About Us
Capco, a Wipro company, is a global technology and management consultancy specializing in driving digital transformation in the financial services industry.
Through a two-day volunteering program at a local primary school, Capco consultants have educated over 100 students about financial literacy including the role of money, banks and businesses. The program, called ‘More Than Money’, was organized by Junior Achievement (JA) Singapore, whose volunteer-run programs help schools to prepare students for the real world.
“When I learned how Capco encourages us not only to participate in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities but also to initiate new ones,” says Andrew Toh, associate consultant, “I quickly put together a pitch deck to get management approval.” Toh has been volunteering with JA ever since his university days and jumped at the chance to do it again with Capco colleagues, “as it’s the most fun and engaging volunteering activity I have ever done.”
The program uses hands-on activities, and a cast of characters that serve as symbols for financial literacy, to help students learn about starting a business and managing money. “Contributing to the children’s financial knowledge will help shape them as they grow up,” says Franz Poh, another consultant who took part. “Teaching the children and breaking down concepts for them also improves your own communication skills,” he says, “with some children having questions that had to be answered and explained slowly.”
The face-to-face classroom setting provided quite a challenge for the consultants as it meant managing more than 30 student learners per class. The Capco consultants paired up and worked together to take each class through the program.
“We needed time to cater to the curiosity of every student,” said Goh Yiwei, another Capco consultant. “So the volunteer not presenting at any given moment would go to each table and answer their questions personally while the presentation carried on.”
Teachers who witnessed the program said they appreciated corporate volunteers for bringing an outside business perspective into the classroom – and for serving as positive role models for the students.
“The students were very engaged in the presentation and asked many questions,” says Goh Yiwei, “and we received personalized thank you cards afterwards, which were very thoughtful!”
“I would definitely volunteer for this event again. It was a great experience.” Franz Poh added.
Commenting on the event, Steve Halliwell, Partner, Capco Singapore, said, “It’s a great cause, and giving back to the community is part of Capco’s culture and core values. It benefits the organizations and the people they are helping but it also helps to build the Capco community internally. Thanks to all the consultants who devoted their time to participate in this. There is much more to come.”
About JA Singapore
Incorporated in 2008, JA Singapore gained charity status in 2010. Since January 2008, JA Singapore has educated over 200,000 students from kindergarten to university level about work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.
JA Singapore programs use hands-on activities to help young people understand the economics of life.
Educators invite JA Singapore into their classrooms because JA volunteers and materials support teachers by providing an exciting learning environment that gives students a real-world perspective. JA programme contents align with curriculum standards to help teachers achieve their students’ learning objectives.
JA Singapore is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide® (JA), one of the world’s largest non-profit organizations dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy.
