Child and Youth Finance International

Abstract

The case follows the journey of serial social entrepreneur Jeroo Billimoria who has dedicated her life to building social enterprises to combat childhood poverty. Her latest venture, Aflatoun, is focussed on creating and rolling out a comprehensive financial and social curriculum which educates children about money and finance as well as children’s rights and responsibilities. Aflatoun recruits and trains non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in countries around the world to use their curriculum to educate children to be “economic citizens”. In five years, the organisation has been highly successful in distributing its model, working through 72 organisations in 61 countries to reach nearly one million children.

The focus of this teaching case is how social entrepreneurs can mobilise multiple stakeholders to adopt mindsets and policies that promote new values and norms. It highlights the organisational and leadership questions that arise when a social entrepreneur aims to create broader change in society.

This case was prepared for inclusion in Sage Business Cases primarily as a basis for classroom discussion or self-study, and is not meant to illustrate either effective or ineffective management styles. Nothing herein shall be deemed to be an endorsement of any kind. This case is for scholarly, educational, or personal use only within your university, and cannot be forwarded outside the university or used for other commercial purposes.

2024 Sage Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Resources

Exhibit 1: Aflatoun Operations, 2010

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Exhibit 2: Aflatoun Milestones, 2010

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Exhibit 3: Examples of Child-Friendly Banking Products Globally

Bank West Australia provides children’s savings accounts that are available to children under 15, charge no fees or charges, allow parents to access the accounts via phone and online banking, and earn credit interest which is calculated monthly and paid annually.

HSBC UK offers MyMoney to children and youth: a package of a savings account (called MySavings) when children are aged seven or over, and a current account (called MyAccount) when children are aged 11. With MySavings, a child can open an account with a minimum balance of GB£10, earn monthly interest, and manage his account online or on his mobile 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With MyAccount, a child will receive a HSBC Visa debit card and PIN with parental permission and use it in shops, online, and at cash machines.

UBS in Switzerland credit savings accounts for young people or investment fund accounts opened for newborns with 20 Swiss francs. Also, UBS provides numerous extra perks for young savers such as competitions with attractive prizes, Topsy advent calendars, gift cards, and many more surprises. Moreover, UBS Generation savings accounts for young people ages 12 to 22 benefit from preferential interest rates, no account charges or maintenance fees, and free UBS credit card. When a young saver joins the UBS KeyClub, s/he can take advantage of discounts and free offers exclusive to Generation clients with €26, Switzerland’s most popular youth card.

Hatton National Bank in Sri Lanka collaborated with the Ministry of Education to establish nationwide student banking units in schools. These deposit centres are safe places for students to formally save money and develop life-long savings habits. Through the student managers programme, HNB selects secondary-level students to manage the daily operations of a mini-bank under the supervision of a teacher or HNB representative. In addition, HNB has placed regulations that protect children from the risk of their parents emptying their accounts for non-urgent reasons. Currently, HNB operates 200 student banking units in 200 schools across the country through 180 branches. Since 1990, over 600,000 students have become clients of HNB through 200 student banking units; HNB holds savings deposits up to nearly US$40 million from these students.

Al-Amal Microfinance Bank in Yemen was established in 2008 based upon the principle of universal financial inclusion, covering the unbanked population, youth, and women. Children and youth under 18 can open Child Savers (savings accounts) with parental permission and only need to maintain a minimum balance of US$1, while adult accounts require a balance of US$2.50. Where physical branches are too costly, Al-Amal provides money boxes in schools for children to save. By the end of 2010, Al-Amal had mobilised over US$31,000 through 6,317 child savings accounts (44% of its total savings accounts). In addition, 5000 youth over the age of 18 had opted to open adult savings accounts.

MFI XacBank in Mongolia offers a Nomadic Banking programme, a mobile-based savings and payment platform to assist and reach the banked and unbanked clients. Those in the most remote areas of Mongolia have constant access to Future Millionaire, a child savings accounts programme that awards children MNT3000 (US$2.245) at birth and provides competitive, annually compounded interest. Children, youth, and their parents can make deposit transactions and same-day transfers between AMAR accounts (XacBank’s mobile accounts), view transactions, check/print account balances, and receive money through an AMAR agent.

Exhibit 4: Global Banking Restrictions on Children and Youth

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Exhibit 5: Aflatoun Board Structure

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Exhibit 6: Aflatoun Organogram in 2010

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This case was prepared for inclusion in Sage Business Cases primarily as a basis for classroom discussion or self-study, and is not meant to illustrate either effective or ineffective management styles. Nothing herein shall be deemed to be an endorsement of any kind. This case is for scholarly, educational, or personal use only within your university, and cannot be forwarded outside the university or used for other commercial purposes.

2024 Sage Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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