KUALA LUMPUR: The inaugural National Financial Literacy Summit by Fun(d) for Life has seen the convention of students and educators nationwide to elevate and showcase their financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills.
Held in conjunction with Malaysia's Financial Literacy Month, each state and federal territory were represented by 87 students who came to prove their financial and entrepreneurial skills through the National Financial Literacy Competition.
FWD Takaful chief strategy and digital distribution Wan Ahmad Najib Wan Ahmad Lotfi believes financial well-being can be achieved when an individual masters the pyramid of personal finance management which begins with protection, savings and finally, investment.
Wan Ahmad said FWD Takaful's expertise and interest in digital technology would enable more people to master these three aspects of financial literacy.
"The competition proves that age should not hinder young ones from mastering financial and entrepreneurial skills," he said in a statement.
The competition is divided into two categories namely, personal finance and entrepreneurship.
For the personal finance category, the first prize winner for the primary school category, Alif Emran, 12 years old from SK Guar Jentik Perlis and Muhammad Hakim, 16 years old from Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah in Putrajaya both won RM2,000 in cash respectively.
The first place winners for the entrepreneurship category, made up of a team of three 16 year old students from Sabah who pitched their business plan for Burger Kima, a local delicacy from Semporna, bagged RM4,500 in cash prizes.
The summit was also a platform for 42 teachers across Malaysia to improve their skills in incorporating financial literacy into their classrooms through the Innovative FinLit Educators Competition and the Innovation Lab on Financial Literacy, both held concurrently.
The National Financial Literacy Competition has been running for a few months now with more than 4,000 participation from 10-17 year olds from each state in Malaysia and is endorsed by the Ministry of Education.