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Says Aryan Chowdhury, a grade 12 student, who, with his friend Arnav Bajaj, founded Finance4teens – an organization to promote financial literacy among teens.
“Understanding the nuances of banking and finance would help one to make informed decisions on how to grow their money. But unfortunately, it is rarely taught in our schools,” adds a Mumbai resident.
Arnav met Aryan while attending an online entrepreneurship course from Columbia Business School. He says their business idea hit them during the lockdown. “In early 2021, when Ariane and I completed the online course, we came across several surveys and stats that indicated low rates of financial literacy in our country. We also interacted with many teens from different schools and realized the same thing. So we decided to do something about it. ”
According to a survey conducted by the National Center for Financial Education in 2019, it was observed that only 27 percent of Indians were financially literate and this was the lowest among the BRICS countries.
And so, after spending months researching and brainstorming, in December 2021, the duo founded their non-profit venture to inculcate financial literacy in teens.
A platform for teens by teens
Finance4teens is a platform for teens that provides in-depth and personalized educational resources about finance and banking.
Starting the project The main goal of the duo was to provide basic and practical financial knowledge to teenagers across the country. But Arnav claims to have created a network spread across different parts of the world. “Currently, we have seven chapters all over the world including countries like UK, US, Spain and Greece,” says 17-year-old Arnav.
The platform provides resources in various forms such as blogs, video tutorials, investment contests, webinars, etc. It also provides them with a personalized financial roadmap plan according to their financial requirements.
“At first we started it through social media platforms like Instagram and it was just the two of us. Slowly we started building a proper team and we hired more people to manage different tasks. We also started taking volunteers as interns to prepare and teach the curricula. We also provide them with certificates,” he says. Arnav, adding that the trainees are also teenagers but professional website developers and marketers.
He also adds that the curriculum developed by the volunteers is thoroughly reviewed by industry experts before it is shared with students.
“All our sessions are conducted online and we are now conducting our sessions in the form of classes. From the students who train with us, we select a few who are academically oriented and have good leadership qualities to be the branch heads. So, they head the chapters for each area, catering to different groups of people. students and we provide them with all the required materials,” says Arnav who is based in Chennai.
“Currently, we have seven chapters in total, out of which three are global and four are India-specific – two on Delhi, one on Mumbai and one on Bengaluru,” he adds.
The team, which currently has around 25 members, has a presence in different countries across the world. “We have students volunteering from countries like the UK, the US, Canada, Spain and Greece. Although we focused on India first, we now have a good mix of audiences from all of these countries.”
There are daily and weekly meetings between members and monthly webinars and events that take place without fail. “Teens can register for webinars or video sessions for free. We now have our YouTube channel, where one can access all our pre-recorded sessions,” says Arnav, adding that so far more than 500 students have attended their webinars.
Speaking about what is taught and talked about in class, Ranveer Singh Sahi, a grade 12 student from Delhi who regularly attends webinars and sessions, shares his thoughts.
“Finance4teens broadened my horizons into the world of companies and financial services. Since the ultimate goal was to provide financial literacy, I was open to a library full of topics such as, how does the economy work, how economies around the world are interconnected, and how macro decisions of political and corporate forces affect the economy Micro Level Also I was a beginner in the field of practical economics and the implementation of ideas to achieve monetary goals.
“The weekly meetings and webinars taught me how money works and the books were just the tip of the iceberg. From providing historical evidence of economic imperfections and volatility to alternative decisions that could prevent such errors in the future, Finance4teens has played a crucial role in my current understanding of world affairs,” says Ranveer, who was also a volunteer with the organization as well.
The typical nonprofit organization is funded mostly through donations and does not involve any third parties.
Aryan explains, “Initially we had plans to collaborate with third parties and we had a few sponsors who were willing to fund our project. But we realized that we have to advertise their products on our website which is not compatible with our aim. So, we decided to go ahead with Same donation form. “Both of us have invested a good amount of money personally and the rest comes in the form of donations,” he adds.
Arnav, who specializes in commerce, says it was difficult to manage studies along with running an enterprise. “It was very challenging but we managed it through time management; by setting schedules, sticking to them, dividing work among team members, etc,” he says with a smile.
Being a co-founder of the startup, Arnav was handling the outreach while Aryan was responsible for maintaining the overall track of the organization.
Here, Aryan adds, their age has always been a challenge. “At the end of the day, we’re high school students and it’s been tough, especially when we’re looking for investors. They won’t be willing to invest in a student-run project because we don’t have a lot of experience. But we keep going in this endeavor,” he explains.
Edited by Yoshita Rao
source:
Financial Express
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