owiny, the head of Stanbic Investments Management Services was the first runner-up.
Jeff Mbanga, a business reporter with The Weekly Observer, won the financial journalism award.
He was followed Paul Busharizi, The New Vision business editor.
Timba said education systems needed to be overhauled to include financial literacy and to inculcate the value of saving and also to ensure graduates are employable.
"If we are to reinvent and regenerate wealth, we have to allow our Afro-centric thinking to develop taking into consideration our culture. When we develop capital markets or African wealth, we need to be able to identify cultural nuances," Timba said.
He told entrepreneurs to put their communities at the heart.
"I believe in capitalism with a heart. I don't believe in the bottom line being the ultimate measure of a successful business." he argued.
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