High School Founders Bring Peer-to-Peer Approach to Financial Literacy

What began as three Minnesota high school students recognizing gaps in their own financial education has grown into an initiative they hope will reach students well beyond their hometown.

East Ridge High School seniors Mujeeb Chaudhry, Harshad Amalan and Neil Kaila founded Spendora, a student-led financial literacy initiative based in Woodbury, Minnesota. Through free workshops and online resources, the organization teaches topics ranging from budgeting and saving to investing, credit and financial markets.

The three began Spendora during the summer after their freshman year of high school. Kaila said they wanted to create a peer-to-peer alternative after noticing that financial education was either limited or absent from their own coursework.

“We wanted to bridge that gap,” Kaila said. “Instead of doing teacher to student, we wanted to become a student-to-student organization.”

The founders said they wanted students to have hands-on opportunities to learn financial skills rather than simply memorize terminology. Spendora's lessons are designed to show how concepts such as stocks, credit, cryptocurrency and markets can apply to everyday financial decisions.

Each founder developed an interest in finance before starting the organization. Chaudhry said his background includes entrepreneurship and building businesses, while Kaila and Amalan said they gained experience through investing, finance courses and competitions. They use those different areas of experience when researching and developing Spendora's educational materials.

Their age, however, has also shaped how they approach credibility.

Amalan said attracting people to the organization's meetings was initially difficult because the founders were high school students teaching financial topics. Early workshops relied heavily on friends, with attendance later growing through word of mouth. The founders have also had to learn how to work together despite initially having different ideas about Spendora's direction.

The founders also acknowledge the limits of their expertise.

Kaila said Spendora does not provide financial or investment advice and does not tell participants which investments to make. Instead, the organization aims to introduce students to concepts and encourage them to conduct their own research.

“We don't ever give out financial advice,” Kaila said. “We're obviously not certified to do that.”

Amalan said the goal is to teach participants how to approach investing and financial decisions rather than direct them toward specific stocks or investments.

“At the end of the day, we are just high schoolers,” Amalan said. “The idea is that we want to teach people how to invest for themselves.”

Accessibility has remained central to the organization as it has grown.

Spendora does not charge students for its workshops or educational materials. Chaudhry said donations are accepted, but the organization does not rely solely on them to operate.

“If we charge for this, a lot of people just wouldn't come,” Chaudhry said, quoting the explanation on Spendora's website. “So donations are how we keep the door open.”

Keeping expenses low has helped make that model possible. Kaila said the founders have used space at a local library without paying for a venue and have used existing equipment for presentations. International sessions can also be conducted virtually, reducing operating costs.

Amalan said Spendora's earliest audience consisted largely of the founders' friends. Their conversations with other students reinforced their belief that basic financial topics were not always well understood.

“A lot of our friends wouldn't know what a debit card is, what an emergency fund is, what the 50-30-20 rule is,” Amalan said.

The founders also adjust their materials depending on who is learning. Amalan said content for high school students may go further in depth than material designed for younger audiences, while lessons for students who are less familiar with English can use more accessible language.

For Chaudhry, success is less about students memorizing financial vocabulary and more about making the subject less intimidating.

“We want the person to actually understand and use it in their life,” Chaudhry said. Spendora's work has also moved beyond its original Woodbury audience.

The founders have sought relationships with schools internationally, including schools in India. Amalan said much of that expansion began with direct outreach to schools rather than established connections.

The process involved sending messages explaining Spendora's mission and communicating back and forth with schools about the students they hoped to reach. The founders then adjusted their materials based on factors such as students' ages and familiarity with English.

Amalan said reaching international schools was initially difficult because the founders had to establish that their organization was credible.

Their outreach remains largely based on contacting potential partners directly, although Amalan said previous work with schools in cities including Chennai and Delhi has made it easier to demonstrate Spendora's experience when approaching new schools.

The organization has also offered virtual programming to communities in India and Africa, according to the founders.

As all three founders approach graduation, they are already considering how Spendora could change with them.

Kaila said the founders plan to continue working with the organization in college while also establishing new leadership to keep its work going in Minnesota. Their longer-term goal is to bring Spendora to the communities and college campuses where they eventually live.

“We're going to plan to spread this just wherever we go to college and continue working together to just expand it eventually across the whole United States,” Kaila said.

Amalan said the organization would also have to change its curriculum for a college audience whose financial needs and existing knowledge may differ from those of high school students.

Those changes could make Spendora's material more directly relevant to students at universities such as NDSU.

Chaudhry said future college-focused material could address financial aid, scams, building credit, budgeting and paying rent. Amalan also identified saving and rent as subjects that could become more prominent when working with college students.

For the founders, the organization is ultimately intended to make financial concepts available to students without requiring them to pay for another educational resource.

Chaudhry said he hopes Spendora eventually becomes a hub where students can independently access free financial education through videos and other resources. He also wants its reach to extend into more states and schools.

Although Spendora began with high school students, Amalan said the importance of understanding money extends beyond a particular age or location. He encouraged NDSU students to learn about topics such as savings accounts, yields and brokerage accounts and said Spendora's resources are available to those interested in learning more.

As the founders prepare to move beyond East Ridge High School, they envision Spendora moving with them, while eventually becoming less dependent on the three students who created it.