Local currency, Cedi
Entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Bencyn Pharmacy, Benjamin Anyanah Achelisewine has argued that many workers on government payroll are on multiple expensive loans because they do not know how to invest their income to get returns.
He noted that instead of earning profits on their incomes, they tend to seek out money meant for the future and spend it now.
He blamed their inability to invest on poor or lack of financial knowledge and the absence of a financial plan to guide them on to properly and profitably manage their finances.
Speaking in an interview with Bolgatanga-based Dreamz FM, Mr Achelisewine who has investments in several other sectors beyond the pharmaceutical industry, many Government workers are under severe financial strain due to the debts but have to borrow even further in order to meet to their basic needs and those of their dependents.
“If you go to those who are in the formal sector – and I have gone there several times – if you are talking to them [about investment], they are rather interested in taking tomorrow’s money and spending it today," he said.
"After all, they have an income coming…Because they have a regular income, the financial institutions come with juicy things: “If you take this you can get this’. They take those monies and they get stuck. Some of them will find it difficult to come out because each time they are getting out, they will go and get another loan,” he lamented.
He proposed that to get out of debt and be financially independent, one ought to identify a societal problem, seek the right knowledge and solve the problem through the provision of goods or services. That way, one will prosper financially.
Mr Achelisewine has been passionate about promoting financial literacy and helping startups do well and scale up.
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