An imboni and best-selling author is on a mission to teach township children about financial literacy.
Dr uZwi-Lezwe Radebe, who leads the Revelation Spiritual Home Church across the country, believes that good habits start young and learning to save must start early.
He recently launched his latest book titled Trillion Dollar Kids, which is a book about financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
Dr Radebe is an imboni, which means foreseer or one who can predict the future.
In an interview with Vukani, he said the book is intended to enlighten children about the importance of using money wisely. He hopes to encourage families to inculcate a culture of saving.
He realised that children from the township were missing an important foundation of being taught about financial literacy.
He then took it upon himself to write a book detailing his life experiences and financial lessons from his mother and he uses practical examples in the book so that people can relate.
He said in this book he is killing two birds with one stone by educating children about financial literacy while encouraging families to expose their children to reading books.
“We need to develop a culture of savings and understanding the power of money.
“We can’t be a society that spends money recklessly and does not invest. My mother taught me the importance of understanding money and how to use it.
“I also want the children to understand that just like them, I was once a child with dreams and ambition but through the guidance of my parents I learnt about money.
“Children are not taught financial intelligence in school and that really hit me hard. We want to raise children who are able to make sound decisions and who are going to be leaders tomorrow.
“We lack strong moral leaders and we must ensure that we do play our part in making our society a better place than we found it,” he said.
Dr Radebe said as part of ensuring that they empower the community, they will run an intensive six-month programme to teach children about financial literacy.
He said they had engaged all relevant financial institutions and are on board.
He said it was critical that they empower the youth with knowledge and skills available so that they can stand a better chance of making it in life.
He believes that they had been either ignorant or turning a blind eye on tackling issues of literacy and financial literacy.
He urged the townships and black people to read more books and invest in their children’s education and well being.
