Junio is designed to promote financial literacy and fiscal discipline among children
The ability to comprehend finances and the varied use of skills pertaining to it, like managing bills, saving for the future, investments, budgeting, is known as financial literacy. Good habits take time to grow and one can not be an expert in this field overnight. Children are most tech-savvy of the lot and yet, their pocket money is always in cash Imparting financial education in them, right from the start, can save them a lot of time and bad decisions in the long term.
Even if children are using their parents’ cards, there is a frequent quandary concerning OTP, sudden big-ticket purchases, and so on. To combat this problem, Junio, the brainchild of Shankar Nath and Ankit Gera, a brand new digital pocket money app for pre-teens and teenagers, is here. It has evolved from their extensive research and personal experiences. It is a prepaid master card designed to be used both in the digital and the physical world. They may earn, spend, and save on their own, while their parents can automate their monthly allowance, make instant transfers, and receive real-time spending updates. Not only will it allow children to learn about financial literacy, but it will also help them to be disciplined about their financial health.
“With the advent of easily accessible smartphones, unlimited internet services, and overall technology boost, it is now easier to teach financial literacy to children unlike it was 20 years ago. To add to that, parents are now willing to download the app and impart financial literacy to their kids, especially because no school curriculum includes it,” said Ankit Gera, one of the founders. “We believe that our Junio card is most suitable for the 10 to 18 years age group but we are open to it being used by any child depending on their parent’s approval. The card can also be used by their nannies and the parents can keep a tab to rest assured of how and where the money is being used”, he added.
The company’s present focus is on market adoption of this product for a year or two and building a strong customer base with at least one to two million parents and children. Besides utilising traditional digital marketing, the founders are also hoping to partner with schools for better channeling. He said, “ For example, school canteens may begin to accept Junio card as a cashless source of money. It is more convenient to take our project ahead now that schools are more receptive and we are taking this time to do our homework till in-person classes resume.” Junio future plans to source profit include making it a medium for payment of school fees, opening a bank account, financing rental deposits or education loans once the teenager turns 18, among others, in the long term.
It is a human tendency to discard anything that is achieved easily and kids are more prone to this. To discipline their financial habits and make them understand the value of every penny, the app has special features, like ‘Savings Goal’. Children can add whatever they save from their pocket money in this bank and can accomplish their goal, which here, can be a cycle or a book or anything for that matter. “With promising results, we hope to take Junio to other South Asian countries with time,” he concludes.
While almost all fintech firms are helping only in conducting online payments, Junio gives equal importance to instilling financial literacy as well as a cashless medium for transactions.