effective financial education is a crucial life skill in order to make financial decisions consistent with personal and family needs. in today ’ s digital age, financial markets offer everybody easy access to a wide range of financial services and products. but digitalization is two - faced : it can emphasize some behavioral biases, such as short - termism and impatience, but could nudge people into specific virtuous action. the final balance will be positive only if consumers are financially literate. building a sound financial education is complex, as it requires a long - life approach on three challenging dimensions : knowledge, attitude, and behavior. financial education goes beyond than just providing information, it is meant to change those three dimensions, in order for people to achieve their financial well - being. best practices around the world show that experiential learning ( such as games, simulations and role plays ) helps acquire, retain and put in practice new information. since 2008 in our main program for students, “ educazione finanziaria a scuola ”, we have progressively moved from information to capability, fostering a value - driven approach to economic issues, stimulating the participants ’ interest by suggesting “ i need it because... ”. we have been using movies as a trigger for debating financial issues and behavioral biases. we have also introduced contests and prizes. our competition “ let ’ s design a banknote ” invites italian primary and secondary school students to design an imaginary banknote on a given theme ; for the current edition, the theme is “ money and emotions ”. the prize - winning classes receive an amount of money for their school. we will also contribute to the first edition of the italian economic and finance olympiad. adults are more challenging : they tend to acquire just the knowledge and skills they need for a specific purpose and their behavior tend to be well - rooted. furthermore, adults are an extremely heterogeneous population. for example, some immigrants grew up where saving food meant wasting it. thus the concept of saving must be explained to them with a special care. let me also add that ivass is now planning an exercise to measure insurance literacy, a still underexplored dimension of financial capability ; even if it is a novel concept, it could become an international benchmark. i would like to stress that, as international experience shows, single institutions cannot fill all the gaps : a nationally - coordinated approach to financial education is a key factor for success. financial education needs an interdisciplinary approach

allow a more efficient management of risks during the initial stages of the business cycle. on its part, the bank of zambia needs to ensure that there is sustainable stable macroeconomic environment first. but we also need to have a good understanding of the financial innovations that may be needed to attract and disburse investment capital. this is important if we are to ensure that monetary and supervisory policy frameworks are fully supportive of the ability of the financial sector to finance growth and development. zambia today has a large portfolio of large scale industrial and energy projects such as the multi facility economic zones ( mfez ) and several large and small hydro - power projects. these require innovative financial solutions as well as varied sources of finance and expertise, both domestic and foreign. ladies and gentlemen, as you may be aware, the banking sector in zambia has over the last few years, witnessed significant growth in lending. the credit expansion has no doubt brought significant benefits to the economy as resources are channeled through to the lower end of the market. however, most of the credit extended by banks and microfinance institutions is targeted at already established enterprises and individuals in formal employment. only an insignificant amount is extended to start - up initiatives or businesses with potential for growth. in order to bridge this financing gap, it is pertinent to establish financing arrangements such as venture capital funds. venture capital funds are essentially collective investment schemes where investors place their money into a fund with the aim of achieving greater impact and security than could be realised individually. venture capital funds seek to provide finance to enable businesses to start - up, expand or restructure through the use of equity and quasi - equity instruments such as preference shares, convertible debentures, and shareholders loans that reflect the risk and reward in investing in such businesses. furthermore, given the relatively high interest rates prevailing, debt financing is not easily available to start - up and other emerging enterprises because they generally lack the collateral, track record, or earnings required to get loans. to this effect, venture capital funds can be essential to these enterprises as they are a combination of equity and professional know - how. to be attractive investment vehicles, venture capital firms must be able to deliver a rate of return that is more attractive than those available in markets for publicly traded stocks and other securities. mr chairman, in line with the workshop theme, “ exploring and creating financial opportunities ”, it should be noted that the financial sector in zambia is considered relatively under - developed and has had limited reach to all sectors