A recent Financial Literacy Training conducted at the Bisini Lawn Bowls club in Port Moresby city, facilitated by the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) in partnership with the Department for Community Development and Religion, has proved helpful for the participants.
One particular participant, who is a retired Football player who had a lustrous playing career in his prime days, was also part of this empowerment of life skills training.
Mr. Roland Bala is a PNG International Football representative player, who played for various teams in the National Soccer League, a semi-professional competition. He was part of the PNG Football Men’s team that played in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup and also had a stint with Southern United FC in the New Zealand Premiership Football League.
When PNG HAUSBUNG interviewed him, he said he was pleased to be part of such an opportunity to acquire such a skill, especially during a time where the country is faced with economic problems and many Papua New Guinean households are struggling financially.
“In this financial literacy training, we learnt about budgeting and savings. So, what I learnt from this training is all about our everyday habit of using our hard-earned money through unwise spending and not saving the little we have. And this is a mindset changing experiencing for me, especially to do with saving,” said Mr. Bala.
He adds that this training has also helped him to understand how to be financially sound and avoid unhealthy financial habits. He said, someone who has not received this kind of training or is not familiar about financial literacy, will definitely have problems financially. For him, this training has empowered him to be wiser with his spending, and look into opportunities like starting a small business.
As a retired athlete, he sees life as a struggle, especially when one who has not completed the formal education process but turns to concentrate more on sports as another means to sustain your life. He says athletes who are in the semi-professional competitions earning money; they must save the little they receive.
He also urges the sportsmen and women to reach out to people and others for such opportunities to get them prepared for life after sports.
“So many of our athletes earning salaries, they just spend, spend and spend. My advice to them is limit on your expenses and try to save your money. You can start small with at least a much smaller amount. Try putting that little away and forget about it. You’ll be surprised at how much you will save once your time in sports is up," said Mr. Bala.
