Junior Achievement (JA) Africa and Ecobank Group on Wednesday announce their new partnership- “Banking on Africa’s Youth.”

The partnership will undertake a campaign which will tap into JA’s vast online community, comprising over one million young social media followers spread across Africa.

It will educate and mobilize 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,” said Nana Araba Abban, Group Consumer Banking Head at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

“Our collaboration with JA Africa will enable us positively impact young citizens who are our investment in the future of the continent.”

The value for customers will be expanded to include financial literacy concepts: earning, budgeting, spending and banking.

The campaign will involve participants advancing progressively through the four concepts. 

JA Africa will launch the campaign to reach different youth groups in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal through all its media outlets over a period of three years.

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.

According to the World Bank 2018 report, young Africans are less likely to have a bank account than adults on the continent.

At the same time, they are more likely to have a mobile phone, engage with friends and be aware of digital channels.

Current technology channels, especially social and digital media, provide the avenue to reach and engage young people at scale. The campaign therefore seeks to leverage technology to achieve its goals.

African Press Organization