• 
• 

Published on September 3, 2007

The project is jointly run by GE Money Thailand and the Goodwill Group foundation with the objective of providing disadvantaged Thai women with free access to basic financial education.

Women who want to join have to be approved by the Goodwill Group. Qualified students are considered based on economic means and prior educational experience. Typical students are those who have never attended university, come from the poorer provinces of Thailand and are single, separated or divorced.

Moreover, they have parents or children to support, are making less than Bt6,000 per month, see learning as a key to improving their job prospects and are highly motivated to change their life situation.

Thus the programme is appropriate for working women, most of whom are nannies, babysitters, housekeepers, and spa and factory workers. The curriculum comprises five courses covering basic financial knowledge and career improvement.

Module One: Smart Consumers to teach everyday spending, for example what factors they would consider when shopping, which goods are necessary and suitable to their lifestyle or earnings and the appropriate prices of those goods. Students will receive information on sales strategies and tricks with various products in the market. For example, behind a product's price is the cost of a presenter who is a famous actor, actress, singer or model who takes a large performing fee that is included in the product's price. Most students do not have knowledge of marketing strategy.

Module Two: Employees and Career Path comprises goal-setting, factors to support the goal and areas of skill improvement.

Module Three: Entrepreneurial Skills goes into detail about inventory cost calculation, revenue estimation, cash-flow management and product presentation.

Module Four: Saving and Basic Investment teaches ways to save and invest, benefits and risks.

Module Five: Managing Your Loan includes different types of personal loans, interest calculation and debt management.

Each subject runs for five days a week, with 12 to 15 students per class. The financial-learning programme is expected to have around 700 participants.

Although Module One started after project implementation early last month, the women who attend the programme still have enough time to apply. The financial learning project is due to end in December.

Even though the students can access the programme free, they have to pay Bt200 per textbook for each subject. If they are interested in studying several subjects, they should prepare for the expense.

A GE Money survey found that 70 per cent of the world's poor were women, many of whom were heads of their households and/or managed household budgets, and they should have more knowledge in basic finance to manage earnings and expenses.

The Thai project is the third Women Financial Empowerment programme launched by GE Money in Asia, after schemes in the Philippines and Indonesia. In Thailand there are now 36 GE volunteers and Goodwill staff participating in the teaching programme.

Somruedi Banchongduang,

The Nation