The partners of Apprentis d’Auteuil in Kinshasa aim to empower children in street situations. In order to reinforce the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship programme already provided in the Vocational Training Centers, Apprentis d’Auteuil invited a+b=3 to train their partners’ trainers in financial management, both in terms of content and participatory training methods. Our first day went straight to the heart of the matter: after our problems and solutions game, the participants discovered how young people learn to manage money through one of our card games. Then, they set up and managed a small business and identified all the difficulties in being self-employed.
The example allowed them to discover cash accounting, and to practice it with several examples, starting from the simplest (a purchase and a sale) to a little more complicated (customer credit, personal expenses). Then we learned the concept of breakeven (sales needed to cover fixed costs) in a fun way and the day ended with a cash forecasting exercise.
