(L-R) Nafitalai Cakacaka, Sunil Arya & Nemani Drover.

Speech by Mr. Nafitalai Cakacaka,
General Manager Business Risk Services

Namaste and Ni Sa Bula Vinaka.

Let me begin by saying that if ever there was a time for entrepreneurship and industry, that time is now. The current global recession is a cautionary tale for our current and future workforce and that lesson is that you cannot rely on traditional job sources anymore. Many unfortunate workers in Fiji and other countries had to find that out the hard way over the last two years when businesses affected by the receding global economy were forced to cut jobs to remain competitive.

While some closed down completely, others reorganized themselves so that they could continue to stay in business. This is not the first time we have seen a global recession and it won’t be the last either as these events occur in cycles of at least once a decade.

As the world’s financial and business networks continue to grow and link into each other, recessions of the future will be far more acute especially for developing countries like Fiji. Many of those who have lost their jobs since 2007 have turned to alternative livelihoods like driving taxi, farming and selling food so that they are able to continue earning a living for their families.  While the income generated may not be as much as they earned in salaried or wage jobs, they are learning to adjust their lifestyles and spending in accordance with what they earn. With limited finances, they are learning also to separate their wants from their needs and allocate financial resources accordingly.

Others however, have discovered that there is more money to be made by starting their own business. These are the ones that have sat back, thought about what service was lacking and with a small capital input, ingenuity and hard work, they are starting to reap the rewards of their labour.

Some of the world’s most renowned brands like Revlon Cosmetics, Hewlett-Packard and Kentucky Fried Chicken started out during the Great Depression that followed the crash of Wall Street in 1929. In most countries, the Great Depression lasted a little over 10 years with dire consequences for many. There certainly is a lesson to be learnt in all of this and that lesson I believe is to always be prepared for any eventuality.

The Money Smart programme launched in 162 secondary schools at the Form 3 level in 2007 is meant as a head start for young people to begin the process of goal setting, creating a budget and savings plan and actual savings in preparation for life in the future. It is a valuable life skills training that we believe will hold young people like you in good stead when you reach adulthood and have families to look after as well as communal obligations to fulfill. Money Smart teaches you to identify what your needs and wants are and how to plan, work and save for these.

Money Smart was born after years of repeated attempts by the FDB to train its adult clients in the farming, micro-enterprise and small business sectors on how to manage their business with a slow success rate. The Bank had to set up a Client Training Unit & Advisory Services in the past for this purpose. Learning through practical method comes with high cost and high risk.

You will agree that it is very difficult to change a mind set or habits that have been developed over a good number of years so why try and teach an old dog new tricks when we have thousands of young, fertile minds already at hand with a thirst for learning? The Bank recognizes that young people are consumers as well and while their spending habits are still forming, we felt it necessary to begin the educative process before bad spending habits take hold hence Money Smart at the start of the secondary level of education.

The Bank spent considerable resources to create Money Smart because as a responsible corporate citizen we could no longer ignore the limited abilities our people had for managing money. We expect that when your time comes as young working adults, a recession like this will not have the devastating effect it has because you would have prepared yourselves better. It is pleasing to see that already, young people are employing their entrepreneurial skills by creating a savings plan based not only from pocket money given by their parents and guardians but through small business like selling guavas, mangoes and other items that they have accessed from their back yard gardens.

Entrepreneurship is born from the ability to recognize a demand, need or want that exists for goods or services in society. Selling guavas, obviously satisfies a demand for fresh fruit amongst fellow students and by acting on the opportunity provided, the student has found that there is 100% profit on his sales because the guava was already growing at home and cost nothing to pick and cart to school for sale.

Through careful management of this fledgling business learnt through Money Smart and support from financial institutions such as the Fiji Development Bank when older, who knows one day this young person could be the next Patel or Punja or Tappoo. At FDB, our mission is linked directly to the economic development and quality of life of the people of Fiji. Money Smart is a worthwhile initiative we feel to create a Fiji that is less reliant on foreign investments but more with the enterprise of its own people. I am pleased to say that the encouraging results from the 2007 and 2008 savings have impelled us to continue our support for Money Smart in 2009 and for 2010 as well.

Other than Fiji, Tuvalu also uses the Fiji school curriculum, which means Money Smart as well. Other Pacific Island countries have also shown a keen interest in adopting this programme as part of their commercial studies. Such is the impacting value of Money Smart which tells us that we are certainly on the right track and it makes me immensely proud to say that at FDB we are fulfilling our corporate social responsibility to where it matters most – for the younger generation.

Ladies and gentlemen, this morning we are gathered here to congratulate the Form 3 students of Bhawani Dayal Arya College for their hard earned reward as the top school in the Central/Eastern Division for 2008. Your effort and diligence has led to 100% compliance in the opening of a savings account by your students with each of the 205 students’ participating, averaging savings of $57.23 each – what a fantastic effort indeed! Overall, the students saved $11,732.30 in 12 short weeks.

The Bank wants to congratulate and thank the school management, the principal, the teachers, the students and the parents as well for being supportive in your child’s endeavour to actively engage in this programme. It is no easy feat to save such a considerable sum in 12 weeks but you have managed to do that and you deserve to be congratulated on such a sterling effort!

Just to give you an overview of the 2008 results - of the 16,390 student enrolled in the 162 schools implementing Money Smart, 47schools with a roll of 5,544 students returned their results to the CDU for assessment in the competition.

The amount saved by these students in 2008 amounted to $187,017 – that is an average of $33.73 per student. Based on this figure, I estimate that if we had a 100% return on reporting from the remaining 10,846 students in the other 115 schools, the total savings for 2008 would have reached somewhere in the vicinity of $552, 834.70. What an extraordinary achievement that is in itself.

What heartens me most is to see that in the 2007 the average savings per student was found to be $26.31 and in 2008, that number has increased by 28% to $33.73.

As the number one school in your zone, you have shown that your average saving of $57.23 is well above the national average of $33.73 for 2008 – well done! The challenge for you now is to continue with your savings plan and growing your finances for when you enter tertiary education or to start your own business a few years from now.

I have been assured that for the 2009 awards, CDU will compel all schools participating in Money Smart to return their results for moderation. This should then give us a better view of exactly how much students have saved during the 12 weeks and this will also give schools an incentive to aspire towards setting savings targets.

And now it is with much pleasure that I invite the Principl Eduction Officer Mr. Nemni Drova to present the 2008 Money Smart Award for the Central/Eastern Division to Bhawani Dayal Arya College.

Vinaka vaka levu and Dhanyavaad.