Visa Links up with Local Libraries to Raise Awareness about the Importance of Financial Literacy

Following the launch of Visa’s latest financial literacy tool, a specially created Marvel Comic Book featuring the Avengers superheroes, the company teamed up with local Cairo libraries to distribute the comic books to children of all ages. Team members from Visa Egypt visited the Maadi and Zamalek public libraries to hand out the comic books and speak about the importance of managing personal finances at any age.

“Ideally, children should develop financial skills needed for adulthood while still in school but in reality, this often does not happen. Financial Literacy and vital money management skills are often left out of curricula, in developing and more developed markets,” said Tarek Elhousseiny, General Manager for Visa North & Francophone Africa.  “At Visa, we believe the most important financial tool is knowledge. As such, the development and delivery of such tools is so important to us. We look forward to continuing to provide financial literacy materials to more libraries and educational institutions all over Egypt.”

“The Visa Marvel Comic Book is a great way for kids to learn about financial education at an early age,” said Mohammed Ashour, Director of the Maadi Public Library.  “A comic book with well-known characters discussing personal money management is an engaging way to attract the interest of young people while teaching them important life lessons.”

“Who better to teach children the importance of financial literacy than The Avengers superheroes in line with the film’s recent release,” said Yasser Mustafa Osman, Director of the Zamalek Public Library.  “Kids absorb more information when they can relate to the lesson material, so we are grateful for the opportunity to provide such engaging tools to our youth in order to prepare them for their futures.”

Visa and Marvel Comics launched the 16-page comic book to help elementary school children learn the value of important financial basics: saving and budgeting.  The collaboration between Visa and Marvel is the latest installment in Visa’s multi-faceted financial literacy program, which has the ambitious goal of reaching 20 million people across the globe, including children, by 2013 with important information about financial basics.

The comic book is now available online in English and Arabic at:

English Version: http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/view_white.htm?iid=24592

Arabic Version: http://www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/view_white.htm?iid=24599

Some 150,000 free print copies of the comic book will be distributed in eight different languages in countries globally. The comic book is also available online in Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, French and Bahasa Indonesia.