Pennies Towards Progress – The Quest To Spread Financial Awareness And Access

Although India is making great strides in integrating digital technologies into the finance and banking spheres, financial literacy among the broader population remains abysmally low. A Business Standard report released in late 2023 revealed that only 27% of India’s population is considered financially literate. Unsurprisingly, the rates of financial literacy among socio-economically disadvantaged communities is almost non-existent, further entrenching them in poor financial practices. Furthermore, the report underscored that only 16.7% of Indian students have a basic understanding of money management. 

In response to these concerning statistics, the young changemakers at TribesforGOOD decided to do their part to ameliorate the situation. They understood the importance of spreading financial education among members of underprivileged groups, particularly among the younger generation so that they might have the tools to secure their financial futures. And thus was born the Pennies to Progress campaigns, conceived by a tribe of socially conscious changemakers from the April 2024 cohort.

Let’s meet our troop of young changemakers:

• Samaira Jain, Grade 11, La Martiniere for Girls, Kolkata
• Rucha Chandra, Grade 11, Anand Niketan, Ahmedabad
• Straina Patel, Grade 12, G.D. Somani Memorial School, Mumbai
• Diya Jalan, Grade 12, Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata

Together, they conceived and systematically executed their financial literacy and entrepreneurial support campaign, achieving incredible results by catering to young students from economically underprivileged backgrounds between the ages of 16 to 20. To expand their impact they also collaborated with NGOs across multiple Indian cities to support economically disadvantaged small-business entrepreneurs across.

Part 1: Leveraging Virtual Channels to Educate

Samaira Jain

Our changemakers began their campaign by conducting virtual awareness sessions. They collaborated with the Mumbai-based NGOs and explored topics such as money, trade, entrepreneurship, and personal finance.

Wishing to equip their audience with a practical skill for the digital world, our changemakers also taught them how to create Google forms and informed them of the several ways they can be leveraged by small businesses.

These sessions were often accompanied by technical challenges, such as a weak internet connection, language barrier, etc. However our changemakers were firm in their resolve and clear about their goals, which was why their endeavours resonated with the NGO students. 

Part 2: Supporting Dreams into Reality

Following their virtual fieldwork sessions, the team expanded their broader objective of spreading financial awareness to include actively supporting social investment projects.

To achieve this goal, they collaborated with the pioneering peer-to-peer lending platform Rang De who work to provide affordable credit to unbanked communities in India. The team worked to raise funds for two of their campaigns, the first being the ‘Artisans fund’ that seeks to support gifted artisans in India by providing them with essential credit so that they have access to the supplies they need to grow their businesses. 

They also raised funds for the Rural Nano Entrepreneurs campaign. To accomplish this, the changemakers met with several prospective donors and explained to them the impact of social investing on rural women entrepreneurs and how they would stand to earn 4-8% as potential return on their investment. They also provided their donors with unique tracking codes to monitor the progress of the campaign and encouraged them to spread word in their own communities to attract greater support for rural entrepreneurs.

Through their grit, unwavering support from family and friends, and, most importantly, the boundless enthusiasm from their audience, our changemakers were successfully able to meet their target.

Part 3: Mapping the Future

To continue pursuing the larger goals of their TFG projects, the finance team is working on a social media campaign to draw more attention to the platform Rang De as well as others in the community investment space so that the right resources are mobilized towards the right projects. Their journey can make each of us think of the 

Concluding Thoughts

Despite efforts being made to render basic financial services and affordable lending schemes accessible to economically marginalized groups, several challenges persist. Large-scale change can only be brought about through collective action. 

The drive and dedication with which our TFG changemakers approached their objective is truly admirable and something we can all learn from. Like them we too could too take a more actionable approach towards financially uplifting underserved communities that support us in ways we cannot see.

Become a Changemaker 

Signing up for change-making is easy, but the real challenge lies in effectively implementing it. It starts with the mindset to be a changemaker. Begin your Changemaking journey by joining the upcoming cohorts of our Global Challenges & Social Justice Program.