Promoting financial literacy among African women

Men have for years dominated almost every sphere of life. Big businesses were a men’s domain. Almost all big companies and factories were established and run by men. However, things are different nowadays; women are rising in the business ranks, a progression that has been in the making for years.

Today, women have strived to also be at the top, sharing experiences and ideas at different occasions on how they can reach the pinnacle of the business industry. Knowing where there were before, what their ambitions are and where they are heading to, women have managed to work hard and smart to establish, own and run big businesses. Tanzania today has many more women entrepreneurs than before.

It is such promising prospects in the business field in the country that led to the coming of Arese Ugwu, a Nigerian author of ‘The Smart Money Woman’, a book that encourages young Africans especially women to make smart money choices, helping them to make money, keep money and grow money. The book acknowledges that women need to make tough choices to compete in a business world that’s male-dominated.

“When growing up, my parents used to tell me that money never grows on trees,” says Arese at a recently organised breakfast meeting in Dar es Salaam. The morning gathering organized by Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Tanzania Chapter, brought Arese, all the way from Nigeria to Dar es Salaam just to share her experience and exchange ideas with Tanzanian women entrepreneurs.

The event attracted both men and women entrepreneurs within and outside the EO Tanzania Chapter, all united in their quest for listening and learning from Arese’s entrepreneurial journey but it also gave her an opportunity to engage with key decision makers who will in turn influence others within their community to gain some financial freedom through reading her book.

Her journey

Arese started her entrepreneurial journey out of fear of living from paycheque to paycheque with not enough assets to protect her financial future. “Knowing that I do not have enough investment, I decided to direct my efforts and became more aggressive about my investment. I started creating contents for African Millennium women as well as writing articles for a platform known as Bella Naija (Life & styles),” she says.

Her visit to Tanzania was not only about having a cup of coffee with fellow women entrepreneurs. She says she is looking forward to inspiring and encouraging Tanzanian women who have not yet started their entrepreneurial life to venture into business. “We want to look fabulous, decent, live good lives and buy things on our own without becoming broke,” says Arese during her inspirational talk at the gathering.

“I remember my first article was about money management. At that time no one was really writing articles about financial education. People were more interested in Googling about celebrity gossip. They didn’t care about money management. I spotted the opportunity and I grabbed it. I started to read and write articles about money management, doing different workshops,” recalls Arese.

At the beginning, she didn’t have the idea to publish a book. It was a polite advice from a friend that was knocked into her brain. “A friend of mine challenged me by asking why I shouldn’t compile all my articles into a book as according to her, they convey powerful messages,” she reveals.

Arese says she started to write articles which can be read by anyone, adults and teenagers, parents and children. “I wrote something interesting that people can fall in love with. Something that reflects African life,” she adds, saying, in the book, she talks about African life in money management. “One can read about love, relationship and even about family. A reader can actually see his/her friends, mother and sisters in the book,” she notes.

According to the author, all she wanted is to tell women how they can find a way to balance between spending intentionally and cutting expenses in things they don’t like.

For his part, Alpesh Sanghvi, the current EO Tanzania chapter President and founding member, says his organization celebrates Arese on her East African book tour to promote financial literacy among African women by sharing her entrepreneurial journey with them.

Alpesh says their organization embraces and encourages entrepreneurs, especially women, to learn from their peers locally and around the world, leading to greater business success.

“I believe we need more women entrepreneurs in Tanzania. Long gone are days when women were told that they have to be good at house work only, handling more domestic responsibilities. I have a daughter and I want her to be an independent woman so that she would never have to rely on someone for her wellbeing,” he says.

Alpesh is of the view that entrepreneurship is merely observing the shortfall in the market place or society and offering a solution that creates value for that particular area. “As women think differently from men, they can come up with very creative and thus innovative ideas for existing problems. It only remains that they be encouraged to take the leap into entrepreneurship. And this is where EO Tanzania Chapter aspires to achieve,” he adds.

When Miranda Naiman, Empower Limited Founder and Managing Director accidentally ventured out into the world of entrepreneurship 9 years ago, she naively thought she would level the playing field by proving that she could build her business as seamlessly as a man could. “The reality, in fact is that we live in a deeply patriarchal society where assumptions are often made and judgements cast about courageous women who choose to go solo,” she says, adding, “I do believe it depends on the type of Business you run; but in essence you have to keep your guard up and work that much harder to maintain your professionalism & integrity. That being said, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of female entrepreneurs in the world - very telling of our resilient spirit and tenacity.”

Miranda strongly believes that business success is intrinsically linked to the company you keep and the organisations you choose to serve. “As the Learning Chair of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in Tanzania, we hosted Arese Ugwu to encourage African women to enhance their financial literacy for the betterment of their families & business growth. The ‘Smart Money Woman’ event was part of her East African Book Tour which is a testament to the importance of pan-African trade, investment and knowledge-sharing - particularly amongst women,” she says.

Shaista Juma, the Executive Director of Dar es Salaam International Academy (DIA) says in order for women to become successful business owners, they should hold themselves to high standards.“If women want to run their businesess with integrity, then they have to ensure that the team behind them is highly motivated and self-driven,” says Shaista, who underscores the importance of teaching children about financial management. “We should teach our children how to save, invest, budget and learn how to wisely spend their earning,” she adds.

You can get a copy of the book ‘The Smart Money Woman’ in Mikocheni, Bima road and at Timeless beauty salon, Sinza.

Key ‘takeaways’ from the book:

• Invest, invest, invest (money in a savings account makes you nothing)

• Trust your gut and be resilient

• Set goals – write them down so they manifest and become your reality

• Make tough choices to stay competitive in the business world.