Financial Literacy Workshops Conducted by UniCredit Employees Extend from Class to Recess Due to High Interest

Students from grades 9 and 11 questioned the experts about different strategies for managing personal finances

Eight financial literacy workshops were held by UniCredit Bulbank employees in several schools across Bulgaria within the two-week international EduAction initiative. 

“Financial literacy is important to our well-being regardless of our age or profession. The income we earn is important, but the way we manage it matters just as much. The earlier we foster valuable habits such as saving, budgeting, and investing in children, the closer they will be to achieving financial stability as adults,”

says Ilia Patsev from the UniCredit Bulbank team who conducted one of the workshops. 

The campaign is part of the partnership between the global Teach For All network and the UniCredit Foundation. In addition to the solid financial support provided by the financial group’s banks to 6 European Teach for All network partners, the banks’ employees personally commit to the cause of building the knowledge and skills that students receive at school. Members of UniCredit teams in several European countries, including Bulgaria, become role models for adolescents, visit classrooms, and hold discussions about important topics in a language that is accessible and understandable for young people.  

“The main motivation for joining the initiative is the belief that if we want to make a positive change in our environment, it starts with the school and the family. Each of us should serve as a personal example and actively participate in driving this change. Together we have unlimited potential.”

says Krum Alexiev, Head of Small Corporates at the bank.

The collaboration began in the 2022-2023 school year when employees of UniCredit Bulbank took part in Teach For Bulgaria’s Role Models program and held discussions with children in schools in different locations across the country. The meetings were very valuable for the students who used the time the experts gave them to discuss the application of knowledge to real-life situations, as well as other topics of interest, including career opportunities. The visits are also energizing for the role models themselves. After a conversation with the children from St. Cyril and St. Methodius School in Podrim, Ilia Patsev, Regional Investment Products Expert at UniCredit Bulbank, was inspired and made the decision to become a teacher.

At the joint conference of the UniCredit Foundation and Teach For All, Ms. Tsvetanka Mincheva, CEO and Chairperson of the Board of UniCredit Bulbank, said that the employees who participated in the initiative during the 2022-2023 school year were excited about their participation and shared their experiences with their colleagues.

As a result, an even larger number of people from the bank’s team in Bulgaria committed to the cause in 2023-2024. 30 people are signing up to volunteer in Teach For Bulgaria classrooms, with 19 accepting the invitation to be role models and eight leading financial literacy workshops that took place as part of EduAction.

Ilia Patsev (Regional Expert Investment Products) and Georgi Angelov (Sales Manager) met with ninth graders from Stoyan Zaimov Secondary School in Pleven to talk about personal finance management, the differences between types of loans, and different strategies for savings management. The topic turns out to be so interesting that the discussion spills over into the interclassroom and even moves to the schoolyard, where some enthusiastic youngsters catch up with the bankers and ask them to explain what exactly stocks are. 

Kristina Zhecheva (Retail Banking Supervisor) and Zoya Lyubenova (Supervisory Affairs Expert) met with 11th-grade students at Sofia’s 97th “Bratya Miladinovi” Secondary School. Zoya introduced the children to the topic of circular economy, which is an emerging topic not only in Bulgaria but worldwide. Meanwhile, Kristina gave them a practical exercise – to prepare a personal budget for an example salary of 2000 BGN and to include all the categories they think are necessary. During the ensuing discussion, the students realized that they had an important gap in their budgeting – savings. 

The ninth graders from 23rd School “Frederic Joliot-Curie” also talked about budget allocation with Nikolay Bozhilov, who is a Relationship Manager in the Real Estate Finance Unit at UniCredit Bulbank. He introduced the students to the 50/30/20 budgeting rule (needs/wants/savings). This was met with a surprise from one of the students who asked why it is necessary to save when there are so many opportunities to obtain a loan. This question provoked Nikolay to explain more about the interest rates that are a consequence of taking out a loan, the risks of not repaying a loan, as well as about the dangers of quick loans.

In the same school, Irena Ivanova (Regional Risk Manager) introduced the children to the different possible sources of income. She also explained the differences between gross and net salary and taught them something that many adults either don’t know or learn on the go: how to read their payslips and what deductions are due from the employer and the employee.

The ninth graders from 23rd High School also received valuable lessons from Krum Alexiev, Head of Small Corporates at the bank. In addition to the advice to be prudent and take loans only for truly necessary things, Krum discussed with the students the tendency of Bulgarians to invest in real estate and drew their attention to the fact that an asset that is not used is actually an expense. The banker also led a discussion on investments and explained to the children how to protect themselves from risks and the importance of diversifying their investments, or as the expression goes, “not putting all their eggs in one basket”.

The lively discussions left the financial experts, students, and their teachers energized and eager to continue the conversations. The teachers shared that they were pleasantly surprised by the great interest these visits provoked in their students and impressed by the number of questions the children asked. 

“The practical application of the knowledge acquired at school is extremely important for life in the 21st century. That is why next school year we are planning even more workshops in more locations and with more students, as well as to explore the topic more thoroughly through even more practical tasks during the workshops,”

said Denitza Manova, Development and Fundraising Specialist at Teach For Bulgaria.