Money Africa Kids

The most significant problem that Nigeria faces is extreme poverty. Nigeria is referred to as the World Poverty Capital as over 86 million Nigerians live in the shackles of extreme poverty within the poverty threshold of $1.90 according to the World Poverty Clock. According to a 2019 study, Financial literacy: A panacea to poverty reduction in Nigeria, one of the major causes of extreme poverty in Nigeria is chronic lack of financial literacy skills among adults.  This is traceable to the foundation of these adults as children who got little to zero financial education from their schools and parents, especially those who spent their formative years growing up in underserved communities. The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted the learning of children living in underserved communities as educators are overwhelmed and overburdened and don’t have the bandwidth of imparting children with financial and other foundational skills that are vital for the success of learners. Money Africa Kids is working to solve the problem of lack of financial literacy and social skills in the curriculum of children from poor homes especially from underserved communities in Nigeria who have experienced disruption in their schooling.

Money Africa Kids is using a web-based online platform and creative bootcamps to teach children (between the ages of 7 and 18) from poor homes foundational skills and knowledge necessary for them to thrive and succeed in life.

Money Africa Kids has three important components;

1) Utilizing a web-based online platform to provide young people from poor homes access to personalized and on-demand learning on personal finance basics—managing savings, banking and investment accounts. They are also able to discuss with their peers, submit questions for financial experts and evaluate their financial literacy knowledge in real time.

2) Organizing experiential bootcamps for these underserved learners for the purpose of facilitating learning of financial, social and other foundational skills among young people living in underserved communities in Nigeria and enable them recover from the negative impact of schooling disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and other socioeconomic factors.

3) Training of educators to enable them to be capable of circumventing the continued disruption of schooling activities of young learners living in underserved and marginalized communities.

In the last 18 months, we have worked with 7 institutions, taught over 1,500 children in 10 communities through our web-based platform and physical bootcamps, and generated $50,000 in revenue.

 Money Africa Kids serves young learners between the ages of 7 and 18 from poor homes, living in underserved and marginalized communities in Nigeria.

Their lives will be impacted in the following ways;

1)  They will possess financial literacy/ knowledge and skills that will enable them to make better financial choices and become financially resilient, and eventually escape extreme poverty.

2)  They will develop good saving and investing habits that will improve their long-term financial planning and protect them against adverse changes in financial conditions especially as they age.

3)  They will possess social skills that will enable them to communicate their ideas effectively and pursue their life goals with confidence.

4)  They will be able to weather the disruption in their schooling activities and catch up with peers living in privileged communities.

Almost all the members of Money Africa Kid’s team are from the bottom of the economic pyramid and grew up in underserved communities. We had first-hand experience with continuous disruptions in schooling and lack of financial literacy and social skills during our formative years. So, we understand the needs of this populace. Furthermore, during the development of this solution we conducted a comprehensive needs assessment and meaningfully engaged all stakeholders of this solution such as children aged 7 to 18, parents, educators, education consultants, NGOs and community leaders in order to get their inputs, ideas and advice. Moreover, during the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of this solution, these stakeholders are also engaged to track the impact of the solution and determine aspects of the solution that requires improvement. In addition, our team has over 26 years of combined experience across EdTech, FinTech, consulting, investment management, international development and engagement of underserved learners in Nigeria.

I am applying to solve because of the following reasons;

1)  Gain access to funds required to scale Money Africa Kids to more kids from poor homes in underserved communities in Nigeria and outside the shores of Nigeria.

2)  Join a network of Solvers so that we can build a community of practice and establish a support group where we will continue to exchange inspiration, ideas and advice needed for the growth and expansion of our social enterprises.

3)  Network and partner with leaders from various industries and sectors, especially during Solve’s flagship events such as Solve at MIT.

4)  Receive evidence-based advice, coaching and mentorship from experts, including the Solve and MIT networks.

5)  Gain access to legal services from Solve Member and partner organizations which will enable Money Africa Kids to comply with all the relevant laws and regulations as we scale our solution to other communities and countries, as well as help us reduce our legal costs.

6)  Gain exposure that will enable us to expand our customer base and attract relevant partners needed for us to amplify our impact.

7)  At Money Africa Kids, we are keen on the impact we are making in the lives of our beneficiaries, being selected by solve will strengthen our impact measurement practise via the monitoring and evaluation support we will receive from Solve.

Money Africa Kids is innovative because it uses a new hybrid model of combining personalized learning using a web-based platform that enables underserved learners to learn at their own pace and individual capacity, and cohort-based bootcamps that allow learners to learn foundational skills as a group. With this approach, learning is tailored to the needs of the learners and they are still able to have meaningful social-emotional learning with their peers. Money Africa Kids will enable broader positive impacts from other players in the EdTech and FinTech ecosystem by inspiring them to re-imagine the use of technology in re-engaging and meeting the holistic needs of underserved learners.

Within the next one year, we aim to equip 7,500 children from poor homes (between the ages of 7 to 18) from 10 marginalized communities in Nigeria with financial literacy and social skills needed for them to thrive and succeed.

Within the next five years, we aim to equip 100,000 children from poor backgrounds (between the ages of 7 to 18) from 20 African countries with financial literacy and social skills needed for them to thrive and succeed.

These goals will be achieved by establishing partnerships with other impact-driven organizations to identify and provide access to life-changing skills for kids from vulnerable economic backgrounds in several marginalized communities in Africa. Moreover, continuous improvement driven by feedback, inputs and ideas from the communities we serve will be made to improve our technology so that we can scale our solution to thousands of learners from hundreds of underserved communities in Africa, for the purpose of achieving our goals.

We are utilizing the following indicators to measure progress towards our impact goals;

1) Number of registered users on our web-based online platform.

2) Number of registered users who opt for our personalized education.

3) Number of users who register for our creative bootcamp.

4) Number of educators trained.

5) % of users who passed our post-training exercises

6) % of users who began personal savings after the training.

7) % of users who are able to communicate their ideas effectively after the training.

According to Investopedia, financial planning is one of the keys to a successful future. However, without financial literacy, it will be extremely difficult to achieve a financial plan. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) aptly refers to financial literacy as both knowledge and financial behaviour towards savings and wealth accumulation. 

Our theory of change is that by providing financial enlightenment to poor kids in marginalized and underserved communities, we will equip them with the knowledge/expertise to make improved financial choices, become financially resilient, and eventually snatch them from the claws of poverty. This will also help them to develop good saving and investing habits that will improve their long-term financial planning, protecting them against financial downturns as they grow

Project goal: Within the next one year, we aim to equip 7,500 kids from poor homes (between the ages of 7 to 18) from 10 marginalized communities in Nigeria with financial literacy and social skills needed for them to thrive and succeed.

Project logic model

Input: Mobile application developers and staff time, funding available, other human resources, expert consultants in financial literacy, IT equipment, video and audio equipment, projector and office facility.

Activities:

Web re-designing and testing process, web hosting, app design, development and launching (deployment & optimization), advertisement, user registration monitoring, recording, editing, and uploading of online training content (on various financial literacy topics), IT skills training for team members, website monitoring, digital marketing (ads) implementation, project monitoring and evaluation, review of project deliverables, Google Analytics integration, and other SEO operations.

Outputs:

An upgraded web-based financial literacy platform and mobile app that provides access to financial education and money management strategies from renowned financial experts.

Outcomes:

1) Informed users who know how to manage money, save more money, and lift themselves out of poverty.

2) Reduced poverty among Nigerians.

3) Increase in the number of individuals having a pension plan and insurance.

4) Reduced debt inequality and instability among Nigerians, especially young people.

5) Increased number of people who plan ahead for their future.

6) Users who are better informed and now more financially resilient in making better financial decisions.

7) Informed users who are better able to manage and invest their money wisely.

Impact:

7,500 young Africans will possess fundamental skills needed for them to thrive and succeed. 

Evidence

1) According to the data obtained from the Financial Education and Financial Literacy Project — a $220.53 million project carried out by the World Bank, equipping school-age children with financial literacy skills is critical for economic growth, financial success of households and winning the fight against extreme poverty.

2) T. Rowe Price’s 11th Annual Parents, Kids & Money Survey found that nearly half of parents said they miss opportunities to talk to their kids about money and finances. Half of the children surveyed said they wish their parents taught them more about money.

3) According to the data obtained from the communities we work with; our financial and social skills have helped catalyse the journey of several households out of extreme poverty and enabled our learners to thrive and succeed.

The core technology that powers Money Africa Kids is a web-based learning platform that allows for individualized and personalized learning of our target population. Also, we are working on building a mobile app to make learning more accessible and exciting for our beneficiaries.

In order to meaningfully incorporate diversity, equity and inclusivity in our work, we ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and non-discriminatory to any social, cultural, and identity-based human attributes such as gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, disability, political affiliation, ethnicity and so on. We also collect regular feedback from our team and utilize the information to take actions that ensure that our work environment encourages the full participation of everyone— including marginalized groups.

We provide financial literacy training via a web-based platform to underserved learners aged 7 to 18, so they can have and develop financial literacy skills which is important for them to thrive and succeed. Learners pay a subscription fee so that they can have access to our personalized learning platform.

In order to become financially sustainable, we are serving organizations such as primary and secondary schools that want to train their students in financial literacy. Furthermore, we have started partnering with top brands who wish to give back to the community. So, they will pay for the training and we will conduct the training for the underserved learners.

Last year, we partnered with MTN— Africa’s largest telecom company in terms of subscriber base. Because of the partnership and funds from them, we were able to train 500 kids from poor backgrounds in 2 marginalized communities in Nigeria.