We are excited to announce our partnership with Kisoboka Africa. Based in Uganda, Kisoboka Africa provides financial literacy training and mobilizes parents, students, and schools to form income-generating initiatives that finance education for children. Their name means “it’s possible,” capturing the hope and opportunity they bring to every community they work with. Through school community banks, Kisoboka has empowered women in underserved areas to start or grow their own businesses and linked parents to financial institutions and markets to help them access credit, savings, insurance, and other financial services.
The Young Savers Program
Because of our focus on education, Givology is proud to announce that we are supporting the Young Savers Program. This initiative addresses an extremely important issue: a lack of financial literacy among young people. Kisoboko believes that having school-aged children as young as nine years old learn essential habits can help them throughout their lives to better earn and save money.
So, how does it work? The program sets up interactive and fun savings clubs inside select primary schools with the support of a trained teacher sponsor. For many of these students, it’s their first-ever experience with the formal concept of saving money. Each week, they can bring in small amounts of savings and learn to record their deposits. They hold meetings, elect student leaders, and learn to manage their individual funds. Collectively, the students make plans to save for something they want over the course of the school year, and discuss their financial goals.
The curriculum is practical as a hands-on learning lab for money. For example, students learn the fundamental difference between a “want” and a “need.” They are taught how to set achievable savings goals – whether something small like a new notebook, or something bigger like helping their family buy a goat to raise for milk. Once they master the habit of saving, the program helps them think bigger. It introduces basic entrepreneurial concepts, encouraging them to think about how their savings could one day become the start of a small business idea. It’s not just about accumulating money; it’s about understanding its power to create opportunities. By learning these skills early, students are building a foundation that will serve them for their entire lives.
Kisoboka has had remarkable success in their program. There are now 1500 members of Young Savers Clubs at 18 different schools in the area, raising more than $14m UGX ($3,600 USD)! We aim to support their growth at Givology to change the lives of many to come.
Upcoming Podcast with Co-Founder Stephen Katende on July 19, 2025
Want to learn more about this incredible work from the founder himself? We are hosting a live podcast with Stephen Katende on July 19th at 10 AM ET. To register, please click here. Join to listen to Stephen’s inspirational story and the journey of his organization.
Bio: Stephen Katende Co-Founder of Kisoboka Africa is a development practitioner focused on creating opportunities for women, youth and children in rural Uganda through skills building, access to finances and other development opportunities for improved livelihoods.
Through his leadership, Kisoboka Africa has economically empowered over 6000 households in the Lwengo district, enabling them acquire business skills, improve their financial literacy and start over 1500 businesses. The organization has also supported women in rural communities save over $1000,000 for investment in businesses and other family needs. These households have been able to retain over 4600 children in schools.
Stephen is a 2023 Mandela Washington fellow, a Collaborative Learning Initiative fellow, a YALI RLC East Africa alumnus, a 2018 Queen`s Young Leader, 2016 world Bank Blog4Dev winner and a Building Tomorrow Uganda fellowship alumnus.
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