Wizdom launches AI stock market game for Caribbean kids

American company WizdomCRM is putting down roots in the region, through subsidiary WizdomCRM Caribbean Limited, which trades as Edutech, starting in Trinidad & Tobago.

The company, whose tech products are enhanced by artificial intelligence, has created an ‘Animated Caribbean Stock Market Game’ platform for young students, using AI tutor Mr Rabbit, which was launched on October 4 at the capital markets conference hosted in Guyana by the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce.

A second platform, the Caribbean Sustainable Virtual Stock Market Game Platform, which is targeted at secondary school students was previously launched in Trinidad.

Now WizdomCRM Caribbean said it is targeting the ministries of education and stock exchanges in Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, and Jamaica for deployment.

The platforms are set for launch in Jamaica during National Investor Week from October 14 and 20. The week is marked annually by the Jamaica Stock Exchange with a series of events to promote investment and the markets.

Wizdom on its Website said that it develops business processing solutions, offering both software and training, utilising artificial intelligence. The company’s listed address is Naperville, Illinois in the United States.

Katrina Geetoah, director of operations WizdomCRM Caribbean, told the Financial Gleaner that the company’s proprietary platforms are the Animated Caribbean Stock Market Game; the Virtual Stock Market Game; and a University Stock Market Game “which is set for use for the JSE eCampus initiative in collaboration with the Jamaica Stock Exchange”; and WizdomCRM E-Learning, which features 10 trained cartoon AI characters created with intelligent neural responses, that “educate students across the Caribbean in specific subjects such as financial literacy and investing, English, storytelling, sports, arts, music, medicine, business and economics and law.”

Geetoah said both the primary and secondary school platforms have been approved by the Ministry of Education in Trinidad & Tobago.

In the Caribbean, the company has in its crosshair’s educators and parents of children among a regional population of 44 million, 20 to 29 per cent of whom, they note, fall below the poverty line, hence making the case for financial education.

“Our platform provides participants with hands-on experience of managing virtual portfolios valued at US$100,000, using ESG criteria and scoring to budget, save and invest. The aim is to teach minors financial literacy and ESG investing at an early age through gamification learning and artificial intelligence,” she said.

The games for high school students serves to reinforce principles learnt in mathematics, economics and business; helps to prepare them for the newly formed CXC financial services syllabus; and aims to give them a practical understanding of, “the impact of sustainable investing.”

She said, “The syllabus is organised in two units. A Unit comprises three modules each requiring fifty hours. The total time for each unit, is therefore, expected to be 150 hours with at least thirty per cent of the time dedicated to practical work.

“Each Unit can independently offer students a comprehensive programme of study with appropriate balance between depth and coverage to provide a basis for further study in this field.”

The platform for older users explores conceptual issues in financial services, including portfolio management, an investment module, compliance legislation and statues as well as financial reporting.

“The syllabus is organised in two units,” said Geetoah. And each unit is 150 hours, 30 per cent of which is dedicated to practical work.

“Each unit can independently offer students a comprehensive programme of study with appropriate balance between depth and coverage to provide a basis for further study in this field,” she said.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com