Young people across the US have a chance to win USD$1500 in a financial wellbeing competition run by the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF).
The Biz Kid$ Showcase is an annual competition that invites 12 to 18 year-olds to develop and market financial wellbeing products for their community.
Participants are given access to educational modules and a business planning exercise to help them build a case for their financial product or solution. A panel of credit union leaders will judge the entries, and award a prize of $500 to third place, $1,000 to second place and $1,500 to first place.
Last year’s winner was Yuktha Senthil from San Diego, California, who took first prize for her idea GradGenie, a social platform that promotes school resources and gives students a place to share posts and announcements about clubs and organisations, to help them stay connected with each other.
The competition, an extension of the NCUF’s long-running Biz Kid$ program that provides educators with financial literacy materials, aims to raise awareness of credit unions, enhance financial literacy, and encourage entrepreneurship in young people. Biz Kid$ also runs a PBS television show which educates young people about finance.
“Credit unions are increasingly seeing that financial literacy is just one part of a broader journey towards financial wellbeing,” said Chad Helminak, chief impact officer at NCUF.
“The Biz Kid$ Showcase is an opportunity to help members – or the next generation of members – come to the same realisation.”
Registration for the competition opens on 29 August, and closes on 16 September.
