“I am thrilled to have seen the evolution of our young participants in the Smart Kids program. It’s been a transformative journey for these kids, understanding money and its implications from a tender age. It’s truly heartening to see them make, manage, and donate money responsibly. Their entrepreneurial spirit and their grasp of financial concepts at such an early age are commendable and promising for the future. It’s been a fulfilling experience for the team and me at Yi Kolkata and we believe that financial literacy should be part of every child’s early education,” says Rohit Patni, Young Indians Kolkata, CII Chapter Chair.
The entrepreneurship vertical of Yi Kolkata organised Smart Kids FINCON, a financial conclave for young minds. This programme, which began with around 90 bright kids three months ago, was a big learning affair, aimed at making young minds money-smart right from their school-going age.
The final conclave was held at Williams Court in Calcutta on July 9. The participants had been divided into two groups, namely Smart Kids Champions (aged six to nine years) and Smart Kids Unicorns (aged 10-13 years), and they engaged in a three-month financial literacy journey. They participated in several activities, expert-led interactive sessions, donations and field visits that enriched the young minds about money matters.
These included the basics of money, ways to earn money, and appropriate utilisation of money through three main modules. Formation of Kid Companies mentored by Yi members was the most noteworthy part of the programme. It resulted in collectively earning revenues of over Rs 6 lakh in less than a month through each of their own unique ventures. This initiative also tried to foster an entrepreneurial spirit among the budding minds.
Besides, practical exposures were facilitated to these kids via an ICICI Bank visit and hands-on experience in retail stores. The conclave was a celebration and a witness to the incredible journey the kids had, where they shared their financial and entrepreneurial experiences through presentations. Awards were also distributed across several categories.
Co-host Rashika Jain, also the chair entrepreneurship of Young Indians, and one of the leaders of the entire programme said, ”We spent three months with the kids trying to teach them different financial concepts through sessions, activities and practical learnings. Their presentations to the sharks (judges or panellists) today completely validated their learnings and our vision for them. We’re now confident that the kids did in fact learn a lot and that Smart Kids has a huge future potential.”
Vaibhav Soni, entrepreneurship chair, Eastern India, Young Indians, said, ”What started like a small project around teaching young children about the importance of money last year has now grown into a full blown project about entrepreneurship skill development in children. The programme exemplifies how important it is to teach children the value of money and proves that business skills can be acquired at a young age. This use case done in Calcutta can now be replicated in schools across the country and has the potential to become a movement.”