JOHN Bryant is the founder, Chairman and CEO of US financial literacy and empowerment non-profit operation HOPE. He will be in Kampala for the Financial literacy week at the end of September. Sylvia Juuko interview him by email. Below are excerpts.
What is Operation Hope about and what inspired it? Operation HOPE is America’s first nonprofit social investment banking organisation inspired and founded immediately after the Rodney King riots of 1992 in South Central Los Angeles.
HOPE now operates in 70 US communities and South Africa. Having served more than 1.2 million people, has raised more than $500m and helped to restructure another $300m in sub prime mortgages from the private sector to empower the poor, for a total of approximately $900m economic activity for the underserved.
Why is financial literacy critical? It recognises that we don’t just have to find ways to make more money, we need to find ways to do more with the money we have.
We need to promote smart financial decision-making and, in particular, we need to empower the underserved and impoverished in understanding the basics of our economic system.
Getting the underserved and the underprivileged up-to-speed with their finances is about empowerment: empowering them to take charge of their own lives and to aspire to a better future.
It seems obvious that we should increase our financial literacy to improve our material lives, why – in your experience - don’t people take this obvious step?
There are several reasons but the feeling of shame is the biggest factor.
We have been trained to ask “what’s the payment” instead of “how much will it cost me.” Families that are financially literate, teach their kids about money. Families that don’t know… don’t know and are ashamed to ask. Education is the ultimate poverty eradication tool.
When you know better, you tend to do better. It is what we do not know that we do not know that is killing us.
You said before that we should focus more on what we can give than what we can take from the situations in our lives, this sounds counterintuitive to the saying, it’s not how much you make but how much you keep that counts?
I don’t believe there is a contradiction; rather it is a change in philosophy from what our society tells us.
Focusing on what you have to give rather than what you can get out of a situation shifts the focus from the “I” to the “we.”
When I go to a meeting, I never ask for anything. I share my vision, I talk about the work Operation HOPE does and I ask if there is anything I can do for them.
In everything I do, I try to be a servant leader – I try to empower those around me, and I try to make decisions that benefit those I am trying to help – the underserved, my employees, whoever.
By doing that consistently, I believe I have been given much more than I could have received if I was out there trying to get for myself.
You have said the world economy is in reset rather than in a
recession, could you expound on that?
I believe that this economic downturn is a reset of value – not just of stocks and bonds, but of values and virtues.
Traditionally in free enterprising countries, the focus of business was innovation, creativity, coming to the table with something to offer. Those who were successful at that not only drove our economy but became financially wealthy. The focus recently hasn’t been on the talent but on the money and wealth itself.
The by-product has become the focus. I believe during this reset, we have an opportunity. The 20th Century was primarily about civil rights and democratic rights around the world.
I believe that the focus of the 21st century will be on silver rights because those who do not have bank accounts, those who do not have access to capital to start a business or buy a home will increasingly become economic slaves.
Africa’s problems are more to do with its inability to mobilise its own resources – human, natural and mineral - to benefit itself more than a lack of resources, do you agree?
There is no doubt that there has been an abuse of resources in Africa for decades, if not centuries – colonialism, civil-war, drought… I don’t need to tell you.
One solution, a silver bullet that can help people in all areas of their lives, is financial literacy. Learning how to manage the money you do make effectively, and having the knowledge and the mindset to start your own business is key.
The most valuable resource Africa possesses is its people. To add to the parable, I do not want to give someone a fish. I want to show them how to fish, and give them the tools to start their own fishing business and hopefully one day, the ability to buy the lake.
b>What would be your message to the youth of Uganda in regard to financial literacy?
In my experience, there is a difference between broke and being poor.
Being broke is a temporary economic condition, but being poor is a disabling frame of mind and a depressed condition of your spirit. Vow to never, ever let yourself be poor. Believe in yourself, educate yourself and know that you have the power to change your life.
