HOW IT STARTED
In 2014, The Edge Education Foundation received a grant from Citi Foundation to design a financial literacy programme for youths. The programme was named ‘Money & Me: Youth Financial Empowerment Programme’.
Why financial literacy?
Many young people today are struggling with debt or with making ends meet. Another cause for concern is the rise in the number of bankruptcy cases among young people. Between 2011 and 2015, about 24,000 Gen Y Malaysians, aged 35 and below, were declared bankrupt. This included almost 1,300 under the age of 25 (Insolvency Department of Malaysia). Failure to repay loans and credit card debts due to poor financial planning and spending habits are major reasons for young people being declared bankrupt.
In addition to improving financial literacy among youths, Money & Me seeks to introduce them to entrepreneurship as an option to employment, in particular for those who are unable to go on to post-secondary education after Form 5.
Approved by the MoE
Money & Me is approved by the Division of Co-curricular and Arts (Bahagian Kokurikulum dan Kesenian) of the Ministry of Education Malaysia. The programme has two objectives: (1) To equip youths with financial literacy as a basic life skill; and (2) To equip low and lower-middle income youths with basic entrepreneurship skills to help them improve their economic prospects. The pilot project for Money & Me was launched in five schools in Kuala Lumpur in 2016.
Financial literacy is “a combination of awareness, knowledge, skill, attitude and behaviour necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve individual financial well-being.”
– OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) –
CEO’S NOTE
The Edge Education Foundation is the philanthropic arm of The Edge whose support enables us to do things that a small foundation like ours might otherwise not be able to. One of these is ‘Money & Me: Youth Financial Empowerment Programme’. But even with the backing of a media group, we would not be able to carry out this programme without our very supportive Partners (you can read more about them here). Our Partners’ employees who volunteer for the programme are the ones who bring Money & Me into schools, and give students from low to lower-middle income homes an opportunity to learn money management and basic entrepreneurship skills. Our hope is that such skills will help these students improve their prospects when they leave school and enable them to experience financial well-being in the future.
At The Edge Education Foundation, we believe in the power of collaboration in doing good. So if you are interested to be part of a network that seeks to bring financial education to students and equip them for life, we would very much like to hear from you.
Dorothy Teoh
Chief Executive Officer
The Edge Education Foundation
The Edge Education Foundation CEO Dorothy Teoh and then-programme manager Joel Lee (second and first from right, respectively) with volunteers from Money & Me Partners at a ‘train the trainers’ session for the programme in February 2017.
Volunteers from Money & Me Partners at another ‘train the trainers’ session in February 2017.