Gbolahan Faniran, CEO and founder of MinieMoney, a fintech-edtech Hybrid Company has said through its MinieMoney app, it is helping teenagers build a culture of savings and teaching them to spend reasonably.
Faniran said the app provides a finance mobile application that allows parents/guardians save for their kids/wards while providing financial services such as access to debit cards, savings accounts, in-app cash transfers and financial learning to kids.
Speaking during its maiden partnership with Filmhouse cinemas and the premiere of an animated movie about Jesus called ‘King of Kings’ on Easter Monday, he said the partnership with Filmhouse cinemas saw the launch of an initiative where teenagers got movie ticket for as low as N3,500 instead of N7,500 which began with the movie ‘King of Kings’.
“This particular movie is a movie for the season, basically. It’s Easter and fortunately, this movie about Jesus just came out and it’s also an animated movie so we just figured out it’s perfect for this particular demographic, the kids and the teenagers,” he said.
Faniran said MinieMoney has a partnership with VFD and also Sterling Bank and the whole concept is basically to give teenagers access to managing their money quite early.
“Because the world of finance is inevitable and we’re in a digital world, we need to get them ready for that inevitable world of finance. So with this app, they can have access and at the same time their parents are able to monitor everything that they’re doing.
“But in real time, they can learn to save money, spend money and all the other things that adults are also doing but on a very controlled and smaller scale. We are slashing the movie cost for the teenagers by 50 percent but it’s not like we’re taking over the cost. Thankfully, it’s a great partnership that works with the management of Film House as well. We approached them, we told them what we wanted to do and they bought into the vision.
“I can remember while I was still in university, there used to be a student price when you’re going to the movies. So, we created this initiative, and pitched it to them, they bought into the vision and decided to create this particular product where these kids can have access to cheaper tickets and days that they can come and watch. So, it’s not just about King of Kings? This is just what we are using to launch,” the MinieMoney Founder explained.
He said in a bid to control what the teenagers have access to watch, he and his team have listed PG movies on the app for the teenagers to pick from.
He said the partnership basically is the company putting its step into creating a lifestyle application for the teenagers.
“So, the idea is that money is supposed to be spent in different places. Money is used in different forms. We’ve come in and said once you download the app, you can start to save your money. You still have to spend money but in a reasonable way. We’ve given them access to that also. They can pay for the discounted tickets, buy airtime and data.
“Now, we’ve done movies. The next key feature for us now is to look at all the touch points where the kids go to spend their money. We can partner with any kind of brand that wants to target the teenagers. From clothing brands to back to school products, these are things that can be done on the app,” Faniran added.
Also speaking during the event, Abidemi Olaiye, a teenager who used the app said the MinieMoney app is very simple to use.
“You just use your email and password or you can use your phone. So you navigate to movies, you fill in your details like the location you want, the amount of tickets you want and then you pay. You now enter your PIN and that’s it. You get a receipt and everything.
“The app gives teenagers the convenience of not leaving their houses to buy tickets. You can do this days before you watch the movie. This is not like where you sit down here and you’re waiting. The discounted rate is also another advantage the MinieMoney app gives,” Olaiye said.
Salma Ibrahim also shared her experience using the app.
“I downloaded the MinieMoney app yesterday night. And the first thing I noticed was how easy it was to use and how easily accessible it was to send money from other banks and other things to receive money.
“It was a seamless process. Someone sent money to my account and I got it in less than five seconds. It was easy and seamless to use. Actually, when I used it to purchase my movie tickets yesterday, I noticed a drastic reduction in price from the normal sites that I used to buy tickets. I was shocked to see the huge difference in price,” Ibrahim said.
