09 February, 2021

Project FLY (Financial Literacy for You) is an innovative project being run by Enactus MTU, taking on the ambitious goal of educating second-level students in financial literacy.

Enactus MTU is part of the Enactus global organisation, a non-profit NGO with chapters across 1,730 campuses in over 35 countries. It is dedicated to creating a better world by developing student entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators, guided by educators and supported by businesses.

The Enactus MTU project team came up with Project FLY after carrying out a needs assessment on financial literacy amongst teenagers. Surveys were distributed to over 200 secondary students in the Cork area, focusing on student’s confidence in their personal finances, including saving, debt and loans. Based on the survey results, the project team developed workshops and programmes with interactive activities to emphasise the importance of  finances to participants.

These workshops will be piloted in March to transition year students in Bishopstown Community School and Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh. The workshops will be integrated into class timetables and delivered via Zoom, educating young people on their finances through group learning, discussions and interactive activities to practically apply the knowledge they have acquired.

Chairperson of Enactus MTU and project lead for FLY, Joshua Manaid, has been involved with the project from the beginning. He successfully pitched FLY to CITI Bank Dublin and secured €1,000 seed funding for the project.

Manaid outlined the impact this funding will have: “CITI’s €1,000 seed funding will support the pilot program this semester and contribute to the FLY website and app development. In the future, I hope FLY can expand to multiple schools across Cork and expand further to become a nationwide programme,” he said.

The project team has drawn expertise from MTU’s accounting and finance departments to build a comprehensive syllabus and is a marvellous example of a collaboration between Munster Technological University students, staff and the community. Activities and projects such as these enable MTU to continue to foster and develop important partnerships with industry and the community into the future.

If you have enquiries about Enactus MTU or Project FLY you can contact Joshua directly at joshua.manaid@cit.ie

If your company or organisation could benefit from collaborating with the Extended Campus you can email us directly at extendedcampus@cit.ie

Check out our case studies for more partnerships between MTU and external organisations here.

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