The Spendora Effect

What began as a passion project among three high school friends has transformed into an ambitious, international financial literacy movement. Harshad Amalan, Mujeeb Chaudhry, and Neil Kaila, three East Ridge High School (ERHS) students, are blazing a trail of financial literacy amongst their peers.

Harshad, Mujeeb and Neil have competed nationally in the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition and Business Professionals of America and used the skills they gained to create their platform Spendora. The group has been providing young people across continents with the tools to navigate budgeting, smart investing and financial risk management before entering adulthood for the past 3 years.

“We were watching our peers make these mistakes and we wanted to help fill that gap of knowledge,” said Harshad. 

Spendora hosts free workshops at local libraries for teens to young adults to learn about the basics of credit scores, budgeting and investing. More than 300 students have attended their local workshops.

“We want to provide other students the tools they need to be financially successful,” says Neil. “Because we're part of our target audience, we know what grabs their focus and what falls flat.”

The co-founders recognized that young people everywhere face similar barriers to financial education. They expanded their reach internationally, educating more than  2,000 students in India.

“A couple of us have visited India and saw the wealth disparity there and we thought why don’t we try to do something about it” said Harshad. “We cold emailed several large schools in India to see if they wanted to partner with them, not expecting to even hear back and to our surprise all of them said yes.”

To make their curriculum accessible to youth around the world regardless of location or income, the team developed a diverse array of digital resources. Beyond interactive workshops and social media content. They partnered with a finance app of the same name based out of Africa that shares their mission to spread financial literacy.

The founders' ambition extends far past their upcoming high school graduation. Rather than letting Spendora fade, the group are mentoring new students to carry on the mission.

“High school was just the launchpad,” says Neil. “Spendora was built by students for students, and keeping that peer-to-peer spirit alive is essential. By mentoring the next team, we’re making sure young people everywhere will always have a relatable voice guiding them toward financial independence.”