Plan for your retirement, mothers advised
Dec 29, 2017
“Mothers have an in-built talent that allows them to remain more focused than men. You simply need to coordinate to do your business, and balance it with your family life,” Opio said.
Mothers have been equipped with entrepreneurship skills and management to enable them plan for their retirement.
Speaking to women during the 3rd opening of the SOS Mothers Forum in Gulu district, the Gulu LC5 chairman, Martin Ojara observed that many people never think of creating extra incomes while at work until retirement.
The event was organized under them "Better together for development and sustainability. It was attended by women drawn from the four children villages SOS children's in Uganda.
During the workshop, women were introduced to management skills to manage crisis at their places of work and how to work as a team and start business to supplement their incomes.The women were also guided on how to utilize opportunities around them, as they prepare for retirement.
"You should have something extra that brings in money than begging in order to prepare for retirement," Ojara advised.
He said there rampant cases of corruption in our society because public servants clocking retirement age start extorting money from the public to survive. Ojara lauded SOS for coming up with the programme.
"It is very painful when we go to bury some of our colleagues from high offices, but only to find that there is no way to reach their ancestral home," Ojara said.
He challenged Ugandans to embrace a saving culture in order to save for the future. "Ugandan people spend a lot of money without thinking where it is coming from what will happen in the future".
SOS Uganda national director, Olive Lumonya advised mothers to use the skills learnt to improve on their work.
She called for more support from government so that they can take care of children, decrying reduced funding from donors.
Lumonya revealed that SOS is taking care of over 600 children, with 95 graduates already serving the community.
Dr. Alphonse Opio, from Gulu University said women can do good business besides work, urging them not to have a mentality that business should be dominated by men.
"Mothers have an extra in built capacity talent that allows them to remain more focused than men. You simply need to coordinate to do your business, and balance it with your family life," Opio said.
He advised women to start with medium-sized businesses (SMBs), before injecting in a lot of money in strategic marketing places. "Business is all about the people you serve and should find ways of building numbers of your customers".