FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING

“Earning is rooted in learning, as knowledge is the fertilizer that makes your money tree blossom”.

Your ability to earn money begins with what you know and the limit to your earning is what you should know but you do not know.

Lack is not synonymous with black, because money is not race/colour sensitive.

Africa is not poor because we are black; we are poor because we are ignorant of the ways of making money. Simply put, we lack the capacity and capability to earn.

Ignorance has nothing to do with schooling or education; it simply refers to a state of mind where you lack particular information or knowledge for your gain or advantage.

What Is Capacity?

According to the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners,

Capacity is:

1. The amount of something that can be put in a container or the number of people that a place has room for.

(This relates to space and quantity)
2. The amount of goods that a company can produce or the amount of work it can do.

(This relates to Productivity and Efficiency)

3. The ability to do something.

(This relates to Know-how or Competency and Ability)

For the purpose of this study on Financial Empowerment however, we shall adopt the following as our working definitions.

Capacity + Ability = Capability

Where:

Capacity refers to the potential to develop and become whatever you could or want to become and

Ability refers to the skill to do, which you have at a particular type of work or area of learning. It is the quality of being able to do a particular job or activity well.

Capability therefore is the capacity to do, back by the ability to do.

What Is Capacity Building?

1. Capacity building is the process of discovering, developing, and deploying your God-given talents and gifts.

1 Tim. 4:14
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

2 Tim. 1:6
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
1 Peter 4:10
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

2. Capacity building is the process of drawing from your potential in order to maximize your life.
(Potential is all that you can be in life but you are not yet. It is a well of inexhaustible wealth of talent and capacity for development).

Isaiah 12:2-3
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. [3] Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

2 Tim. 4:5
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

3. Capacity building is the process of developing your internal resources and environment in order to influence and determine your external resources and environment.

Proverbs 23:6-7
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: [7] For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Matthew 12:34
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

4. Capacity building is the process of lining up your yourself with modern; trends, information and knowledge relevant to your field of operation, in order to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.

Ephes. 5:14-17
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. [15] See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, [16] Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. [17] Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,

Obsolescence – the state of becoming old-fashioned and no longer used, especially being replaced by something newer and more effective.

5. Capacity building is a lifetime commitment, to invest your time, energy, and resources in the acquisition and application of relevant knowledge, skills, and technology to your field of operation.

Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

Eccles. 1:13
And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

1 Thes. 4:11
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

The word study in I Thes. 4:11 is the Greek word: philotimeomai , which means; to be ambitious; pursue eagerly; strive and aspire to; prize above measure.

It is Translated "study" (1 Thes. 4:11); "strive" (Romans 15:20); and "labour" (2 Cor. 5:9).

2 Tim. 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The word study in 2 Tim. 2:15 is the Greek word spoudazo, which means; to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest: - do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study.