The organisation says that regardless of the course offered, Clover Mama Africa teaches their Mama Afrikas basic financial management to build their businesses.

Part of these skills is the ability to save and forward plan, as saving responsibly is a critical factor in achievement of goals, the organisation adds.

Mama Nolitha Ndalasi from Kyalitsha in the Western Cape says that whenever they attend training, finances are touched on in some form.

"Even when we do a baking course, professor Vlok speaks about pricing and she advises us to make sure that we don't compromise our prices just because people request lower prices. We need to ensure we use quality products, which of course makes our prices realistic, and we must ensure we make a profit for our business to survive," says Ndalasi. 

"Also in sewing courses, we are always given a calculation formula to use in order to know the correct prices and percentages that we would need to pay our staff and what our profit or savings would be," adds Ndalasi.

Mama Feziwe Gambo from Ezimbokodweni in KwaZulu Natal says, "I have gained so much knowledge and now realise the importance of depositing all the business money into the business account and keeping records of everything."

"Through our continued training from Clover Mama Afrika and professor Vlok, we are able to learn so much about running profitable businesses and how to work with our finances," adds Gambo. 

Mama Nondumiso Mpitimpiti from Amalinda Forest in the Eastern Cape says that with professor Vlok's guidance, she now knows the importance of working well with her money and the profit she earns.

"I know what percentage of the money we make needs to go to buying more stock and products and what percentage needs to go towards advertising and salaries. This knowledge really makes our businesses successful," adds Mpitimpiti.
 
Some finance tips from the Mama Afrikas include the following: 

  • Plan your spending.
  • Save, save more, and keep saving.
  • Create a realistic monthly budget.
  • Pay your bills on time.
  • It is never too late to start saving for retirement.
  • Learn to invest.

"The Mama Afrikas want to be empowered, and after completing some of the training courses offered by the project, a big difference can be seen in their standing both personally and in their local communities," says professor Elain Vlok, Clover's manager of the Clover Mama Afrika Trust. 

"They are very eager to gain new skills. Empowerment starts with education, so it is very important that the project goes into communities to teach women for them can become empowered and self-sustainable," adds Vlok.

According to the organisation, an amazing level of collaboration is reached because, as the Mama Afrikas are trained, they learn and train those around them too. Knowledge is power, the beauty of the project is how the skills are gained, shared and trickle throughout local communities, which includes imparting their financial know-how and saving tips.

"Being equipped with financial knowledge and savvy has really allowed the Mama Afrikas to run their own centres successfully," says Vlok. "We ensure all our Mama Afrikas are confident in every aspect of running a business and teach them about saving and the importance of working well with the money that you have."

Clover Mama Afrika concludes that it is a sustainable corporate social investment project that has been in existence since 2001, seeing the project host 440 training sessions with over 2 313 beneficiaries over the years. 

For more information, visit www.clovermamaafrika.com. You can also follow Clover Mama Afrika on Facebook or X.

*Image courtesy of Canva