Two mums from Edinburgh have launched a crowdfunding campaign for a new app designed to improve financial literacy levels among children.
Tynah Matembe and Helene Rodger have developed family finance management platform KUZAKASH which aims to promote global youth financial inclusion.
The duo hope to raise £12,000 to support the launch of its KUZAKASH APP. It is their company MoneyMatix’s first fundraising campaign and will be done via the RBS Back Her Business scheme which pledges to match fund up to 50% of their crowdfunding target.
Led by the two women, the business is part of the RBS Accelerator and has been delivering financial capability in schools for over two years – giving the team a grassroots understanding of financial literacy.
Modern financial habits have presented new complex money management challenges with youth turning to adults for financial guidance but finding them ill-equipped at money management.
These findings led the company to develop KUZAKASH, a family finance management app promoting meaningful financial interactions between children, parents & teachers within a dynamic, education-centric ecosystem.
There are 2.2 billion children in the world yet great barriers to youth financial inclusion create financial illiteracy globally. In parallel, the ‘edutainment’ economy will reach over $23billion by 2021.
The company is seeking to raise £12,000, which will be used to carry out beta testing of the KUZAKASH APP they have developed, the funding will also go towards a consumer education campaign.
The crowdfunding campaign is open to the wider public and will go a long way in helping bring financial conversations back to the dinner table. The app works using visualisation tools to make financial goal-setting fun and achievable; inherent in the design is the ability for both an adult and child to set, track and contribute towards their goals which are used as the educational touchpoints to illustrate healthy money habits for young people while at the same time helping parents maximise their income, tackle debt and develop responsible money skills.
Tynah Matembe, CEO of MoneyMatiX, said: “Financial management skills are one of the most important factors that determine our lifestyle choices. Money is a continuous touchpoint throughout our lives and technology can help make this touchpoint meaningful by enabling people to create healthy interactions with money.”
Helene Rodger, Co-Founder and COO of MoneyMatiX, said: “There is an African proverb that says it takes a village to raise a child, but I want to add to it that it takes a family and community to foster good financial habits. In this day and age of influencers, young people should not only be influenced by fashion or talent, but they should also be influenced by skills that will last for a lifetime like financial education. We are building a generation of financially savvy youngsters who will not only impact their communities but the economy at large. We can’t do this on our own! We need your help to build financially capable communities.”
To date, MoneyMatiX has delivered workshops to primary schools throughout West Lothian & Edinburgh, to University of Edinburgh students and several Youth based organisations in Scotland. They run an amazingly successful Youth Champions programme that empowers youth to role model healthy financial behaviour for their peers. The launch of the app will increase its reach in delivering these essential life skills.
To get the matched funding from RBS they need to get at least 100 unique backers for their APP. The campaign will run for 30 days and you can back KuzaKash here.