Pardna App founder, Paul Henriques talks to Jeremy Salmon, the founder of an exciting new board game, where you are having too much fun to realise you are learning!
Jeremy has created a new board game called 5 Minute Pardna, which, as the name suggests, is a game where the participants play a fun game while learning about finance.
Paul: Tell us about your background, how did you get started in business?
Jeremy: After graduating from Middlesex university I started to work as a professional freelance illustrator. I eventually worked as a graphic designer before starting my own agency. After running the business for over 18 years I decided I wanted to get involved in work that would have more of an impact on my community. Most of my design clients ran charities and community interest organisations so I could see first hand the challenges and issues my community had and what could be done to make positive changes.
In 2018 I authored my first book entitled “Round and Round – An Introduction to Group Economics for Children”. I thought if we could improve our financial literacy and practice group economics as a community it could greatly improve our situation. It was a long term plan to normalise group economics for children so that generation would grow up to naturally make positive changes. So in 2022 I decided to close my design company and start up My Baobab Learning CIC where I dedicate my time making sure that children get access to essential group economics, entrepreneurial and a financial literacy education. That same year I authored two more books in the Round and Round collection and started running a number of physical and online workshops in schools and community spaces.
Many Caribbean people here in the UK have a connection in some way to the practice of pardna, typically via parents or grandparents. What is your history with pardna, does it follow a familiar path?
I am a first generation Windrush child born in the 1970s to my Jamaican parents. As most Caribbean people at that time my mother was in a pardna to help the families financially during those difficult times. I remember the story she told me of when she bought our first home. After the purchase of the house she didn’t have enough money to furnish the property. It was her pardna draw that enabled her to buy furniture for our new home.
How did you get the idea of the 5 Minute Pardna board game? It seems to draw on your background in design, interest in financial learning resources and cultural heritage
I really enjoy creating learning resources that help make our workshops more fun and engaging. As the pardna system is a perfect example of group economics, community saving and finance I thought it would be a great thing to pass on to young people. I wanted to create something that could show children how the pardna system would work in just a short space of time. So from this initial concept I developed the Five Minute Pardna game.
We test played the game in schools and community groups around the West midlands and the responses were extremely positive.
What do you hope to achieve with the game?
I would like the game to create awareness about community saving and how it is very relevant today in this financial crisis. As well as the Pardna’s Caribbean roots I want to educate people to the fact that this system has been around for hundreds of years and is practised all over the world under different names. So weather you know it as Pardna, Susus, Aja, Chit fund, Hui, Committee, Hagbad and the list goes on, it can be used to bring people together, learn about finance, investing and saving while having a lots of fun.
Amazing! Thank you Jeremy!
For more information on the 5 Minute Pardna game visit fiveminutepardna.com