Teenagers and children have endless desires of buying and owning things that are predominantly fuelled by their peer comparisons. Their growing demands of owning new gadgets or toys, with parents lovingly fulfilling them, makes them blind to the fact that money is easy to spend, hard to earn and save, and even difficult to grow.
So, how does one inculcate the value of judicious use of money amongst teenagers and children?
Ever since the onset of covid, fintech and neobanking has been on an upward trajectory. Besides offering a seamless payment experience, the fintech vertical is leaping forward to educate kids and teenagers regarding the importance of saving wealth and give a practical experience of financial skills.
Two IIT Roorkee graduates Sambhav Jain and Kush Taneja shouldered the responsibility of instilling financial responsibilities in teenagers by launching FamPay in 2019. It is India’s first-of-its-kind fintech startup that offers a numberless debit card for children below the age of 18 to spend money under the strict supervision of their parents. The eureka moment for FamPay occurred when they observed random people at malls offering cash to their children.
Saving Money is a Child’s Play
According to the Census of India, children less than 18 years old account for 41 percent of India’s population. The same age group will form the potential user base of fintech payments as soon as they enter the workforce. Therefore, FamPay is preparing young minds to understand the nuances of finance fundamentals and also how money transactions happen through fintech and become firm believers of it.
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According to the Census of India, children less than 18 years old account for 41 percent of India’s population which will form the potential user base of fintech payments as soon as they enter the workforce.
How is FamPay Educating Children?
FamPay has introduced a numberless product FamCard which resembles a digital wallet. The digital wallet can be given to the child if only the parents want it. Through FamCard parents can transfer money to their child’s card instantly with the tap of a finger, not requiring the need to link the bank account. This process is much safer than to directly hand them your debit or credit card.
Every transaction made by the child through FamCard can be easily tracked by the parents. The cashless card also gives children the freedom to experiment with their creativity since they can design and customise their cards. It also has a savings challenge that enables children to win rewards and offers from which they can buy pizza or buy a gift but all under the parents’ radar.
For security concerns, every transaction through the card is end-to-end encrypted with device locks like fingerprint, Face ID, pattern lock or PIN. In FamCard, the card information is secured, and by chance, if the card is stolen or lost, the card can be paused and blocked from the app itself. Teenagers are also given their unique UPI ID. FamCard is operational under the RuPay network with IDFC Bank as its banking partner.
Just like any other fintech platform, FamPay earns its commissions through every transaction made.
FamPay – GenZ Neobank – Building Community of teenagers
FamPay wants to be seen as a fintech brand for GenZ. It builds its popularity amongst teenagers by organising FamJam which is India’s largest digital festival. FamJam consists of 20 diverse and attractive competitions ranging from ad-making, business planning, debating to treasure hunt, offering prize money worth Rs 1,00,000. There is no entry fee for the competitions. These annual digital fests have built a community of more than 5000 teenagers for FamPay. Besides annual digital events, they also conduct a Brand Ambassador Programme (Teenfluencer), an Internship programme (Teenprenuer) and a platform for Student-Run Businesses within FamPay’s app.
What is in it for the Fintech Startups/Neobanks?
Neobanks or fintech startups catering to teenagers will be embraced largely because of two reasons:
- India houses a large adolescent population.
- With exposure to smartphones and the internet at a young age, they are tech-savvy and will be flag-bearers of digital payments.
In general, teenagers in India are far from the mindset of teens in the US where these adolescents learn to handle money as they get into part-time jobs from an early age. Fintech platforms offering financial literacy for teenagers in India will be advantageous as they will get the first movers’ advantage. Moreover, if the fintech platform wants to extend its product portfolio with more financial products for adults, it will not grapple with customer acquisition due to a ready customer base, thus reducing spends on marketing.
