Over the years, Momentum Metropolitan noticed the financial literacy gap in most South African high schools and this prompted the Group to introduce the Kickstarz programme to bridge that gap. According to Momentum Metropolitan Group CSI manager Charlene Lackay,” Majority of the youth population today do not have adequate knowledge with regards to financial literacy. It is a combination of luck, having parents with good intentions and maybe just being at the right place at the right time. If I think about how I got a student loan, how I learnt how to manage my paycheck after getting my first job,” she said.
The Kickstarz programme was initially piloted in 2016 at the University of Johannesburg Metropolitan Academy in Brixton in aid of the alarming South African youth unemployment rate. Since inception, the programme has actively engaged with 1 500 to 1 700 Grade 11 learners each year across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape.
The literacy content was presented to the learners and they were asked to start their own sneaker businesses so that they could sell to their counterparts. Each group was tasked with designing a pair of sneakers, compiling a business plan and creating a brand philosophy using an app that was developed for the exercise.
According to Lackay,“ The programme not only teaches financial principles but also valuable skills such as teamwork and presentation skills, which are not necessarily taught in textbooks,”.
Three separate lessons were included into the school day over a five-day period. These lessons cover important topics around financial education such as budgeting, saving, bad debt, net income, deductions, blacklisting and needs versus wants. She makes a recommendation that the Kickstarz programme should be included into the curriculum seeing that it is interactive and focuses on engaging with the learners.
