One day Fabian Fernandez-Han saw his father was using ETrade to make investments. Fabian, who then knew little about the stock market, asked his father what he was doing. Shortly after Fabian was managing his own portfolio of stocks using the Warren Buffet principle of buying things that he knew. Eventually Fabian stumbled upon the NYSE Financial Futures Challenge, a competition for kids to build solutions to teach investing and financial literacy. Thus, the idea for his application Oink-A-Saurus was born. Oink-A-Saurus has received many accolades since winning the NYSE competition including a winning spot in the “Technology for a Better World” competition hosted by Ashoka Youth Venture and the Best Buy Foundation.

Oink-A-Saurus a fantastic application that is made up of six modules to teach financial literacy. To begin, the application asks for users to input brands and products that the user likes.  After that you are taken to the main screen. The first module is called “Who Makes It?.” This feature allows users to find out what companies make commonly used products. The second module is a called “3 Piggy Banks.”  “3 Piggy Banks” gives users he ability to save to buy something big, save for their future, and help someone.  Third is the “Porkfolio.” In the “Porkfolio” users are given the ability to build a mock stock portfolio, based on their findings in the “Who Makes It?’ feature. Fourth is the “What If?” feature, which acts as a stock simulator for he stocks you have in the “Porkfolio.” The fifth feature is the “Mud Pit,” where users can interact by sharing opinions and questions. Last is the “Investment Education” section. Here Fabian writes about basic economic principles and current events in the stock market. Together each of the modules has little value, but put together they create a cohesive experience.

Fabian who is only 13-years-old has big plans. He hopes to continue to developing features for Oink-A-Saurus after he finds further funding. Going forward Fabian plans to integrate Oink-A-Saurus into a curriculum so that students can begin learning financial literacy at a young age. Fabian thinks he can use Oink-A-Saurus as a springboard into his dream job, being a social venture capitalist. Quite impressive for someone only thirteen!