Money on our mind: This teen is striving to make economics and finance easy for all

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How does money grow? Well, if you grew up in an Indian household, you know it certainly doesn't on trees. Adeetya Jain, a 17-year-old from Andheri might have the answers. EcoByte Kids, a new venture by Jain and his team of teenagers spread across the country, is aiming to teach kids about world economics, personal finance, and budgeting sans the usual jargon through newsletters, videos, and an upcoming app.

Adeetya Jain

"I was reading the business section of a popular daily in 2018, and I was left with more questions than answers," the engineering aspirant shares. We're nodding in agreement as the teenager explains further, "When I asked my seniors in school who had these subjects in their curriculum, they couldn't articulate their understandings either. After a certain point, my parents couldn't cater to my never-ending list of questions." With a team of like-minded teenagers that Jain met on professional networking platform LinkedIn, the 30-member-strong team has set out to create a simpler newsletter.

A page from the newsletter explains the economic impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict

"The idea with the weekly online and offline newsletters is to ensure the reader doesn't have to scramble to decipher the terms. After thorough research, we use simple language to explain events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict's impact on the global economy and how investment instruments really work, with a side of the latest finance news," Jain explains. What stands out at the first glance of this newsletter is a handy glossary that breaks down words and terms for absolute novices. In this pursuit to make financial literacy the norm, Jain is assisted by industry experts and entrepreneurs like Namita Thapar who are keeping a close watch on the developments.

Having grown up in the digital age, the importance of keeping up with modern consumption habits isn't lost on Jain. We learn that in addition to an app and short video content, a new Natural Language Processing (NLP) chatbot is in the works. For the uninitiated, Jain explains it as a chat bot that can instantly answer all your doubts and present an infographic to help you understand it better. "You could ask the bot how you can budget efficiently given your expenses, and you'll have a guide mapped out in seconds. We have a tech team of teenagers who are working on it and we should be able to release it early next year," he assures us.

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