In a bid to instil savings culture in Nigerians, especially  the juveniles, Access Bank Plc, one of the nation’s financial institutions, recently launched Nigeria’s first fun-filled interactive financial literacy campaign for kids, parents and educators, in a strategic partnership with Nickelodeon, a global family entertainment brand.

The campaign, tagged: ‘Access Early Savers Financial Literacy for Kids’ is Nigeria’s first financial literacy campaign targeted at kids between four and nine years old  and a demonstration of the bank’s commitment to the activation of its financial inclusion strategy which seeks to cater for the un-banked in the society. The campaign is developed to educate kids on the basics of finance.

Specifically, the ‘Access Early Savers Financial Literacy Campaign for Kids’, according to the bank,  was designed to teach  the principles and value of money to the young children, thereby inculcating strong virtues of hard work, honesty and diligence as well as the habits of savings.

This is coming on the heels of the successful introduction of the Access Early Savers Account, an innovative banking product for children aged 18 and below. The product is the latest addition to Access Bank’s growing bouquet of financial solutions and the first children-focused product by the bank.

Access Early Savers Account is designed to simplify banking by making it fun and adding enduring benefits (financial literacy) as a feature of the account for children, parents and guardians.                        

The bank’s Group Deputy Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe, explained that the core component of the campaign was a series of interactive lessons conceived by the bank and designed by Nickelodeon with input from education experts in South Africa, United Kingdom and Nigeria.

This, he added, “explores financial topics in an engaging and age-appropriate way, covering subjects such as, value and history of money, money around the world, earning, saving, spending and sharing.”

He described the initiative as part of the bank’s contributions to the development of a sustainable Nigerian society/economy by educating young children about finance with a view to empowering them to make sound money-related decisions as they grow up.

He argued that with appropriate exposure to basic financial principles, the target public would impact the nation’s economy positively. 

In his remarks, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, MTV Networks Africa representing Nickelodeon, Alex Okosi, noted that “Dora the Explorer  had  impacted positively  on millions of boys and girls around the world,  especially in Nigeria.

“We are proud to be partnering with Access Bank in this effort, and are thrilled that Dora will be going on this exciting new adventure with parents and children across Nigeria to help them prepare for their financial future,” he stated. 

He added that the partnership was aimed at leveraging Nickelodeon’s famous animated pre-school heroine and cartoon character, Dora the Explorer, to encourage financial responsibility from an early age.