Select Page

Making the Girl Child financially strong

Permanent Secretary of Finance, Ericah Shafudah at the forefront of promoting the girl child is set to launch a trust fund for financial education.

Permanent Secretary of Finance, Ericah Shafudah at the forefront of promoting the girl child is set to launch a trust fund for financial education.

The Permanent Secretary of Finance, Ericah Shafudah has taken a bold step to plough back into the community with special focus on the girl child, by creating the Ericah Shafudah Financial Management Foundation Trust Fund that will be launched on 9 August.
The Minister of Finance, Hon. Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila will deliver the keynote address and launch the trust at at the Windhoek Country Club.
In an interview with the Economist, Shafudah said,“financial management is close to my heart because it directs the critical path to stability and sustainable economic growth. It is for this reason that with the support and encouragement of my colleagues and friends, I created this Trust Fund.”
The trust fund’s main focus and objective is to empower women with special emphasis on the financial education of the Namibian girl child.
Shafudah said, “The trust fund has eight trustees that will be tasked with responsibility of organising activities and identifying projects that will generate funds for the trust.”
The fund’s eight trustees will also be tasked with identifying the criteria on which to award the financial aid to the first beneficiary or beneficiaries to benefit from the trust.
“The launch will be the first step in accumulating funds for the trust, and we are of the view that beyond the launch we will want to identify and come up with more beneficiaries of the trust,” she added.
The fund will target the school-going girl child as well as women from entrepreneurial backgrounds and support will be given especially to those women who would want assistance in compiling business plans and those in the area of book keeping.
Shafudah said her drive to create the fund also came as a result of being awarded Namibian Businesswoman of the Year 2013 which motivated her to help mobilise more resources to educate girls in financial management.
For the immediate future of this trust fund, Shafudah said that “the trustees prepared an annual plan to be rolled out after the launch and our activities include further fund-raising events, and most importantly the identification of the beneficiaries. We further aim to identify various activities aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs with the necessary financial education.
The trust fund beneficiaries should ‘make work of their sponsorship’ as to be a successful return on investment, so to speak.”
Meanwhile Shafudah said further objectives and a details of the fund will be shared at the upcoming launch.

About The Author