Children have very few opportunities to receive education about money. There are no places, including public education, where they can learn about economics. This leads to the problem of filing for bankruptcy at a young age.
Kim Joo-hwan explained the background of founding BusyRun Company. BusyRun is a startup that helps children study economics and manage future assets. Kim, who gained experience as a university staff member and an instructor in Gangnam, founded the company in July 2022.
Kim noted, "Although there is a growing trend of early financial education, as a father of two, I want to provide my children with economic education, but such places are scarce in the country. On the other hand, programs in advanced financial countries are well designed to teach the nature of money and how to earn it from an early age."
Kim believes that if children realize the value and importance of money from a young age, it can prevent serious social issues among adolescents, such as excessive spending for show or fashion, as well as bankruptcies resulting from reckless investments.
Jews, who dominate the global financial markets, teach the importance of money through economic education such as 'Havruta' and coming-of-age ceremonies from childhood.
Jews teach the habit of saving from a young age by giving children coins to hold before they can walk. From six months old, they begin education on Tzedakah (a charity savings box), teaching children how to allocate their money as it comes in, imparting the principles of true wealth.
During the coming-of-age ceremony at age 13 for boys and 12 for girls, children are entrusted with considerable congratulatory money received from relatives to manage on their own, allowing them to learn money management and investment skills. This is not solely for the purpose of earning money, but rather to raise children with responsibility and high self-esteem. This is one reason why Jews make up a large percentage of the top 1% wealthy individuals globally.
BusyRun helps facilitate allowance missions between parents and children through the 'BusyRun' application (app), allowing them to exchange allowances and manage their spending through an allowance ledger. The saved allowance can be used to purchase desired items in the store.
BusyRun plans to differentiate itself through an app-tech approach, similar to Cash Walk and TikTok. It intends to renew its service as a children's app-tech to provide rewards for mission successes and ad viewing. By making it fun to earn rewards through investment games, the aim is to increase children's engagement. Revenue will be generated from ad viewing earnings, a business-to-business (B2B) product brokerage model, and the sale of education programs to local governments.
Kim explained, "We are in the process of partnering with financial institutions to help children save their allowances," adding, "We are also concurrently working on app renewal and developing financial investment games."