Fun in finance

By Nickie Wang

Manila Standard Today

1 May 2008

Number wizards and mathematicians alike would agree that numbers are fun, because it’s the nature of their work. On the other end of the spectrum however, there are people who find it difficult to deal with figures. These are students and entrepreneurs who encounter trouble in dealing with their everyday tasks – numbers and finance.

“Before students even start studying finance, most of them are hesitant to do so,” said Carlo Calimon, program manager of Let’s Go Foundation.

This explains why the traditional practice in introducing and studying finance leave gaps in the learning experience of the students. Is there any solution to reconcile this issue or is there a way to add fun in finance?

Integrating fun and finance is the wisdom behind the paradigm shift introduced by the Funance. It is an integrated teaching tool developed and made possible through the collaborative effort of Let’s Go Foundation (Leading Entrepreneurs Towards Seizing Global Opportunities) a non-stock and non-profit organization that focuses on Entrepreneurship Education, and GE Money Bank under their Women Entrepreneur Program (WEP). This program is an initiative effort to better understand female entrepreneurs’ and college students’ attitude towards entrepreneurship.

What is Funance?

Funance is an interactive teaching method that complements the traditional way of teaching and studying finance by incorporating the use of inspirational and educational videos, board games, and case studies. To answer the lack of available materials for teachers and students to use, the Funance aims to introduce finance in a more enjoyable way by operating three program modules: 1. Definition of terms, the players’ guide through balance sheet and income statement; 2. Building a case, the players’ instructions on how to develop a balance sheet and income statement based on transactional cards; and 3. Cash flow, a board game that teaches cash management.

This pioneering teaching tool is a joint effort of the concept developer Prof. Maurino Bolante, a finance professor at the Asian Institute of Management, Let’s Go Foundation founder Prof. Jay Bernardo, Carlo Calimon, and inputs contributor Reggie Santos.

The whole program is the product of a baseline research and a long scientific process that started in 2006 when GE Money and Let’s Go Foundation, through WEP, realized the role of women in economic development. Through a survey commissioned by WEP in four women universities in Manila—Assumption College, St. Scholastica’s College, College of the Holy Spirit, and Miriam College—showed that over 88 percent of women students intend to start their own business in the future.

Recognizing the need to train women on the fundamentals of business even before they graduate in college, providing them financial empowerment, and equipping them to become job creators to through heightened awareness of entrepreneurship, are the chief goals of the organization promoting the program. The launch of Funance has the commitment of GE Money to support this initiative effort to introduce the program to more schools in the future.