Transcript:

James Bell [00:00:02]: Welcome to the Bentonville Beacon, where we bring you success stories from business leaders and owners about their triumphs and growth in the Bentonville and northwest Arkansas community. You’ll hear about how Bentonville has been the backdrop for incredible growth, not only for businesses and their employees, but in their personal lives as well. Tune in, subscribe, and enjoy hearing about Bentonville, where you get more of what you want and less of what you don’t. Welcome back to the Bentonville Beacon podcast, where we’re sharing stories and advice from the entrepreneurs, business executives, and community leaders, sparking the rise of the greater Bentonville area, which represents one of the fastest growing and most dynamic cities and economies in the United States and has nestled in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas in the heartland of America. Hi, I’m your host, James Bell, and today I am excited to introduce you to Soumya Munjal, who is founder and CEO of Youthful Savings. Soumya is a visionary entrepreneur who is a dedicated advocate for socioeconomic empowerment through education. And youthful savings is a tech powered learning ecosystem that uniquely combines artificial intelligence and financial literacy to equip youth with the tools they need for future success. Today, Samya will share her journey, the story of youthful savings and its impact on communities, and some special announcements for Bentonville in northwest Arkansas. James Bell [00:01:35]: Somya, welcome to the Bentonville Beacon podcast. Somya Munjal [00:01:38]: Thank you so much for having me. James Bell [00:01:40]: You bet. Well, let’s jump right in. What should our audience know about you? Somya Munjal [00:01:44]: Well, I’m back again. So I used to be here about like twelve years ago. So it’s been nice to be back in this area. It’s changed a lot. Um, and, you know, so it’s, it’s just feels like home. James Bell [00:01:57]: Excellent. Well, why did you found youthful savings and what’s your mission? Somya Munjal [00:02:03]: So I have a background in finance and accounting. Um, and while I was in college, quickly understood that by understanding, you know, income, income statements and balance sheets and finance, like, it was pretty easy to continue making more money and helping other people make more money through the financialization of our markets. And so just got really didn’t love the idea of the income inequality that exists in like every part of the world. And so youthful savings is a mission and a passion of mine and it just works with young people in order for them to also understand the financial markets, but specifically the young people that could utilize that education and those opportunities. It got started in Washington DC. So after I left this area, moved to Washington DC, and then ended up in New York City. And so it’s just been a really long journey, I’d say, of figuring out how best to impact what is the biggest generation on this planet, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. And how can we utilize their skill sets and then maybe recreate the financial system a little bit better so that we’re making capitalism kinder. Somya Munjal [00:03:15]: And so that’s the journey that we’re on now. And technology is a big factor of that, because if you don’t understand technology, then it’s going to further increase the income inequality. And so, really making sure that young people have access to technology and the best way to utilize it is a really important part of youthful savings. James Bell [00:03:31]: You bet. So true. That’s a great mission. Uh, will you talk about how you’re accomplishing that mission and perhaps give some examples how. Of how you’re doing it in different communities? Somya Munjal [00:03:41]: Absolutely. So, we’re based out of New York City, and that has been our anchor city, also a big city that has, you know, wealth inequality. It’s. It’s pretty. Pretty obvious, but also a unique city in the sense that people are willing to work with you based on skill sets and a little bit less than who you are and what family you’re from or whatever. So, it’s been a cool city to get this all started in, but really, it’s about us utilizing an edtech platform called learning Marketplace, delivering that to both organizations and schools and governments. And then once they graduate that one of our anchor courses is entrepreneurship, they learn how to start a business. We were really passionate about not just theory education, but an actual application of that education. Somya Munjal [00:04:23]: So, back in 2020, during the COVID time, we understood that young people needed to build communities. So we ended up building an e commerce platform called Youthful Savings marketplace. And that’s where young people can get a real online business started, even if you’re under the age of 18, which is usually a barrier of entry. But we actually take all legal liability and the young people, because we’ve educated them and we believe in them. And then what’s. What I love is, as they buy and sell to each other, the platform takes a transaction fee that gets. That gets thrown into our foundation. Then young people have access to something called the Community Investment Fund through our foundation, and they can request capital, which comes from prepaid cards. Somya Munjal [00:05:03]: So that way it takes barriers of entry of how old they are, if their parents aren’t on board, or maybe they’re not undocumented. And so we call that kind capitalism through bottom up economics. The more young people buy and sell to each other, the more money is available for them to continue getting capitalized, and we hope it brings equality through what we call equality through equity. James Bell [00:05:21]: I love that you’ve really thought that through. Great job. Somya Munjal [00:05:24]: Thank you. James Bell [00:05:25]: Well, before we talk about what you’re up to here in Bentonville, more specifically, to the extent that you can, will you share a story about a particular young person that your company has impacted? Somya Munjal [00:05:40]: What’s. James Bell [00:05:41]: How’s youthful savings making a difference in their life? Somya Munjal [00:05:45]: Absolutely. So, Jose Santana is always our case study that we bring to every school and district that we talk to. And so he came to us as a sophomore, understood that technology is actually something that he wants to major in. And he’s from the outskirts of the Bronx, and he is really good at technology, but he thought he was so good that he wanted to drop out of high school. And so we ended up getting involved because we do take some case management as well. And we got on the phone with him and his mom and said, hey, you know what? Like, you want to graduate high school at least? We actually even created a dinner in Manhattan to make sure that he was eating with CUNY, which we thought would be a great place for him to potentially go to college. The VP of CUNY was like, you know, Jose, like, you should also stay in school because CUNy can provide this freedom that you’re not fully understanding. Um, well, while you’re in, like, these closed doors of a public high school. Somya Munjal [00:06:33]: So that then motivated him to stay in his high school. He became senior president of his high school, and now he’s actually on a podcast for Chalkbeat, which is a journalism avenue for education reform. And so he’s really utilizing and understanding that sometimes the best way to create change is to stay within the system while utilizing your voice to create change. On the flip side, he also has two businesses on youthful savings marketplace. One is helping other young people create vendor stores. Also another one that he started with his dad, which is like an art business. And he’s also going to be a featured vendor. We actually have a physical store for youthful savings marketplace opening up in California. Somya Munjal [00:07:08]: And so he’s going to be a vendor, a featured vendor there as well. And he’s just somebody that, as we’re making deals, we’ll copy him on and be like, hey, Jose, what do you think of youthful savings? And then he’ll give a story, and then it’s just, it helps us grow our business as well. James Bell [00:07:21]: That’s neat. What a remarkable story. Okay, you got him on both coasts. Somya Munjal [00:07:24]: Yeah. James Bell [00:07:25]: Any chance you’re going to get him do some stuff here in Bentonville as well. Somya Munjal [00:07:27]: Absolutely. We’ll bring him in. James Bell [00:07:29]: That would be awesome. So, Samya, last year you came to Bentonville and you were part of the fuel artificial intelligence and machine learning accelerator. For folks who don’t know necessarily what that is, will you briefly explain what fuel is and then talk about your experience? Somya Munjal [00:07:45]: Absolutely. So fuel is a no equity accelerator, which is cool cause you get to, you know, keep your cap table. But it also is a program that I think has been really life changing for us in the sense that it a, we created a new product out of it, which is hire youth AI, and also just Darian and Tom and the team have done, I think, an incredible job at just teaching you about how to get your enterprise clients and reoccurring revenue from enterprise clients, which in our experience has been a difficult thing. And I think also the reoccurring revenue coming from here is helpful because of the fact that fuel has those relationships. James Bell [00:08:25]: That’s cool. You hit on two really important things, I think, to startups is one, not giving up equity, if you can. But I mean, frankly, the more important one to me is that I think about is getting customers and getting enterprise customers and being sustainable in that way. It’s hard to get enterprise customers. And that is the unique differentiator for fuel is that they actually teach you how to operationalize that part of your company in particular. Somya Munjal [00:08:55]: Yeah. And it’s something we really needed, like youthful savings really needed that education and that line item on our profit and loss statement to help us out. James Bell [00:09:05]: Yeah. Let’s test it. How did it work? What’s coming up for you here in Bentonville? I hear you might have a few announcements. Somya Munjal [00:09:13]: Yeah. Thank you so much. So we’re working closely with Rves bank, which has been a great partner for us, in order for us to bring our most popular program, which is youth entrepreneurship for more inclusive economy life and at a subsidized cost for those young people that need summer programming that they don’t have access to. So we’re really looking forward to getting that started June 1 in partnership with Northwest Arkansas Community College, which you helped bring in that piece, which I think is really important because, again, when you’re socioeconomic development, it’s really thinking critically of like, hey, what do young people need every step of the way to increase their income? And so we believe college is important. And so helping young people understand what NWAC can provide is important. And then also bringing in Arvest, which like, hey, you know, getting a savings account started. We are called youthful savings. So you know, getting their first savings account is important, especially if they’re maybe new to the country. Somya Munjal [00:10:05]: Right. And so they might not even know how to do that. But, you know, Arvest has been an incredible partner, and that came from one of the mentors, Sajin, who’s been awesome and I think a personal friend. I hope he feels the same. And, you know, I just think that just the community has been really unique because, again, we’ve done five of these different accelerators, some equity, some not, and this one was just unique in the sense that it was really relationship focused. And I’m a believer of that. And I think there’s a lot of give and take in relationships. And so it’s just been really cool to be a part of a community and also just knowing that we’re in this together. Somya Munjal [00:10:37]: Like, the more we win, the more they win, kind of a thing. And so it’s just been a great experience. James Bell [00:10:42]: That’s neat. I think you find a lot of that in this community. It’s, how can we help you get to the people that you need to take you the next step and go further. Somya Munjal [00:10:49]: Right. And I didn’t really believe it at first because I remember coming in being like, these people aren’t going to help me. Like, what are they getting out of it? And Darian was like, no. Like, they actually are here to help you. And then I calmed down. But again, I come from New York, so I don’t trust anything, but it’s been really, really awesome. James Bell [00:11:03]: Yeah. You hear. I mean, it’s true. You hear about that in a lot of places. Oh, we’re gonna connect you to people, and then it doesn’t really happen. There’s a lot of gatekeepers. And here I feel like it’s just everybody says, how can I help? And just makes the connection and then gets out of the way. Somya Munjal [00:11:18]: Right, exactly. No, and you hit a point that I think is really, really unique to this area is the gatekeepers. So for enterprise clients, lots and lots of gatekeepers and obviously gigantic organizations, if you’re lucky to be here, because those gatekeepers are close. Right. When you have such big companies that are based out of here, it’s not hard to get to the person that’s going to write you the check. So that’s why spending time here is incredibly important for us and I hope for everybody else as well. That’s in the same space of being a small company. James Bell [00:11:48]: Yeah. Well, let’s unpack a few of these things that you talked about a little bit further. First, you’ve opened an office we did at Ledger. Will you talk about that? What’s the strategic opportunity there with that location in particular for youthful savings? Somya Munjal [00:12:04]: First of all, it’s dope. It’s a great spot. And really it was just a connection with another cohort, Smarteye, who is a personal friend of mine. And so sharing an office with him made a lot of sense. And just when we were even in the fuel program, we were able to just, you know, go around each other with ideas and grow stronger together. So that obviously was really helpful. Before we got to fuel, we did hire somebody local because we do understand at youthful savings that you do have to hire a local. And so making sure that Adrienne on our team also has a spot is important for us. Somya Munjal [00:12:37]: So that having, and she loved the ledger as well. So for us, it was just a move of also commitment with our r best deal of like, hey, you know, we’re not just going to take this money and go to New York. Like, we’re going to build something here as well. And there’s a need for socioeconomic development, I think, everywhere. So anywhere that we’re lucky enough to be a part of, we’ll find a way to make sure that we’re local. And we also work in Portugal. And same thing, we hired somebody local, and we’re expanding in Portugal through the relationship of first hiring somebody and then making sure that we grow. To me, it just seems like the right thing to do in order for us to grow organically, but also, I think, legitimately and sustainably. Somya Munjal [00:13:12]: You’ve got to understand that every culture is different. I’m definitely a New York City culture person, love being here. But, like, I’m definitely more inclined to understand that culture better. Whereas if I, we actually took Adrienne to New York and it was not her culture fit. Right. But she’s such a great culture fit here. And so it’s important for us to make sure that we find a home everywhere we go. James Bell [00:13:31]: That’s great. And so, well, let’s tackle it further. Let’s talk about Arvest bank. So that’s your first sustainable enterprise client. Somya Munjal [00:13:40]: Yeah, we call it sustainable enterprise because just the relationships that we’ve been able to build and hopefully the give and take that we can provide them through their commitment to us. You know, we think we can continuously grow and then also continuously create programming opportunities for the young people that do get left behind. And, you know, there is just a huge amount of that, and so much of it’s confidence building. Right. So it gets really difficult. When you’re in a community where you see people that have a lot and you don’t, it’s really easy to get into, like, a dark side. Right. And that can turn into violence. Somya Munjal [00:14:09]: It can turn into a lot of different things, but if we can equalize those opportunities, we can actually make safer communities and a more civil society. And so there is work to be done here, but also, when you can work with someone like Arvest, it’s important for us to then bring in other bank clients and some of the other communities we’re in as well. So that’s why that commitment is really helpful for us. They’re paving the way for how important it is for banks to do their part as well. James Bell [00:14:32]: Right. And that really aligns with your mission, then, of kind capitalism. Somya Munjal [00:14:36]: Yeah, exactly. James Bell [00:14:37]: Wonderful. So the InwaC partnership, the Northwest Arkansas Community College, do you want to talk about that deeper? Somya Munjal [00:14:45]: Yeah, absolutely. So that’s actually us bringing young people through event programming during our. You know, most of our programs are done online, but we’ll do some hybrid events on purpose so that we can get young people to understand what the future looks like, which I think is hybrid working. So we’re doing an event at NWAC at their integrated design lab. And really, it’s also a play of them understanding, hey, like, NWAC is available for them. Sometimes there’s some barriers of entry, of understanding paperwork, but really, like, it could potentially be free of cost for you. And so getting these young people to understand that NWAC is there, and we’re hoping that the president will be there for our event as well, because, again, when you’re a young person that maybe is lacking the confidence that you need to be successful, when you see someone like the president of NWAC saying, hey, you should come here, it makes that difference. Similar to what Jose went through when we brought the VP of CUNY, right? Like that one, one on one, got him to the point where he became president of his class, got on a podcast with shock be, and now it applied to, like, ten different schools. Somya Munjal [00:15:42]: So, really, those relationships are important, and we’re all about that. James Bell [00:15:46]: Excellent. Um, well, doctor Ritter is the best. Is amazing. So he’s. He’s great to work with. Somya Munjal [00:15:52]: Yeah, for sure. James Bell [00:15:53]: You know, how do partnerships with organizations like mine, with the greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce and other community organizations, how do those support your goals? Somya Munjal [00:16:04]: We are like a small little company that doesn’t spend any money on marketing. We run alongside gigantic organizations for a reason, because we grow with you. Right. And so for us, we signed up to be a member while we were in the fuel program because we’ve had experiences in other cities of how important chamber of commerce can be for us to grow. So in Santa Monica, our first client there came from us being a member of the Santa Monica chamber of commerce in Venice. Like, same thing in New York. It was a little bit of a unique ecosystem where there’s a little bit. You don’t need the chamber of commerce necessarily, because there’s just so much happening there. Somya Munjal [00:16:39]: But again, we’ve understood that in communities that can sometimes be far apart, a chamber of commerce’s job is to bring everybody together and to build those connections. And you’ve been incredible for us to get this program started. So thank you. James Bell [00:16:50]: Thank you. Somya Munjal [00:16:50]: Yeah. James Bell [00:16:51]: And here are the connection, of course, ten ways. So that’s amazing. I love it. I’m glad this is happening. Maybe this go further with this. And, Sami, will you tell me a story? And let’s make that a hashtag, because Bentonville story. Somya Munjal [00:17:05]: So many, I don’t even know where to start, you know? Okay, so we’re working on a pilot project to. So there’s some. Okay, so we care about kids at youthful savings. Obviously, we’re called youthful savings. The policy of Arkansas has recently taken away postpartum care for those that are on Medicaid. And so Ryan Cork from Northwest Arkansas Council and I were chatting, and we were like, hey, why don’t we utilize our community investment fund, give that same sort of technology of the prepaid cards and that same sort of theory, give that to NWA council, and then preload our edtech, because it makes sense for them to have financial literacy and economic opportunities and entrepreneurship and social emotional learning, all the things that come with it for the moms, because Arkansas is 49th in the nation for teenage pregnancies. Do a pilot project, and then we’re going to have an art reception to kind of kick this all off on June 13 at the ledger. But we were like, we need celebrities. Somya Munjal [00:18:01]: Like, right? Like, that needs to happen. So we were just talking about it. We were at the ledger. We ran into the guy that gets all the celebrities here just randomly while we were getting our coffee. So I just think that just goes to show that, I don’t know if it’s magic in the air, you just throw it out there, and then the universe listens or what happened or if. I don’t know what it is, but I think these things can only happen in a place that is so close knit. James Bell [00:18:24]: Yeah, I mean, they happening happen in high density here every day. I’m surprised by what. What happens here. Somya Munjal [00:18:34]: Right. James Bell [00:18:36]: Let me ask you sort of a whimsical question as we wind down to these last few. Suppose you had an opportunity to swap lives for a day with one of your role models. What would you do? Yes. Who would it be, and what would you do? Somya Munjal [00:18:52]: You know, I often say this to the young people, but I would say, like, harriet Tubman. James Bell [00:18:58]: Oh, neat. Somya Munjal [00:18:58]: Because I feel like she did a lot of things under the radar to create system change. And we know about her now. You known about her a lot during that time. Her mission would have gone away. Right. And so I just. For me, I’m not somebody that loves a ton of, like, media attention, you know? Although I’m happy to do this podcast with you, but, like, thank you. Yeah. Somya Munjal [00:19:17]: Just because some of the stuff that we’re doing is. Is, I think, kind of revolutionary. Right? Like, hey, everybody gets access to capital. Taking away bottom labor for capitalism, you know, would then kind of take away profitability from those on the top that have continued to have it. And so for me, I think it’d be hard, probably, because I think she had a really hard life, but I think she did some really amazing things. And I’d love to learn more about how she did it, because she knows if it wasn’t for her, I don’t think a lot of lives would not be where they’re at. James Bell [00:19:47]: Yeah. Real change maker. Somya Munjal [00:19:49]: Yeah. James Bell [00:19:50]: Excellent. Well, let’s ask you an advice question, too. I can’t let you get out of here without one of those. And I think the one that best fits you is what guidance would you give to business leaders about how to make their businesses truly reflect their values? Somya Munjal [00:20:07]: Well, first you have to know your values. Right. I think. And we teach that to the young people. That’s, like, number one, like, what are your values? That’s a big part of our programming. Um, but for me, I think it’s once you know those values, you’ve got to fight for those values and then just know that money is this tool that humans utilize in order to. To get through life. Right. Somya Munjal [00:20:28]: It doesn’t have to be the primary motivator. Um, and so money will follow you as. As you’re creating a sustainable business. I’m a big believer of being profitable. Right. Because if you’re profitable, it’s a sustainable business. So there’s nothing wrong with having profit. It’s just for us. Somya Munjal [00:20:43]: We reinvested into our foundation, and that just further grows young entrepreneurs and our mission. Um, but it’s that money thing. Right. So you’ve got to just for us, it’s just really all about money, will follow your mission and your values. And it’d be great if more founders and more startups really thought about that because I know in this journey it gets hard. It gets hard. And a lot of the funding mechanisms don’t always match a founder’s true mission and values. And so you just really got to fight through that every step of the way. James Bell [00:21:15]: Yeah, I mean, I love that. If you want to hear a story of following your true mission and values with investors, check out the story of Chris Thompson. I don’t know if you know Chris from silver side. Somya Munjal [00:21:27]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. James Bell [00:21:29]: It really is an incredible story. I had him here on the podcast, but he talked about like, having a million dollars of revenue and shutting that off to go get the right investors. I’ll let folks look for that story themselves. I mean, that’s, that’s a, that’s a, that’s a move right there. Just really. Somya Munjal [00:21:49]: But the right investors making sure. James Bell [00:21:50]: Yeah. To make sure it fits the values and the mission of the company and so on. And so that’s what he didn’t. Somya Munjal [00:21:55]: Awesome. Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about it. Yeah, I’d met him and I will definitely listen to that podcast to learn more. James Bell [00:22:00]: Cool. Well, if you want to, let me ask you two questions, two last questions. If people want to get to know you better and get to know youthful savings better, how do they reach you? How do they find out more about youthful savings? Somya Munjal [00:22:12]: You can go to our website, youthfulsavings.com. But if you want to get to know me better, you’ll have to be in person. Excellent. Because I’m just not somebody that, that says a lot online and just really love getting to know humans on a personal basis. So, you know, you can always contact me. And if I’m in the area, would love to grab, you know, coffee. But yeah, I do really enjoy, like, the personal connection. James Bell [00:22:35]: Perfect. I love that. Getting to know humans. I’m going to start using that. Samya, my last question for you is, what’s something I should have asked you that I did not ask? Somya Munjal [00:22:45]: I would love to deep dive more into, into the financials and the investment stuff because that’s what I’ve learned a lot about. And I think you do have to build a sustainable business before you start asking for cash if you want to keep your mission and values. James Bell [00:22:58]: Yeah, well, take on part of that question. How much of it do you want to talk about? Somya Munjal [00:23:01]: Well, yeah, I think that’s it. I funded youthful savings with another business that was profitable to get it started. And in the journey of now having growth capital come in, it’s just important to have revenue speak for itself. Right. And then you can give less of your company away. And more importantly, like, there’s a lot of classism within how investment works. And when your company is called equality through equity, like we’re, I’m pretty passionate about having one class of shares. You’re going in with the rest of us. Somya Munjal [00:23:31]: Like our team put in a lot of sweat equity. I put in a lot of my own money. So we’re just keeping one class of shares. Right. And so I’m on that journey right now. And so I just think it’s, it’s one of those things that when you’re revenue and profitable, you don’t necessarily need investors. They can be helpful, but you don’t necessarily need it. And so whatever we can do as startups and founders to be as lean as possible to get our product going, I think is going to be helpful for more founders and more startups to stay on the journey of keeping their mission and values, because I think founders are some of the coolest people on the planet, just like artists. Somya Munjal [00:24:02]: Right? And, you know, I love art. Um, and so just the more that we can keep our artistic integrity, the better. James Bell [00:24:08]: I love that. And I love this concept of everybody in the same class as shares, because if you want alignment with your investors, you can’t get more aligned, really, to make sure you’re in alignment than to have the same class. Somya Munjal [00:24:22]: Hard to do, hard to do. But, but the only way we work. James Bell [00:24:26]: You bet. Well, hey, Samya, as we wrap up here, I mean, your passion and commitment to empowering you through financial literacy, I mean, that’s coming through financial literacy and technology. I mean, it’s inspiring. Somya Munjal [00:24:39]: Thank you. James Bell [00:24:40]: So thank you for the work that you do. Thanks for sharing your journey with youthful savings and what you’re doing here in Bentonville and all these amazing announcements here in Bentonville and the way that you’re transforming lives. Somya Munjal [00:24:53]: Thank you so much. I appreciate you so much. James Bell [00:24:56]: Thank you. Hey, to our Bentonville Beacon audience. Thank you for tuning in to this enlightening conversation. This podcast is brought to you by the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, where I serve as vice president for economic development. Make sure you share this episode with those in your network who are most passionate about education and community impact. And whether you’re catching us on benthamvillebeacon.com, on YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform. Make certain you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any of the stories of changemakers like Somya. And until next time, keep fostering the connections and the ideas that make the greater Bentonville area a beacon of progress and empowerment. James Bell [00:25:40]: Farewell for now, and we’ll see you next time on the next episode of the Bentonville Beacon.