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The Youth Money Olympiad (YMO) is a national level competition open to college level students. Its overriding aim is to help students evaluate their personal finance awareness versus their peers. The winners of the 1st edition of Youth Money Olympiad were honoured by Principal Mutual Funds and Money Wizards at a function in Mumbai recently.
Rolled out country wide in July last year, the first edition had the YMO reaching out to more than 7,700 students across 75 colleges, from 41 cities in India.
The students were assessed on the basis of a personal finance IQ test conducted first at the college level, and then at a national level. The participants were given exhaustive personal assessment reports and were provided with educational material to help them understand personal finance issues.
Ranjai Banerji from IIM Calcutta bagged the first prize, while the second spot was shared by students from IIM Kozhikode and IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Ranchi, followed by a student from Ethiraj College for Women at the third position.
The two companies involved in the YMO are Money Wizards, which focuses on providing user friendly financial literacy to all those who need it, and Principal Mutual Funds, one of the top performing mutual fund companies in India.
According to Lalit Vij, Managing Director, Principal Pnb Asset Management, the YMO has turned out to be India’s largest personal finance education initiative for college students. "Our aim was to inculcate financial literacy amongst the youth, which will help them take informed financial decisions once they start earning," he said.
Adding that YMO is the first step in that direction, he said the organisation has much bigger plans for the 2nd edition, with a target of reaching 150 colleges across the country.
Over the next few years, YMO aims to achieve its objective of financial literacy for students by extending the programme to Tier II and Tier III towns and cities as well.
Venkatesh Varadachari, co-founder and Managing Director, Money Wizards said that a lack of formal financial education in schools had led the duo to conceptualise and design the initiative. The Youth Money Olympiad has helped educate students about the importance of understanding and managing their personal finances.
The 2nd edition of YMO includes added focus centres, an online version for the campus level test, direct online participation outside campus, and inclusion of corporate freshers in addition to students. The 2nd edition aims to reach about 15,000 participants and about 150 plus colleges across various centres.
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