The Junior Achievement (JA) Africa and the Ecobank Group have announced a new partnership, “Banking on Africa’s Youth.” The partnership would undertake a campaign which would tap into JA’s vast online community, comprising over one million young social media followers spread across Africa.
It would educate and mobilise over 600,000+ young people with financial literacy knowledge, as part of Ecobank’s Junior Savers initiative which in part seeks to grow financial inclusion for young Africans using Ecobank’s mobile/digital resources. The purpose of the online campaign is to empower potential and existing Junior Savers account holders with the requisite financial literacy knowledge to understand and begin to build a culture of savings as part of their personal financial habits. The campaign targets youth groups, online influencers and communities with knowledge of some basic financial concepts.
“The Ecobank Group is committed to building financial literacy and money management skills amongst the youth as they transition into Africa’s productive workforce,” the Group Consumer Banking Head at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Nana Araba Abban said.
“Our collaboration with JA Africa will enable us positively impact young citizens who are our investment in the future of the continent.”
Speaking about the program, JA Africa’s CEO, Elizabeth Elango Bintliff, said, “This partnership with the Ecobank Group reinforces both JA Africa’s and the banking group’s commitment to financial literacy and inclusion for all Africans, especially the youth. We believe in educating a new generation of leaders with the knowledge they need to navigate their economic futures while giving them the tools to succeed.”
Africa’s youth today are growing up in a new financial world where technology plays a big role in in their lives. This partnership will go a long way to reach and influence behavior of millions of unbanked young people on the African continent by giving them the requisite financial literacy skills to become financially informed adults in the future.
