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ABU DHABI / WAM
Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, on Saturday underlined the importance of promoting financial literacy awareness in light of the increasing debt among Emirati Youth. With an overwhelming statistic of 70% of Emiratis under the age of 30 being in debt, there is a clear need for a scalable programme that can teach young people relevant skills and empower them to make positive contributions towards building a prosperous and sustainable future for the nation.
Sheikha Shamma explained that financial literacy is recognised worldwide as a growth driver for Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs), as young people across the region are being urged to become entrepreneurial, recognise the end of the ‘job for life’ era and use innovation to create their own employment opportunities. This, despite the often cited estimate that 85% of SMEs fail and most fail due to the lack of financial acumen rather than the lack of access to capital.