Winners of Practical Money Skills 2017 announced

Run by global payments technology company Visa and the Central Committee of Vietnam Students’ Association (CCVSA), this year’s programme tasked students with using the medium of photography to share their personal stories of overcoming difficulties they have faced in managing their finances.

After six months, the programme has reached millions of students across Vietnam and other countries in the region. The winners will share a prize pool of VND29,000,000 ($1,300), including flights to Singapore—to experience life in one of the biggest financial centres in Southeast Asia.

“We’re very pleased that the programme has continued to reach new heights in its sixth year—this is testament to the work of CCVSA, who have been unwavering in their support for this programme in their commitment to providing the next generation of Vietnamese adults with important life skills,” said Sean Preston, Visa country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Under the topic “Every cent worth challenge,” the 2017 programme was run in two main phases. Starting in May, the first phase received nearly 1,000 entries from 46 universities in 20 provinces, cities, as well as from Vietnamese students studying abroad in the US, Germany, Korea, and Australia.

The 50 best submissions entered the second phase, in which six exhibitions and financial literacy workshops were held in six universities across the country.

Nguyen Minh Triet, permanent vice chairman of the CCVSA, said, “With the goal of continuing to create a platform for students to experience, test, and learn more about practical money skills, the new 2017 programme promotes creativity through the sharing of students’ experiences in life, work, and startups. The 2017 programme saw a marked increase in the number of submissions, as well as visits to the fanpage and the website of the programme, as well as received the participation of Vietnamese students studying abroad."

Running annually since 2012, Practical Money Skills has used a range of different formats to teach students about a topic that, while important, is often challenging to engage.

In previous years, students have been tasked with everything from running discussion forums, designing posters, developing media plans and messages to creating videos.

Each year, the programme seeks to expand its geographical reach. In 2017, Visa and CCVSA expanded the programme outside the country, opening it to overseas Vietnamese students.

In addition to reaching approximately 20,000 students through a chain of workshops and exhibitions, this year the programme’s Facebook fanpage garnered 29,000 fans and more than 500,000 engagements. Similarly, the official Practical Money Skills website had more than 52,000 visitors, and the programme’s YouTube channel achieved nearly 1.9 million views.

As part of the programme, Visa also gave away 5,000 copies of “The Guardians of the Galaxy” financial literacy themed comic book. The comic pairs Marvel’s iconic superheroes with Visa’s financial smarts, which makes learning about finance management fun and entertaining for students.

A range of resources are available on the programme’s Facebook page, Instagram, and YouTube to teach students the basic concepts of spending responsibly while learning to save and budget wisely.

The official programme website (kynangquanlytaichinh.com.vn) continues to provide useful advice from programme mascot Mr. Pocket, together with handy financial formulas and other tools.