Businessaire Game for Financial Literacy

We are solving the lack of financial literacy taught in our school systems across the globe. At 43%, Generation Z has the lowest financial literacy compared to Gen Y at 48%, Gen X at 49% and Baby Boomers at 55%. Individuals typically begin adulthood with low financial literacy. This is something we want to change. 

"According to a study by Raddon, over 80% of Gen Z individuals rely on parents and family for financial information. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the financial landscape, the advice and direction of older generations is not only becoming out-of-date, but is not applicable for the ever-evolving capabilities and possibilities of modern digital financial software and services. Over the past year, the National Financial Educators Council asked 7,246 people across all 50 U.S. states to respond to a test measuring their current personal finance knowledge. The results were broken down into various age groups, with 70% considered a pass. 10-14 year olds averaged 57.41%, 15-18 year olds averaged 65.82%, and 19-24 year olds averaged 71.11%, pointing to a distinct lack of financial literacy for the younger generations who are entering the market.

With their significant  spending power, this group is increasingly in need of digital tools and financial services to help elevate their financial literacy, and easily manage and budget their money. " - Weber, Alex "Gen Z Money Moves. Why Financial Literacy is important for digital natives."

Our solution is Businessaire Digital. A game about entrepreneurship and economic development in the community that teaches financial literacy principles. You start off with $10,000 embarking on your entrepreneurial journey. You can engage in low barrier to entry businesses such as starting a vending machine, and/or running a hot dog stand among others. You take that money and re-invest into a mid-level business such as a food truck, event promotions and/or stadium vending. You also have the option to purchase products from a supplier and sell them at a pop-up shop or sell food at a farmer's market in the community. You can even take a business venture card and invest in a startup. You build business savvy with every endeavor. The street risk is another option in case you're low on options and would like to engage in underground activity. Beware, this street risk comes with consequences and can land you in jail. Build up multiple revenue streams and earn net worth when you open a brick and mortar on the streets. Once you accumulate 200K in net worth, you win the game.

The game includes financial principles such as business structure, group economics, managing debt, supply and demand, investing, e-commerce, cryptocurrency, active vs. passive income, taxes, business credit and opportunity zones.

It will be a mass multi-player game with online capabilities. 

The solution serves Gen Z from underrepresented communities that lack access and resources to educational opportunities.  On a global level, there are close to 2 billion people in Gen Z. In the U.S., that number is close to 68 million people. Gen Z represent the least educated group in terms of financial literacy. They are a digital native generation with an average of 8 hours spent online. This is why Businessaire digital will be a digital game with online capabilities. As of right now, there are only a few school systems throuhgout the nation that require financial education to be taught on a grade school level. Florida just passed a law, “Dorothy L. Hukill Financial Literacy Act,” that will require ninth graders entering school 2023-2024 and after to take financial literacy courses. We need more states to get involved. A large percentage of Gen Z will be entering the workforce in the next five years and they are currently unprepared to deal with managing money. Businessaire Digital will serve as a learning tool to change that and help shift their mindset to better equip them with money management skills and give them the confidence they need financially.

As an African American that grew up in an impoverished community without a lot of economic resources and stability, I as well as the current members of my team know what it is like to lack the financial education to handle money. I had to learn from trial and error much like the other members on my team. We incorporated these scenarios and experiences in the game Businessaire so that the community we're serving can learn from our mistakes. This will be found in our Business Venture cards, and our street risk cards which are a collection of real-life scenarios with positive, negative and roll of the digital dice outcomes. Simply put, we come from the community we are serving. We are continually engaging them through workshops and playtesting events where they can play Businessaire and offer their input on what they like about the game, and also what they would like to see changed about the game. After over a year of playtesting the tabletop version of the game, we have received a lot of positive feedback from the community that has helped us shape the design and game mechanics. From the illustrations, to the types of entrepreneurial endeavors featured in the game, we have allowed our community to meaningfully guide our creation of the game.

We feel that the technical development of the gaming app is what MIT Solve can help us with. We have created a tabletop form of the game and a technical spec for the game but we need an app developer to help bring it to life. Partnering with MIT Solve will connect us with proficient app developers to bring Businessaire Digital to life and with the right connections, we plan to have this game in school systems across the nation and eventually on a global level.

The solution involves a lot of modern business themes not seen in economic games of today. They include e-commerce, selling products at pop-up shops, cryptocurrency endeavors, and group economics. We expect it to change the market because it is relatable and up to date with the modern world of business. We meet the players/users where they're at with multiple player modes from beginner ("how to play" virtual world) to intermediate to more advanced play that requires more business acumen. The business savvy feature and business venture cards will allow us to constantly update the game with the ever-changing business landscape of today's society making it appealing to a wider audience.  

At For the Culture Games, our mission is to engage in high frequent C's. Those C's are Celebrating Culture, Creating Connections and Causing Community Change. The impact goals after one year are to impact 1 million young people through financial education by way of playing Businessaire. This will be done with the marketing and selling of the Businessaire board game and Businessaire digital via social media, gaming conventions, and virtual gaming events. We also plan to build more relationships with non-profits and schools to get the game in the school systems globally. That is our B2B and B2G strategy. 

A society with more financially literate people is a more responsible society and that is what we plan to accomplish. Over the next 5 years, we plan to have several editions of Businessaire across every platform including tabletop, mobile, pc, console, virtual reality and augmented reality. Our mission to use Businessaire as the learning tool to shift the culture's mindset to become more financial literate and develop an ownership mindset that will take a strong digital marketing effort and proficient tech team to develop the game on multiple platforms.

Our slogan is "Businessaire, Don't Just Play the Game, Live It!" This will be the reality for all that play the game as it shifts the mindset to create more capable entrepreneurs in society 

We measure our progress by the number of students and people we share the Businessaire experience with. The Businessaire experience consist of workshops, and a networking & gaming event where we invite local entrepreneurs out to share their experiences, share resources, network and play a group version of Businessaire at the conclusion of the event. We take pre-orders for the game and track the number of pre-sales we get for the game. The workshops include an overview of entrepreneurship in modern society along with a group play of Businessaire with the students. We track the number of schools we visit and the number of students that attend the events in person and/or virtually.

With exposure to Businessaire, we expect Gen Z students and people in general to become more financially literate. Playing the game creates an ownership mindset and teaches through real world scenarios. In a study to determine the effect of educational games on learning outcomes, it was said that, "Educational games could greatly improve student engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes (Alonso-Fernandez et al., 2020), as well as student satisfaction. " The business material that is present in the game can improve critical thinking skills, knowledge and engagement in an educational setting. This learning will then improve decision making skills for underserved Gen Z students in the real world. In conclusion, Gen Z will be better prepared to handle their personal finances and improve their 43% financial literacy rate.

The core technology for Businessaire Digital is a gaming application that will enable mass multiplayer online game capabilities. This will require a software design specification and software requirement specification for the gaming app. Players will be able to play people from their schools/school districts in online competitions and also play people from all over the world in global competitions. It will feature a shared virtual world that will be accessible to all players that download the game. Businessaire Digital will incorporate digital dice and card selection features along with virtual player movement on a digital board in a virtual world.

Our leadership team includes 1 African American woman and 2 African American men. Our play testers that helped create the game come from different social, and cultural backgrounds. We plan to continue to playtest the game with different groups of people and recruit designers from different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We sent recruitment opportunities out for designers and play testers to our social media audience which includes people from all social, and cultural backgrounds. We take diversity, equity and inclusion serious at For the Culture Games. We believe in excellence through diversity. Our mission is to Celebrate Culture, Create Connections and Cause Community Change. We will continue to create connections amongst all people and have events in different environments from rural areas, suburbs and urban areas. We will focus on creating opportunities and experiences for all including full participation from marginalized groups of people. At these events and workshops, all members of groups are welcomed, respected, supported and valued. We will also continue to create these experiences both in-person and virtually for all to attend.

Our current business model involves B2C, and B2B by providing a substance rich content and financial educational game to consumers in the form of pre-orders of the physical copies of the game. We will also go after mass market opportunities with big box stores such as Target and Walmart. After Businessaire Digital is fully developed, we will go to B2G as we will get the game in school systems on a global level. The public version of the digital game will work on a freemium business model where players can download the game for free and access new features/content at a cost.

Our plan to becoming financially sustainable will be through a combination of selling products and services, service contracts to governments, and raising investment capital. 

Our main products will be our games featuring Businessaire and several editions of Businessaire being sold on various platforms. It will be offered as a board game, mobile app, pc and console game. We will also develop other titles that represent our mission and plan of "Gaming for Good".

A Subscription model will be implemented to obtain recurring revenue for our catalogue of game expansion packs and new levels that can be unlocked on the digital version of Businessaire.

Contracts with local and state school systems will also enable us to become more financially sustainable as we plan to get Businessaire Digital in school systems on a global level.

In order to obtain investment capital, the idea is to build traction with the physical board games and brand the game with tabletop gamers. Once we hit our sales goal of 30,000 games sold, we will raise more capital to assist with creating variations of Businessaire on more platforms. 

There are several examples of how our plan to achieve financial sustainability has been successful so far. We have currently sold merchandise such as hoodies and t shirts at our events and on our social media page for over $5,000. We received a grant from the Warnock Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland for $2,000. We received funding from the Cangialosi Business Competition at UMBC for $2,000 and an additional $2,000 for the business with the most progress in 2021. We received over 200 pledges for pre-orders of Businessaire during our current pre-launch campaign that just started. We have also received funding from the Conscious Venture Labs accelerator for $125,000 after completion of the program and pitch competition.