How ALA’s cashless system helps students learn about financial literacy

Pay a visit to the African Leadership Academy’s (ALA) campus in Honeydew, Johannesburg and you’ll notice something very interesting — not a single student pays for anything on campus with cash. Instead they get by with topped up cashless accounts linked to swipe cards.

The idea is help encourage students to transact among one another and student businesses, in the safety of a closed economy. In so doing, the ALA hopes to encourage students to learn more about entrepreneurship and financial management.

Students can top up their cashless accounts online or at a self-service kiosk with their bank cards and can request withdrawals be made from their cashless accounts into their bank accounts online.

ALA’s approach to teaching, wherever possible, is experiential. One such initiative is the academy’s Student Enterprise Programme which the institution created to simulate the entire venture creation, management and destruction cycle.

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Featured image: African Leadership Academy via Facebook