Stop borrowing - Chartered accountant urges Ghanaians

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Capacity Building Centre (FCBC), Mr. James Abrah has urged Ghanaians to cultivate the attitude of saving and desist from the culture of borrowing in order to become financially independent.

According to him, borrowing has caused a lot of financial crisis in businesses, families and in the lives of individuals.

Delivering a lecture at a capacity building seminar organised by the FCBC to empower tertiary students and graduates, Mr. Abrah noted that excessive borrowing has driven many promising graduates and businesses into in heavy debts.

He observed that most young graduates and Ghanaian entrepreneurs have little or no experiences in managing money, therefore, they are forced to believe that attaining financial freedom is dependent on borrowing.

According to the Chartered Accountant, Ghana needs serious measures to resolve issues of mismanagement of money.

He opined that the only way to address the problem is through financial literacy education.

Mr. Abrah explained that knowledge in handling money properly will help address issues of financial malfeasance and others that emerge as result of the struggle for money.

Unfortunately, he said Ghana’s educational curriculum does not prioritize Financial Literacy which is key to addressing the nation’s poor fund management.

“We need financial literacy as part of our educational curriculum. People get to school from primary through Senior High to Universities and study a lot of courses that have no benefit in their lives. But financial literacy education is the only education that affect every individual,” he emphasised.



He noted that a lot of people out of ignorance, loss their lifetime investments to microfinance companies, citing the famous DKM scandal as example.

“Money needs to be managed and every object, subject and community that needs to be managed needs some level of literacy. It is largely agreed that knowledge is power so if indeed knowledge is power, then financial literacy is more powerful because with that, you’ll be able to understand how to make money, how to multiply it, how to invest and how to protect it,” Mr. Abrah maintained.

About Financial Capacity Building Centre

Explaining the role of the FCBC in helping individuals achieve financial freedom, Mr. Abrah said, his outfit has identified the big gap in financial literacy and has, therefore decided to complement the national effort in raising awareness.

He said, the FCBC is committed to empowering the Ghanaian youth with knowledge in financial management that will enhance their chances of financial freedom so they become good leaders.



“In an effort to address misappropriation of funds and abuse of office in future, we’re trying to educate the youth to become leaders who are well balanced and discipline in their private financial lives, who will be able to take care of national resources as their personal resources,” he disclosed.

The FCBC has been organising financial capacity building workshops for churches, schools, groups and financial companies.

The recent one at the Sunlodge Hotel at Tesano in Accra, brought together fresh and old graduates and tertiary students who were taken through topics on financial literacy in order to empower them to become wisemen in handling money.