The co-founder and Managing Director of the Wealth Creation Network (WCN), Okaeng Rakereng is working hard to instill the culture of saving in young black people.
WCN is a multi-disciplinary holding company founded by a group of young black professionals, who save money into the WCN investment group to raise the capital required to attain tangible money generating assets.
The mission of WCN is to build wealth for black generations by acquiring tangible assets with real ownership in the form of equity, and ensuring maximum gains on investments by establishing a funding pool among young black people through a healthy savings culture.
The WCN model is like that of a stokvel, the only difference is that the money raised is used to buy income -generating assets as opposed to consumption. WCN teaches and encourages the underprivileged that through collaboration they can achieve financial freedom. They also advocate for saving, and work on various programmes aimed at encouraging and teaching the youth to develop a habit of saving.
Okaeng, together with his business partners use various communication channels to drive the message on savings, collaborations for wealth creation and investments; including the use of radio, television and social media as communication channels to drive this message.
The inspiration for the WCN concept came about when the founders travelled to South Korea, where they realised how self-sufficient the South Koreans are and how they try by all means necessary to insource all the services and products that the country needs. That inspired them to establish a platform where young South Africans can create and maintain their own wealth.
They were also inspired by other South Africans who started out by collectively saving money and now own successful businesses and cooperatives. This proved to them that with hard work, determination, patience and dedication it is possible to achieve their set goals and missions.
Okaeng’s vision is to acquire income-generating assets that will enable the creation of generational wealth in his community. He wants to create a platform where people can learn, work together and build better societies for the future generations through out-of-the-box concepts aimed at changing lives. A key focus of his work is to continue to encourage young people to collaborate, save money and create wealth to address Africa’s challenges.
He says, Africa belongs to its young people and it is very important for them move away from the dependency syndrome to become more self-sufficient; and the youth have the capabilities and the resources to make Africa better and efficient for everyone living in it. His desire is to see young people working together and implementing the changes that will make Africa great again.
