AMMAN — Many people are suffering from a lack of financial
literacy, particularly among children and teenagers.
However, there is a solution that will be available soon as
a mobile app – Verity.
اضافة اعلان
A family banking and financial literacy mobile application,
Verity is targeted at children and teenagers, aged between 8 and 18 in the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Founders Dina Shoman, Kamal Al-Samarrai, and Omar Al-Sharif,
have developed Verity to help parents teach children about money.
Samarrai said that when they initially got together, there
were various aspects in his own life that drove him to want this app to
succeed.
“I made mistakes as a youngster with my finances, maybe too
much credit card trouble.” Samarrai said. “I thought it would be a great idea
if I helped my daughter avoid the same mistakes I did.”
Samarrai added that they looked to the lack of financial
literacy in the MENA region to try to understand this problem.
“Fifty-three percent of UAE students do not know how to
manage their money, and 43 percent of youths are not able to manage their
money.”
Samarrai said that these things allowed the partners to
build a problem statement that goes forward with their company.
The first issue was that youths have limited tools for
day-to-day payments. Secondly, parents would like to teach their children how
to save money, but they don’t know how, moreover most parents don’t know where
teenagers spend their money.
Sharif said that the application will be launched later this
year. “We are going to start in the UAE and then will launch the application in
other countries in the MENA region soon.”
He explained that a parent or child's custodian has to
create an account on the app, and through this account, the person can transfer
money to the child’s account.
“The amount of the allowance can be set by the parent, and
it can be transferred directly to the child’s digital wallet. After the child
has received the allowance, Verity can start its services,” Sharif said.
Verity includes educational tools, as well as the ability
for children and teenagers to save and spend money, the app can teach children
about money by making them capable to manage their own money in a safe
environment.
“The application dashboard is very informative and playful,
it’s made specifically for children and teens.”
“Children can spend money through digital and physical
prepaid debit cards, moreover there is a saving account that parents can use to
motivate their children to save money. In addition, there is a feature, called
chores which represent the earning part, where parents can put tasks for their
children and these tasks can be connected to rewards, such as an amount of
money if they did their chore properly.” Sharif said.
“Moreover, with Verity, children can set a saving goal to
buy a particular item they want. Also, there is a donation goal where the child
can donate as much as he/she wants.”
“Parents can teach their children how smartly they can spend
and manage their money in a safe way,” Shoman said. “Parents will be notified
every time their child spends money.”
She said that the Verity app is a safe mobile application,
with controls linked to parents in a secure environment, while teaching their
child how to manage money. She added that according to studies two-thirds of
adults worldwide are financially illiterate.
“Through my research, I found that children can learn simple
concepts at the age of 3 and 4.”
“We in Verity believe in experiential learning, which is the
process of learning through experience, learning by doing and by reflecting on
the experience, and then applying it in real life.”
“Moreover, through experience children gain a deeper
understanding of the concept when allowed to act on it.”
According to Shoman, with Verity children will learn good
money habits and skills, such as savings, conscious spending, earning, and
giving.
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