One of the biggest foundational challenges that we see in businesses is that businesses are not treated as a separate entity but more of an extension of the owner. When there is no separation it convulutes the financial picture and makes it challenging to set financial policies for the business. One financial policy that is preached in communities again and again is the importance of saving. But what isn’t explained is how to save and how to set financial goals (we address both of these in our training). With that being said, it makes sense that 69% of our participants said that their business does not have a savings account. That is impactful especially when there are no safety nets for these businesses.

 45% of our participants estimate they are earning between $0-$50/ month. How do you even manage that? When people are earning so little what is the point of financial managment? What we have seen is that when businesses start to track their income and expenses the numbers show that they are earning more than they realize. This is not to say that people are not struggling and that poverty does not exist, it does, but numbers show that many businesses are strong while their financial management is weak. When income drastically varies due to seasons, state welfare is non-existent and there are financial dependents, financial management understanding becomes of the utmost importance. We want to help business into financial security through financial management.

57% of our participants do have a bank account. 21% use it as a savings, 16% use it to receive payroll, 8% use it as a checking account while 4% opened one because it was needed in order to get a loan.

42% do not have a bank account with the main reason being that they don’t feel that they have enough money. This would suggest that there needs to be a middle-of-the-road banking system to accommodate these users and that people need more money.

64% of our members said their business does not have an annual budget. 84% of our participants said they have never been taught how to make an annual budget and 67% said they never track their business income and expense. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, a business without a budget is a fish out of water. We know businesses here want to be profitable, but people need the knowledge and training first. This is why accessible and engaging training can act as a line of vitality for communities and their businesses.

 22% of our participants track their finances in their head, 4% on a paper that is around, 13% in a notebook and 51% don’t track at all. #trainingisimportant.

84% of our participants have felt desperate due to money. One reason we put this in our survey was so that we could address it in our training. The other reason was to shed light on how mental health is affected by financial insecurity. Financial stress and destitution has lead to depression, suicides, domestic abuse, child trafficking, child marriage, murder, addiction and other tragedies in communities.

 43% of our members keep their money separate from their spouses, 25% combine money with their spouses and 26% sometimes keep their money separate. When we asked why they keep their money separate, most of the answers fall into these categories:

1) That is how things have always been done

2) Self preservation/financial independence

3) A lack of trust in their spouse

 For 37% of our members the pressure of money comes from themselves, 28% feel it from their kids and 23% feel it from family members which makes sense as 59% have between one and three financial dependents outside of their immediate family unit. We asked this question so we can better address our members emotional relationship with money by understanding where their stress comes from.

A lot of times when people speak about money they speak as if money is something done to them and that they are a passive part in their earnings. For our members 29% feel that they have a healthy relationship with money, 6% feel they don’t, 39% feel that sometimes they do and 25% feel that their relationship with money is complicated.