A financial education program targeting youth and Medium & Small Enterprises (MSMEs) was launched by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) last week. It aims to equip interested trainees with personal and professional knowledge through experts from banks and microfinance institutions who will provide comprehensive training. The training modules, developed in collaboration with The First Consult and BRIDGE, cover several angles of financial literacy, including deposits, digital financial services, loans, insurance and budgeting. The initiative was unveiled at an event held at an Inter-luxury Hotel. Martha Hailemariam, from the central bank, emphasised that the module is designed to increase the financial service literacy of youth and MSMEs to 75pc by 2025. Henok Tena, the head of the program at First Consult, highlighted the substantial financial gap faced by MSMEs, estimating it at 6.1 billion dollars. He emphasised that factors such as financial literacy, a lack of innovative products, liquidity challenges, and collateral have constrained over two million enterprises in the country. Editors' Note: The article was updated from its original form on March 7, 2024.
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