Activities begin for financial literary month

The global economic challenges have limited economic prospects locally, regionally and internationally, but managing one’s own personal finances is crucial.{{more}}

And the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), throughout the month of October will be providing members of the public with the tools they will need to better manage their personal finances, when the Financial Information Month officially gets underway next month.

Financial Information Month is a regional financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial education campaign, which is executed throughout the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).

Elritha Dick, Resident Representative of the ECCB, explained that the month long campaign is now in its 12th year and will be celebrated under the theme ‘Reshaping Our Future – Starting Now’ and seeks to inspire and challenge all citizens of the ECCU to take action at the individual, business and institutional levels that will result in stronger financial foundations, more competitive business offerings and higher levels of economic growth.

“The logo for Financial Information Month 2013 underscores the view that the task of ‘Reshaping our Future’ to ensure our long term success, will require new understanding, new thinking, new strategies and new actions to forge ahead in an increasingly complex global economy,” Dick said.

Activities for the month began on Wednesday with an ECCU Train the Trainers workshop on Business Planning and Innovation which targeted teachers.

The other activities scheduled for the month of October include entrepreneurship education to stimulate micro and small business formation and strengthen existing micro and small businesses; programmes designed to educate the public about becoming better stewards of their finances and capacity building initiatives in the area of finance, economics, business and entrepreneurship.

A number of school programmes will also be launched, including an ECCU innovation contest for students.

According to Dick, the contest will challenge ECCU secondary school students to develop an innovative business idea to address a social, business or economic problem.

Other activities include business symposiums and innovation forums targeting CEO’s, business executives senior managers, board directors, business owners, entrepreneurs and academics. (DD)