My Finances is the largest youth economic education program in Poland. Through its mass character, it fills a gap in the Polish educational market and addresses the need for financial education towards a society of individuals capable of effective managing their finances. The program is financed jointly by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation and the National Bank of Poland, and implemented in schools by Junior Achievement Foundation.

Goals
The aim of the program is to educate young people to make rational and advantageous financial decisions and to equip them with skills necessary to update their financial knowledge.

We assume that students participating in the program will learn how to:

• invest in bonds, investment funds and other financial instruments,
• make informed decisions in their contacts with banks and gain an understanding of basic banking services, such as bank accounts, deposits or credits,
• analyze the consequences of their financial decisions,
• make informed decisions about their financial security after retirement.

They will gain an understanding of:

• the principles of investing on the stock exchange,
• the operation of the banking system,
• the significance and role of the National Bank of Poland,
• how pension funds work.

They will learn how:

• to use information technologies to obtain information about banking products.
  

Summary
The program syllabus is designed to be covered in one school year. It consists of five thematic modules and its content is delivered as a part of the Business Basics curriculum subject.

From year 2012 MF educational content is organized into the following thematic blocks:

• I Like Banks - banking products: including avoiding credit traps;
• My Investments - forms of saving and investing financial surpluses alternative to bank deposits, their strengths and weaknesses;
• Investing towards the future - Poland's new pension system, including methods of saving towards retirement;
• Security in Finance - security in finances, including preventing consequences of unreasonable and carless use of financial services;
• In the World of Finance - the principles of banking system in Poland, the role of central bank and other financial market institutions in Poland and worldwide;
• My Budget - the need for a personal budget and how to prepare one at each stage of one's life and the impact of individual financial decisions on the macroeconomic situation.

Program participants learn about investing in bonds, investment funds and other financial instruments, acquire skills necessary to make optimal financial decisions in dealing with banks and are familiarized with basic banking services. They also gain understanding of the principles of the banking sector and pension funds.

So far, 1 684 266 participants took part in the program. Every year, the program includes over 1,000 schools and 1,600 teachers.

The pillar of the project consists in designing a platform for opinion leaders and decision-makers, created with the thought of legislative support for startups in the Polish law, as well as the pilot program of cooperation between young, technological companies (startups) and large enterprises.

Objectives:

Building a relationship between startups and the business.

Beneficiaries

Big companies, startups

Implementation

Activities within the platform for opinion leaders include cyclical meetings of opinion leaders, regarding various aspects of innovativeness, such as: FINTECH, cyber-safety, intellectual property law. As a result of these meetings, a road map for decision-makers will be designed. Within the cooperation: startups - corporations, the first stage is to identify a group of Polish startups offering innovative technological solutions. As part of the project, work is underway on the final version of the "Cloud Services" report, which will be presented to a wider audience in 2019.

The form of the program includes a series of meetings targeted at students from large academic centers. Design teams consist of persons with various competences and interests, among others, students of humanities and those from higher education schools of technology.

Objective

Creating a platform of common work on innovative startup ideas for young, entrepreneurial individuals.

Beneficiaries

Students from large academic centers.

Implementation

In 2018, four events took place under the program:

• 9 March - out-of-the-building methodology workshops for startups. This methodology is based on validation of prototype solutions (products/services) carried out jointly with business representatives of various industries and potential customers. Ten startups took part and the project was joined by managers from Citi Handlowy Handlowy and Citi Service Center.
• 15 March - the final of the first edition of the Enterprise Development Program, organized as part of the Financial Education Congress. The 3 most interesting business solutions were presented during the event.
• 9 June - strategic workshops for 40 young fintech and insurtech companies. The event was opened by Mr Sławomir S. Sikora, President of the Management Board of Citi Handlowy, and the startups were supported by 10 mentors from Citi.
• 19 October - a final gala of the city accelerator program #WARSAW booster'18. Six best financial and insurance startups were chosen. The finalists presented their innovative solutions to investors and leading mentors from Poland?s startup community. One of the members of the judges? panel was Ms Katarzyna Majewska, Member of the Management Board of Citi Handlowy w Warszawie S.A.

ArtSherlock is an original project of the Communi Hereditate Foundation implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. This is the first solution of this kind, which will totally revolutionize identification of works of art stolen during the war. Thanks to the application it will be possible to automatically recognize the object solely on the basis of a photograph taken by means of a mobile phone. The innovative application enables the users to verify objects at any place, any time. For that purpose, both the photos taken at a particular moment as well as those stored in the memory of the device may be used. The tool may be used in any conditions. The photographed work of art may be the physical piece of art in front of the user, but also its image in an auction catalogue or on a computer screen. The application has been prepared in Polish and English version and is available for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry operating systems.

The ArtSherlock project is another step on the road towards modernizing and increasing the effectiveness of finding and identifying the works of art lost by Poland during WWII.

The program is addressed to students of upper secondary schools (16 - 19 years old). It has been carried out since the beginning of 2013 in cooperation with the Junior Achievement Foundation.

Aim

The aim of the project is to teach students how to incorporate and manage their own business and to prepare them for taking and implementing actions related to social and professional areas, with particular emphasis on:

• preparation for engaging in and managing one's own business,

• showcasing chances and dangers arising from self-employment,

• preparation for entering the labor market,

• assistance in verifying one's own professional and educational plans,

• developing qualities and skills essential for managing one's own business,

• shaping essential attitudes and skills related to entrepreneurship.

Implementation

The beneficiaries of the project take part in theoretical classes and acquire knowledge on i.a. incorporation and management of one's own business and operation on the labor market, whereas, as part of practical activities, they open and manage a real enterprise in the form of a general partnership. As part of that activity they, i.a., look for an idea for a product or service, prepare a business plan, collect funds, take marketing actions, produce and sell their products or services, keep accounting books and take business risk.

The teenage micro-enterprise is registered with the Junior Achievement Foundation. It operates throughout the school year, from September to May. All students that create the teenage micro-enterprise act as its partners.

The experience gained allows the students to develop the required skills and habits, and, what is most important, prepares them to enter the labor market. Additionally, it helps break the negative stereotype deeply rooted in the minds of young people that succeeding in business is impossible.

Contests

Aside from focusing on the classes conducted at schools the program also consists of a contest for the best teenage micro-enterprise, entitled SMALL PRODUCT (PRODUKCIK)

It aims at selecting the best teenage micro-enterprise. By participating in the contest, students can verify their achievements, experiences and skills by competing with their colleagues from other schools.

The contest is composed of two stages.

• stage I - qualifications to the central competition (finals). At this stage, the Qualifications Committee evaluates the business reports prepared by the micro-enterprises. On that basis, it names 30 companies that make it to the nationwide finals.
• stage II - central competition (nationwide finals). The central competition takes place in the head office of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Warsaw and lasts 2 days. Students take part in talks with the contest committee, once again present the business report on the operations of the micro-enterprise so that it can be evaluated, they present their companies and showcase the offer of the micro-enterprises at specially prepared stands. The companies are evaluated by four committees - three supplementary and the Main Commission, which is composed of members of the Junior Achievement Foundation Board.

The winner of the finals receives the Grand Prix of the Nationwide Best Teenage Micro-Enterprise Competition. They will represent Poland at the European stage of the competition: JA-YE Europe Company of the Year Competition.

In 2018 2000 pupils from 200 schools took part in the program.