A former New Zealand tennis representative player turned entrepreneur has a new product which could perhaps solve whanau debt in the future.
Money makes the world go around and KidsCoin is already teaching young Māori kids about real money concepts.
Te Kāea asked Sylvia Park School Student Jordan Blair how much she had saved.
She replied, “$250, and I originally have $1225 and I don't share with the group.”
Founder of KidsCoin, 27-year-old Brittany Teei says, “Students can log in online in virtual lessons and earn virtual dollars. All the lessons are curriculum aligned. They then have a virtual bank account where their money they earn goes into."
Brittany’s mum Terry Teei teaches at Auckland's Sylvia Park School.
Her bilingual class was the first to trial out KidsCoin before it went online today.
Mum Terry Teei says, “We are forever trying to chase the children out of the room and they're going, but we haven’t paid our tax. Tax is due on Friday. So it's the organic learning that has been the most exciting Its the language that they've gained in terms of around finances.”
KidsCoin was selected as the top idea in the DigMyIdea Māori Innovation Challenge last year.
Through the challenge, Teei was able to develop her concept into an online programme.
“The vision is, for a student who kind of leaves school going, oh yeah I know how money works. You know it's too often that I talk to people who came through a system where they didn't learn about the money you know and they feel terrible about financial decisions that they've made,” says Brittany Teei.
For now, Brittany is set to roll out the KidsCoin in other schools and she is already in talks to introduce the program on the global market.