MANY children dream of becoming entrepreneurs when they grow up, but very few start as early as Jose Adolfo Quisocala Condori, a Peruvian boy who started a children’s savings bank when he was only 7 years old. Today, his bank serves over 2,000 clients and offers various financial services. Jose got the idea for a children’s savings bank six years ago, after noticing that many of his peers were spending their money on sweets and toys, instead of saving it for more meaningful purchases. Despite his young age, he understood that saving money and accessing the financial system were two ways that adults — like his parents — solved many of their financial and social problems, so he decided to make them available to kids as well. He then started thinking of ways that children could generate money without the help of their parents, and recycling seemed like the obvious answer. Jose was sure that he was on to something, but when he pitched his idea for a children’s bank to his teachers, he was told that a 7-year-old couldn’t handle such a project. But he proved them all wrong. Jose founded the Bartselana Student Bank in his home city of Arequipa in 2012. The idea behind this ingenious financial institution was fairly simple. Children could become clients of the bank by turning in at least 5 kilograms of recyclable waste (paper or plastic) and were required to deposit at least one other kilogram of waste every month, in order to maintain their membership status. They would then set a savings goal, and could only withdraw money from their accounts when they reached their savings goal. The 7-year-old reached an arrangement with local recycling companies that offered clients of the Bartselana Student Bank a higher price for per kilogram of recyclable waste, with all proceeds deposited straight into their accounts. To make sure that the children were the only ones who benefited from their work, he made it so that no one except the clients themselves, not even their parents, could make withdrawals. Although the Bartselana Student Bank started out as a savings bank, it now offers children a variety of financial products, including loans, capital investment, microinsurance, as well as access to financial education through a series of courses.(SD-Agencies) |