Indian expat students in UAE launch app, comic series

Dubai, Sep 28 A 17-year-old Indian expat student has teamed up with his younger brother to launch a savings calculator and a comic series based on economic and market trends for the benefit of pupils and blue collar workers in the United Arab Emirates.

The savings calculator app, called Cash Cash, helps an individual keep track of his or her funds, aiding one to not only account for the expenses but also help understand how much can be saved, Gulf news repored on Sunday.

The comic series, ‘eCOnoMICs’, is an economics-based concept developed to provide a better understanding through a simplistic and illustrative format.

The bilingual comic series in Hindi and English is already being distributed to workers across labour camps in UAE.

Varun Mittal and his younger brother Aman, both students at the Jumeirah College, have created the app and the comic series.

They have launched the two under a social enterprise platform called SOCRISE.

“I am passionate about economics and also recognise my privileged position in society. I used the two concepts to drive a message to young students and workers in UAE to help them learn how to save so it will leave them financially independent,” Varun said.

Talking about the savings calculator, he said the intention behind launching the app was to build financial and economic literacy through this platform.

“It is primarily meant for the labour community and aims to help improve their financial knowledge. The app takes inflation and wage growth into account to give a more accurate timeframe for how long it would take. Allowing blue-collared workers to better manage their finances,” Gulf news quoted the 17-year-old students as saying.

“The idea for the app came about when I overheard a conversation between two school support staff members about how they were struggling to calculate their savings when taking every expense into account.

“I then developed an algorithm and presented this to the same employee, and he found it to be a useful tool. Following this, we hired a group of developers and began developing the app.”

For the record, the app has been developed in multiple languages for easy use and understanding.

An comic series, eCOnoMICs was developed to provide a better understanding of finances through a simplistic and illustrative format.

Aman, who is the content designer for the comic series, said he helped bring the comic series to life by adding fun elements and humour to the story, putting together the story board and designing the illustrations.