Yaa Asantewaa Girls School ahead of its 65th anniversary celebrations has collaborated with Women in forex Ghana under its initiative: THE ELEVATE GHANA FOREX PROJECT to train and mentor 3,500 students in digital finance literacy/skill set to adequately prepare the students for better finance and career opportunities on the job market.
The initiative is to advocate for the need for exploration of the Digital Finance Industry through training and mentorship enlightening the youth of the enormous financial and career opportunities bestowed in the industry equipping them with the needed skills to engage.
The population of Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050 by the United Nations and currently 60% of the population is under the age of 25, making Africa the world’s youngest continent The burgeoning youth population is both an opportunity and a challenge for the continent.
Internet, digital penetration and engagements of African youth increased from 24.4% in 2018 to 90% in 2020 indicated by ITU Digital world (Child Online Protection Organization) but most of the activities online by the youth are not very productive even though great career and financial opportunities abound online.
Such high number of young people is an opportunity for the continent’s growth but only if these new generations are fully empowered and trained to realise their best potentials. It’s important the youth are included in decision making and given appreciate opportunities for work, training and to innovate.
The United Nations estimates 16million young African are facing unemployment. On average 11million young people join the African Labour market each year yet the continent generates only 3.7 million jobs annually, a gap too wide to be ignored.
It is to this effect that the Headmistress Mrs. Felicia Asamoah is embarking on this collaborative Digital Finance program with Women in Forex Ghana to empower the students.
The CEO of Women In Forex Ghana and head of the training project Miss Gifty Annor-Sika Asantewah, an old student of the school stated that Yaa Asantewaa Girls School is the 1st High school to benefit from this programme. She indicated that inculcating the value of saving and investment etc at their age will go along way to sharpen their financial decisions smartly for future financial liberation. lts paramount to catch them young and instil these skills in them to inform their money decisions as they grow as such education is relevant in this era of unemployment and pandemics.
The Misconception About Forex Trading And The Digital Finance
The head of Academics, Mr Abosi in an interview disclosed that, the misconception about forex trading and the digital finance industry in general makes it not attractive and as such education is needed early to decipher the myths. He emphasised that training the students in financial literacy early gives them an added advantage on the capital market and the need to indulge and explore career and financial paths in forex trading becomes easy.
The capital market especially the foreign exchange market is the most liquid market on earth. Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of forex market in 2019 amounted to roughly 142 trillion Dollars with the entire worth of the market standing at $2.4quadrillion with over 170 currencies been traded reported by Bank of international settlement.
The IMARC group predicts a compound annual growth rate of 6% for the forex industry in the next 5years.
The industry is green in Africa especially Ghana, the more reason why there is the need to study and train to bridge the educational and capacity gap in hopes of future career opportunities for the African youth.
The headmistress indicated that as the students are being educated to be excellent in all facet of life, financial literacy can’t be ruled out.
The goal of this Digital Finance training programme is to adequately equip the youth with skill set that are relevant in this pandemic era for a better livelihood, gear the youth toward productive online engagements and reduce cyber crime and help government’s policy to reduce unemployment.
Writer: Gifty Annor-Sika Asantewah
Project Head
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