The Youth Money Olympiad (YMO), conceptualized, and rolled out by Money-Wizards, a senior IIM alumni venture completed its sixth edition last month. The primary aim of the YMO is to get the youngsters realize the importance of personal finance. With over 30,000 students participating from 400 plus colleges across the country, the YMO is the largest personal finance Olympiad for college students in the world.
The YMO is conducted in 2 stages. The college/university round happens from June to April across a large number of colleges in the country. The top 5% of the participants from each college compete with each other in the national level finals held in May. The YMO 2019 was an out and out online event as a result of which even students from remote locations like the north-east were able to participate.
Money-Wizards organized an award function to felicitate the YMO winners at Crowne Plaza, Chennai on 14-June-2019. Shyam Sekar, the founder of the financial services firm ithought was the chief guest at the event.
Mr. Venkatesh Varadachari, the co-founder of Money-Wizards said, “We have a lot of raw talent in this country. In the past we have had undergraduate students from Arts, Science and Engineering backgrounds win the YMO along with students from finance powerhouses like the IIM A, B and C. This year, among the students placed in the top 10, we already have students from baby IIMs showcasing their talent, and successfully competing with the best. The YMO is also a platform for ethical financial brands to build and connect with young people who would be tomorrow’s consumers of financial products”.
Prof.Thillai Rajan, IIT Madras said, “We have learnt a lot about the personal finance awareness among today’s youth through the YMO”. We have over 60,000 data points to learn from. Data is the new oil and we have the largest dataset of this kind in the country. This data can be used intelligently by financial educators and product manufacturers to reduce the lack of trust in financial products and their utility”.
Gaurav Arora from SRCC, New Delhi, won the Youth Money Olympiad 2019 held in May 2019. Anirudh Tumuluri from IIM Udaipur and and Kuldeep Singla from IIM Rohtak secured the second and third prizes respectively.
Prof. Harsh Purohit from Banasthali Univeristy was awarded the financial literacy thought leader award, while Raveena Goel from the same university won the “Campus Entrepreneur of the year” award. The YMO also provides a platform for students to experience an entrepreneurial internship by evangelizing the event at their colleges, through the Campus Entrepreneur initiative.
