VICTORIA JOHN – Sep 08 2011

Financial literacy is a civil rights issue, said John Bryant, chief executive officer of the NGO Operation Hope, at the launch of Sanlam’s multimillion-rand corporate social investment foundation on Wednesday.

For the new Sanlam Foundation, such literacy is central to tackling poverty in South Africa. Equipping the youth to manage not only their finances but also their health and their environment lies at the heart of the foundation’s mission.

“If you don’t understand the universal language of money and you don’t have a bank account, you’re an economic slave,” Bryant said.

The Sanlam Foundation’s partners include Bryant’s Operation Hope — a volunteer-based organisation in the United States — and the WWF (World Wide Fund) Sanlam Living Waters campaign, an initiative to protect South Africa’s water.

The Regency Foundation, a development agency that liaises between the United Nations and business, and the KwaZulu-Natal department of education are also partners in the foundation.

Read the complete story in the South African Mail & Guardian here.

John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, the founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc., author of Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business book LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), and a Member of the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability.

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