BACÁN

"Bacán is an innovative financial education app that helps young people in Latin America acquire essential financial knowledge and skills to improve their quality of life.”

The lack of financial education among young people and teenagers in Latin America is a significant problem that affects a large number of young people and teenagers in the region. According to a study by Stanford University, only 13% of high school students in Latin America have access to financial education programs. This means that the majority of young people and teenagers in the region do not receive the financial education needed to make informed financial decisions and achieve long-term financial security. As a result, many young people and teenagers in the region are at risk of making uninformed financial decisions and being vulnerable to financial exploitation. There are several factors that contribute to the lack of financial education in Latin America. One of them is the lack of access to adequate financial education programs. Many young people and teenagers in the region do not have access to programs that teach them the skills and knowledge necessary to make informed financial decisions. This may be due to a lack of resources or a lack of availability of financial education programs in certain areas. Another factor is the lack of financial knowledge and skills among parents and other adults who can provide guidance. According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in the majority of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, less than 50% of adults have basic financial skills. Many young people and teenagers in Latin America rely on their parents or other adults for financial advice and guidance. If these adults do not have the financial knowledge and skills necessary, they may not be able to provide their children with the guidance they need to make informed financial decisions. Finally, there may be a lack of incentives for young people and teenagers to acquire financial knowledge and skills. Without incentives such as rewards or recognition for learning about financial topics, young people and teenagers may not see the value in acquiring these skills and may not be motivated to seek financial education. The consequences of the lack of financial education in Latin America are significant. Young people and teenagers who do not have the necessary financial knowledge and skills may have difficulty making informed financial decisions. This can lead to financial insecurity and vulnerability to financial exploitation, as they may be more likely to fall victim to financial scams or accept offers that are not beneficial to them. In addition, young people and teenagers who do not have financial education may have difficulty achieving long-term financial security, as they may have difficulty saving and investing effectively and may have problems managing their debts and avoiding excessive debt. All of these consequences can have a long-term impact on the quality of life of young people and teenagers in Latin America.

Our solution is a mobile application that offers a friendly and accessible financial education to young people and adolescents in Latin America. The application uses interactive modules and questions to teach users about key financial topics such as how to save, invest, and manage their debts effectively. Users can progress through the modules at their own pace and earn rewards as they complete each module. In addition, the application uses an attractive and easy-to-use user interface to make learning fun and not tedious. In terms of technology, we use programming and design editing to develop and optimize the application, and we are committed to continuously improving the user experience as the application develops. With our application, we are helping young people and adolescents in Latin America develop the financial skills they need to make informed financial decisions and achieve long-term financial security.

Our solution is focused on significantly improving the lives of young people and adolescents in Latin America, a group that is currently underserved in the area of financial education. Despite the fact that financial education is crucial for long-term success, many young people and adolescents do not have access to resources or opportunities to learn about how to effectively manage their money. This can lead to poorly informed financial decisions and, in turn, long-term financial insecurity. Our mobile application addresses this need by providing accessible and friendly financial education through interactive modules and questions. By providing young people and adolescents in Latin America with the financial skills they need to make informed decisions and achieve long-term financial security, we are directly and significantly working to improve their lives.

Our team is well positioned to offer this solution because we are part of the target audience we focus on. As teenagers, we are steps away from facing financial legality and the possibility of acquiring different financial products, such as credit, but with the ignorance of not knowing how they work and how we could benefit from them instead of harming ourselves.

Regarding our experiences and skills, although we believe that we still need to learn more about financial education, we know the basics of what everyone should know. Moreover, we know that this would bring us benefits in the long run. However, we do not want to keep this knowledge just for ourselves, but we want to share it with others our age to prevent financial problems due to lack of financial literacy. As an example, in our home country, Chile, a large part of the population is in debt, which is sad for us to see.

One example is the case of Isidora, which our team leader, Vicente Diaz, saw firsthand during his internship with a lawyer. Isidora turned to the lawyer to see what she could do about her debts. Despite earning one million pesos, she had no assets and was 15 million pesos in debt with monthly installments of 800 thousand pesos, which was impossible for her to pay. This affected Vicente deeply, as he understood that there was a part of Isidora's mistake in acquiring all those debts, but he also understood that a big part of the problem is that nobody is doing anything to remedy this in our country and in the continent. For this reason, Vicente decided to lead this project and focus it on young people, with the objective of providing them with the necessary tools and knowledge to have a stable financial life and prevent problems like Isidora's.

To understand the needs of the population we want to serve, we conducted extensive research. We surveyed both high school and college students to find out their level of financial literacy, and found that it is virtually nonexistent. In addition, we surveyed students to find out what solution they would like to see, and found that many believe it is essential to have financial education in the country. Since it is not included in the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, students expressed that they want something more engaging, interactive and digital, as traditional classes bore them. Therefore, we are committed to developing a solution that is tailored to the specific needs of this population, and we will continue to involve students in all stages of the development and design of our solution to ensure that it meets their expectations.

Our solution is innovative in that it focuses on providing an interactive and entertaining educational approach to improve the financial literacy of young people. We use gamification to motivate users to learn and develop their financial skills at their own pace. In addition, we partner with leading financial institutions to offer real-life rewards to users who advance levels in the app. This will help young people learn about money management in a fun way and gain benefits in their daily lives. Our application will be focused on the Latin American market where there are practically no financial education applications. We believe that our solution can be catalytic in that it will help improve financial education in the region and promote better money management among young people, which in turn will have a positive impact on the economic development of the region and the personal economy of each individual.

Below is a preview of the prototype of our application.

Our impact objective for the coming year is to improve the financial literacy of young people through our educational application. To achieve this, we plan to reach a large number of young people through an effective marketing strategy and social media promotions. In addition, we will work closely with educational institutions to bring our app to students and improve financial education from the classroom. We also plan to measure the impact of our solution through user surveys and evaluations, and use that information to constantly improve our application. Overall, we expect to make a significant impact on young people's lives and help them make informed and responsible financial decisions through our innovative solution.

The main technology that drives our solution is a combination of Python and Artificial Intelligence. We use Python as the main programming language to develop our application, as it is a highly scalable and flexible language that allows us to easily implement the latest technologies and trends in application development. In addition, we use artificial intelligence techniques to develop an AI-based personal financial advisor that will help users make informed financial decisions. This includes machine learning and natural language processing techniques to understand users' needs and preferences. We also use data analytics tools to collect and analyze information about application performance and usage to continuously improve the user experience. In short, we use advanced technologies to develop a personalized financial education application that delivers an interactive and effective learning experience.

Currently, our solution has not been launched, but our short-term goal is to serve a population of 2.5% of young people in Chile, which equates to 100,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 29. As we expand our presence in the Chilean market, we plan to expand to other Latin American countries to reach an even larger audience. It is important to note that, according to the UN, by 2020, the youth population in Latin America is estimated to be approximately 200 million people, ranging in age from 15 to 29.

There are several obstacles that could limit our ability to achieve our objectives in the coming year. One of the main challenges is financial, as we need resources to develop and promote our application, as well as pay our team and cover operating costs. Another challenge is technical, since as we develop our application, we must ensure that it meets quality and security standards, as well as adapting to different platforms and devices. There could also be legal challenges, as we must comply with privacy and data protection regulations and requirements. Another challenge is cultural as we must adapt our application to the needs and preferences of young users in different countries. Finally, there could also be market challenges, as we must compete with other existing applications and attract users to our platform. However, it is important to mention that our application is unique in the Latin American market, especially in Chile, where we plan to launch it initially.

Currently, we do not have any established partnerships, but we are looking to establish alliances with financial institutions to offer our users access to high quality financial products and services and generate revenue through commissions and fees. We are also looking to partner with educational institutions to promote our application in the classroom and reach a wider audience.
In general, we are looking to work with organizations that share our vision of improving the financial education of youth and believe that these partnerships will be essential to achieving our long-term goals.

Our freemiun business model is based on providing educational products and services to young people, our key clients. Our goal is to improve their financial literacy and provide them with the necessary tools to make informed financial decisions. Our main product is a mobile application that offers interactive and entertaining educational content, where the user will advance through learning modules, and will also offer rewards for progress, such as discounts at popular stores. In addition, we plan to generate revenue by offering a premium subscription service that includes access to an AI-based personal financial advisor. Our AI-based service will provide additional value to our customers by giving them access to personalized financial advice and financial planning tools. We will also generate revenue through partnerships with financial institutions by earning commissions and fees from them. Our ultimate goal is to break the cycle of financial poverty and improve the lives of millions of young people in Latin America through our innovative and engaging educational platform.

Our path to financial sustainability includes several strategies. Firstly, we will work on partnerships with financial institutions to offer our users access to high-quality financial products and services. These partnerships will also allow us to generate revenue through commissions and fees. Additionally, we will offer a premium subscription on our app, which will include access to advanced educational content and a personal AI-based financial advisor. Overall, our strategy is based on offering unique value to our young customers and partnering with financial institutions to generate long-term revenue. In addition to our main revenue streams, we also plan to explore alternative sources of funding such as grants, donations and raising investment capital. Our goal is to ensure that our revenue streams cover our expected expenses in the long-term, and we will continuously monitor our financial performance and make adjustments as necessary.