Lijeng Ranooe

EDUCATING and assisting Lesotho’s youth to be financially aware, save, budget and start their own companies is crucial to the economic stability of the country.

This was said by Lesotho Post Bank (LPB) Managing Director, Molefi Leqhaoe at a recent seminar held by Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) in Maseru to equip and encourage the youth in tertiary institutions to save and manage their money wisely.

“Unemployment in Lesotho is a reality that the youth has to face, and it is time to support entrepreneurship and financial education in order to face the challenges that Lesotho faces,” Mr Leqhaoe said.

“One of the key issues that we have identified as leaders in the financial sector is people do not know how to save and invest their money. This concerns me because what will happen if we have an economic slow-down and people lose their jobs is that we will experience more economic instability; it is therefore vital that as leaders of tomorrow, you get in to the culture of saving.

“The lack of jobs is something we as financial institutions cannot turn a blind eye to, we need to create platforms for the youth to know how to use money to make more money and develop entrepreneurial mind-sets.

“I want to encourage you to move away from the mentality that you need to get hired to achieve financial stability, please create your own business and be in control of your own finances.”

Mr Leqhaoe also noted that financial institutions needed to contribute to financial access for business start-ups and create more ways for students to save their money.

“We have to see to it that students have means of making money maybe by creating a platform for them to sell the services or products at our various banks and pay them commission.

We can also creating students’ accounts to cater for their needs as we know that students struggle financially and cannot afford certain bank charges. We need to be more hands on and help our youth in any way we can,” Mr Leqhaoe said.

For his part, CBL Corporate Communications Manager, Moroke Moroke, said it was important for students to have guidance and not take matters into their own hands and seek financial advice.

“I want to make a very strong appeal to you, to educate yourself on the services available to you and how you can go about managing your finances. Seek professional advice.”

“The first thing I want to discourage among the youth is the habit of living in debt that they cannot afford to handle. It is fairly easy nowadays to get a loan from a bank especially if you have a job and that is how people get in debt and end up paying off loans with loans. Please do not fall into that trap, start by saving your money,” Mr Moroke said.