maiava atalina ainuu enari : educating children about money matters opening remarks by ms maiava atalina ainuu enari, governor of the central bank of samoa, at the awards ceremony of the “ be money wi $ e ” financial literacy poster competition 2014, apia, 14 march 2014. * * * greetings and welcome to you all, dear parents, school principals and most importantly the winning students of the 2014 be money wi $ e poster competition. as i look across the room to the students, parents and principals / school reps,... without a doubt this is a happy friday for you all. it gives me great pleasure to say that, this is also a happy friday for us at the central bank – we are as much excited to reveal the winning poster entries as you are to be here today to receive your awards!! talofa! talofa lava ; i am delighted to be here today, at the conclusion of an important initiative for the central bank, to address this gathering and most especially the winners of – our first be money wise financial literacy poster competition. this competition is one of many programs undertaken by the central bank to perform one of its mandates of promoting financial literacy under the “ financial fitness ” or “ fit for finance ” campaign. the “ be money wi $ e poster competition 2014 ” was also conducted in collaboration with the global money week which is coordinated by child & youth finance international. global money week takes place on the 10 – 17 march and is a worldwide celebration through events and activities to help empower children and youth to be confident and responsible economic citizens. during this week, children are encouraged to engage in learning on how money works, including saving, creating livelihoods, gaining employment and entrepreneurship as well as living financially smart lives. and so for samoa ’ s contribution to the event, the central bank decided to conduct a financial literacy poster competition to encourage kids to use their imaginations and knowledge about money choices, and help provide a creative outlet to demonstrate their knowledge. for this year ’ s poster competition theme “ i can grow my money by... ” myself and mrs vicseta meredith of business system limited had the pleasure and the hard task of judging the entries. we were very impressed with the quality of entries that were presented to us – so it pains us that there are only a limited number of awards we can give out for the competition. “ financial literacy ” or “ the set of skills and knowledge that

maiava atalina ainuu enari : educating individuals to manage their personal finances opening remarks by ms maiava atalina ainuu enari, governor of the central bank of samoa, at the moneypacific “ money guide ” launch, apia, 2 april 2014. * * * members of the diplomatic community youth and education directors of the church denominations present today our moneypacific partners – kim hailwood and becky de beer - lamont distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen it is indeed an honour for me to address this gathering today, at this important milestone in the partnership of the moneypacific project and the central bank of samoa. the moneypacific project was established in 2007 under the umbrella of the nz - pacific remittances ’ project which stands to help reduce costs of sending money within the pacific region, and has concurrently worked hard to lift pacific communities awareness of the need to prudently manage their personal finances. we have worked closely with the moneypacific programme over the recent years and we consider them a great ally in the promotion of financial inclusion and financial literacy here in samoa. in a moment kim and becky will elaborate more on the moneypacific initiative and its latest resource but before that i would like to take a few moments to talk a little bit more on why financial literacy is important to the central bank of samoa. “ financial literacy ” or “ the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources ” is an important life - skill in our diverse capacities as students, employees, consumers, savers and investors etc. by now you may wonder as to why how you manage your personal finances is of any interest to the bank? you may wonder as to why the bank should care on how best you can manage your personal finances? the answer is simply this – we believe that economic development can be fostered by educating individuals on how best to manage their personal finances. we don ’ t have to rely on the big businesses or other forces for this – each and every one of us has the potential to foster economic development. therefore we stand before you today not as leaders or dictators of your wallets and purses, but as counterparts on a way to forward our future financial prospects. and so it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you a tool designed to help you take charge of your personal finances and take you closer to realizing your full potential as agents of economic development – the moneypacific money guide