Visa launched its financial literacy program 15 years ago. This program grew out of our belief that one of the most important financial tools is not a product – it’s knowledge, and that’s why we’ve been developing financial literacy programs that teach individuals how to spend, save and budget responsibly. It’s good for our business, for progress, and is the right thing to do.
Our first program launched in 1995 and spread globally a year later. As a sign of our commitment, in 2009, we pledged to reach 20 million people through financial literacy education by 2013. We’re well on our way to that goal with localized programs in more than 20 countries, and our program websites receive 75,000 unique visitors and 1 million page views each month. One popular initiative last year was Visa’s FIFA World Cup themed “Financial Football,” (known as “Financial Soccer” in the US) a fast-paced, multilingual educational video game that taught the fundamentals of finance. We continued that on a local level with a theatre program for schoolchildren in South Africa.
Improving access to and education around financial services and electronic payments is a critical building block to helping more people improve their lives and lift themselves out of poverty. Read more about some of our financial literacy programs here.
Posted by: Jason Alderman, Visa Corporate Relations on November 1, 2011 at 11:01 am
