A RESOURCEFUL teenager has met with the Deputy Lord Mayor of Coventry – Coun Kevin Maton – to highlight the work he has been doing to help the city’s young people be more savvy with money and build themselves a better future.
Kennedy Campbell set up ‘Skint2Mint’ last year when he was a 17-year-old student to create a new way of thinking for young people who wanted to find out more about money, savings and owning a house.
During lockdown he had time and space to think about how the scheme would work in practice.
Kennedy, who was studying a BTEC to get into a sporting career, had his ambitions changed after speaking to his Jamaican nan about the direction of his life.
She told him what life was like when she arrived in the UK and how she had used a ‘pardner’ to save cash.
A ‘pardner’ is a scheme where people save cash collectively and then every month, one person gets the share. It was the only way back in the day immigrants could successfully save.
Kennedy said: “I thought it was something that could really help young people like me.”
He set up a similar scheme which was featured on BBC News, Digital and Midlands.
“I also set up a group chat called Money Mistakes where older people tell us their mistakes with money, savings, and property and their advice to help young people do better and not make those same errors,” he added.
His latest addition is a Skint2Mint card game which enables young people to learn about savings, investment and property terms and phrases.”
It has been backed by the Coventry Building Society and over the past few weeks Kennedy has introduced the new game to primary school pupils via Zoom sessions and Covid-safe face-to-face get-togethers.
He said: “We had a lot of great feedback from the pupils who said they would love to play it more often and it was great to see how engaged they have been in learning.
“I’ve also learnt from them too.”
The feedback from the school has been positive too – Mrs Frankish, the headteacher at Broad Heath – described it as ‘ace’ and inspiring’.
And a spokesperson for Our Lady of Assumption Primary School added: “They have had two great sessions with Kennedy – they are all becoming finance experts.”
Visit https://skint2mint.org.uk/ for more on the scheme.
Further details and updates are also available on social media – Instagram, Twitter and SnapChat.
