Club members of Bisini Lawn Bowls Club, along with their family members and friends, concluded a week-long Financial Literacy Training facilitated by the Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI) in partnership with the Informal Sector Branch of the Department for Community Development and Religion that was held from the 5th-7th of May.
A total of 46 participants are now officially financial literacy certified upon receiving their certificates yesterday.
The training concluded following an intense 4-day retail training program for the participants as they were taken through in-depth training on financial security and investment opportunities.
Financial institutions including, BSP, Kina Group, and Mama Bank, were also invited to showcase their different products and help assist participants in opening their own new accounts as part of the training.
The initiative was part of a conversation held between Bisini Lawn Bowls President Mr. Victor Lismond and a couple of Executive club members held in mid-2025.
Transforming those conversation into action was very encouraging, especially for the family members and friends of the club.
“Some of our club members are not working”, said Mr. Lismond. “They live and survive engaging in the informal sector.”
“So, what we are doing now is do give back to them in a way that, they can use these skills set acquired from this training and build on something positive for their future.”
Meanwhile, Program Development Director Mr. George Kulisi, representing the Department Secretary Mr. Jerry Ubase, and the Minister for Youth, Religion and Community Development Jason Peter, congratulated the participants and urged them to utilize this training to improve their lives by starting from small and learning to save.
“This training is a mindset life changing training for Papua New Guineans.”
“This training is not only for the women, but the department is also all about family in which will help improve a family’s lifestyle if used correctly.”
“Basically, this is just one of the Department’s Empowerment and protection program.”
As part of their support to this training, Chief Executive Officer of Mama Bank Mr. Guninandhi Das, announced to the participants that Mama Bank will loan them a SME Seed Capital of K300 each after they assist them to opening their bank account with Mama Bank.
