By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Early this month, three school girls’ dreams were realised when they were selected by the Ericah Shafudah Financial Management Foundation Trust Fund’s trustees and representatives from UNAM as the winning candidates to be enrolled at the University of Namibia for the next four years. The girls will now be able to complete a degree in financial management focusing either on Bachelor of Accounting; Bachelor or Chartered Accountancy or Bachelor of Economics. The candidates were selected from the Hardap, Kavango West, and Oshana regions.
These regions were drawn during a live-chat show hosted by Radio Wave’s Waking Crew. An excited Ericah Shafudah, who is Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Namibia’s Business Woman of the Year 2013, commented that “the young school girls will now become young women with the opportunity to define their career paths in finance. We are thankful to have been able to provide them with such a life-changing opportunity.”
Shafudah established the charitable trust fund in 2014 stating that “its main objective is to empower women with a focus on the financial education of the Namibian girl child”.
Last year also ended on a high for the trust fund. Shafudah and the fund’s executive committee hosted financial training for SMEs on the December 13, 2014, at the Xwama Traditional Restaurant in Windhoek. The one-day Basic Accounting Workshop was facilitated by Julian Davy du Plessis, an Accounting Lecturer at Polytechnic, who offered training in his private capacity.
About 20 women and one man from the SME sector participated. During a feedback session, participants noted that the foundation should continue with such workshops as it opened their eyes regarding bookkeeping, reconciliation of accounts and new accounting terminologies. Most of the participants indicated their willingness to be used by the foundation as trainers of trainees and to become advocates of the foundation in every way.
Participants were given an assignment that is due on February 16, 2015, after which they will be given certificates on Basic Accounting. Shafudah shared some tips with the participants at the end of their session, stating that each milestone in growth should be celebrated, but also used as a building block towards next career targets. “Never think small”, reiterated the petite Shafudah, “as your life was meant to be great in many ways, and you need to claim it”.