Financial literacy to Congolese and Angolan Women.

Financial literacy to Congolese and Angolan Women.

By: Maria Pedro Miala (Angola) – ACFellows Cohort 1, 2018

The Journey

I wanted to have at least 5 women, at some point I found African women who did Likelemba together, this is an African savings mechanism system  between women to receive a huge amount of money at once, each has her turn to receive it. They were 6, but due to circumstances it did not go as planned and I could not meet them. I found it interesting because they save money and I wanted to inform them how to invest and grow their money.

I found 5 women who were very interested and  I was able to give a presentation about  investing in stocks and foreign exchange. Those 5 women were between 30 and 40 years old, they all live in Belgium, they all do work  and already save money each month but they do not know how to make their savings grow.

Since all of the women spoke french and only one spoke English, I had to do my presentation in french. Three of the women already had children and two did not. I found it really good that there was this variety. Although I wished more women were at the presentation, I am content that I finally did the presentation and that they were very interested in the topic.

The presentation

• I started by explaining what stocks are
• I explained them also what dividends are
• Examples of popular companies where you can buy stocks
• What is more interesting: saving or investing?
• How to invest in foreign exchange?
• The valuates in foreign exchange
• The risks involved
• What to pay attention to see when a stock can gain or loose it’s value
• Long term versus short term investment

The women found it very interesting and started even to start  questions during the presentation, instead of skin git after the presentation and my conclusion. They wanted to know so much that they preferred to ask at the moment. The goal was not to be an expert and teach them about stocks. The goal was to inform them about the stocks and about the misconceptions about stocks and foreign exchange, to let them know there are other ways to make your money grow other than buying clothes and sell it for a higher price to somebody else.

Many African women are only aware of buying cheaper things and sell it at a higher price to make money or working, they are not very well informed about investing money and reap the benefits of in a passive way. I enjoyed the process and what I really enjoyed is how those women thanked me for opening their eyes about something they were very misinformed about it.