Woman’s Financial App Helps Kids Learn Money Management
Louise Hill, a mother from Lowestoft, England, has found success in the digital world by creating a financial education app for children. Her company, GoHenry, offers a prepaid debit card and learning app that aims to teach kids practical money skills in a safe and controlled environment.
Hill’s idea for the app came from her own experience as a mother. She noticed that her children were growing up in a world of apps, downloads, and online marketplaces, and she wanted to teach them the importance of financial literacy. She would print off invoices every time her children made a purchase on their iPods, and deduct the amount from their allowance. This method helped her children understand that money doesn’t come from nowhere and must be managed responsibly.
During school pick-ups and kids’ football games, Hill heard other parents sharing similar concerns about their children’s spending habits. It was then that she realized there was a need for a service that could help parents teach their kids about money in a safe and practical way. This led to the creation of GoHenry.
The company launched in 2012 and has since grown to serve over two million people in France, Spain, Italy, the US, and the UK. However, Hill’s success hasn’t come without its challenges. She faced difficulties with the company’s name, initially called PKTMNY, which was changed to GoHenry after its first customer, an 11-year-old boy named Henry from Bristol.
Another challenge for Hill was managing the company’s rapid growth. She learned from a previous business venture that it’s important to plan for scale from day one. She also realized that she was becoming a roadblock in the company’s success, as much of the information and decision-making was dependent on her. This led her to encourage her team to identify single points of failure and work towards a more collaborative and scalable structure.
Hill’s advice for other women looking to start their own businesses is to have a strong support network and to plan for scale from the beginning. She also stresses the importance of hiring people who are better than you and giving them the space to excel in their roles. Ultimately, Hill believes that the key to her success has been keeping her mission of “making every kid smart with money” at the forefront of everything she does.
