Expanding Financial Education in Latin America

Wharton Global Youth travels to Lima, Peru, by way of the Wharton School to kick off a new year of Future of the Business World episodes.

We met Chelsea Rojas in the summer of 2025 when she participated in our online Future of the Business World program and was an active 10-week member of the online Global Youth Meetup community. Chelsea attended our podcast pitch session over Zoom, where we first learned about her passion for entrepreneurship, financial education and empowering young people to create their own opportunities. Her startup FinWise emerged from her own economic barriers to financial and entrepreneurship education and a deep desire to take action and inspire change.

Be sure to click the arrow above to listen to our conversation. An edited transcript appears below.

Wharton Global Youth Program: Welcome to Future of the Business World. I’m Diana Drake with the Wharton Global Youth Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Each month on this podcast, I speak with innovative high school students from around the world. We share stories of entrepreneurship, grit, inspiration and impact. It’s an exploration of the entrepreneurial mindset, and we always take away insights about business, people and purpose. We’ve published 58 previous episodes, which you can listen to on Spotify, the Wharton Global Youth Program website, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Today’s guest was a student this summer in Wharton Global Youth’s online Future of the Business World program. During her time learning with us, she told us about her passion for improving financial education for young people in Latin America. I’m looking forward to talking with her more about that today.

Chelsea Rojas, welcome to Future of the Business World.

Chelsea Rojas: Hi. Thank you for having me.

Wharton Global Youth: It’s great to see you. First, I want you to tell us about yourself, where you live and where you go to school.

Chelsea: My name is Chelsea. I’m 17 years old. I’m a senior student at Innova Schools in Lima, Peru, and I live with my parents and my younger brother in Villa El Salvador, a district full of energy, resilience and above all, entrepreneurship. And I would like to emphasize the word resilience, because Villa El Salvador was founded by immigrants, people who were escaping the terrorism that Peru faced, and I feel very proud of my district. It has shaped a lot of my values. In just 50 years, through collective organization and public leadership, secured housing, schools and public services for us, it has received international recognition, such as the Prince of Asturias Award. And I’m very proud of what we have achieved.

Here I grew up surrounded by small shops, local shops and street stands. So, it is literally impossible not to feel the entrepreneurial spirit of my community. And that was my first approach to that business environment, which continues to inspire me every day. I am also passionate about the arts and social entrepreneurship. This year, I’ve been focusing more on building my entrepreneurial path, but I also have a strong background in arts. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old, training for over 12 years, and I have been acting for the past four years, including participating in an independent science fiction movie.

Wharton Global Youth: I’m so happy to hear about the fact that you’re surrounded by entrepreneurial energy. And I wanted to ask you more about that, because I think it actually starts in your family. So, your father is an entrepreneur. What does he do? And also, can you tell us how watching your father’s entrepreneurial struggles helped to shape your vision for financial education?

Chelsea: All right, I have a lot of things to say here. As you just said, my father [Jorge Alberto Rojas Tintaya] has always been an entrepreneur at heart. From a young age, I remember seeing him testing new ideas, launching startups, and always thinking how to improve them.

Currently, he’s running a cat litter startup, which I think is the most creative one he has ever launched. And he came up with that idea in a very casual conversation. He was with his friends, and they were talking about their pets, specifically about cats. His friends were basically comparing cat litters, brands, their quality textures and which one works best for them in terms of absorbing the bad smell.

All this was very new for my father, but in that conversation, he quickly realized that cat litter is absolutely essential in every cat household – meaning there was a big market of people who were always going to need it. At that moment — we were in the middle of the pandemic, and he was looking for a new business idea because his previous venture had closed down — he decided to get involved in this. And he wanted to build a cat litter startup.

However, from the beginning, I remember that he told me that, as this product was widely used, competition would be everywhere. So, if he wanted to enter the market, he had to find a way to stand out. And I saw him there many nights, staying awake, brainstorming, researching and analyzing how he could differentiate his brand. And that’s when he came across a key insight: male and female cats actually have different urine compositions. That discovery opened his eyes. He questioned: what if the cat litter was personalized depending on the sex of each cat?

And that’s how Gato Clean was born. He created two different formulas, one for females and one for males, with specific components that work best for each case. And later, he started selling in small shops in our community. And customers were very curious, because nobody else was offering something like that in the market. And my dad knew it. He knew that people tend to humanize their pets, in many cases treating them like beloved children, so they would love to tailor products for them.

But of course, the hardest part came later. That was scaling the business because marketing, reinvesting profits, managing logistics, those were things he didn’t have the opportunity to study. And I could see how much he struggled. He tried to push it out on social media, but didn’t know how to engage and reach his target audience. He also got overwhelmed keeping track of sales manually, deliveries and customer records, because he didn’t yet have a system to organize the business and make sure what was working and what wasn’t.

But what has always impacted me about my dad and shaped my mindset is his willingness to not wait until having all settled. He prepares himself when he doesn’t know something and dives into the pool, which, if you think about it deeper, is the only way for you to step out of your comfort zone. Otherwise, you will never feel prepared enough for diving into the unknown.

I have this message recorded in my mind all the time when he told me: do not be afraid of things going wrong or of facing rejections, because this happens only when you’re taking action and moving forward. If you stay in the same place, nothing will change and nothing will ever go wrong because you’re not advancing. That blew my mind.

Today, he has managed to keep Gato Clean alive. He has expanded this beyond our district, and has started selling in other parts of our country. That entrepreneurial journey of my dad was my first exposure I had about the lack of financial literacy, but that’s what also made me realize that this wasn’t a problem of one. It was an issue affecting millions, because that made me more observant about the reality around me.

Wharton Global Youth: I have cats, so this just sounds like really finding a niche in the market. So, I want to talk more about entrepreneurship with you, in a different sense. You also applied to entrepreneurial programs, because you got the bug, you observed your dad and all the wonderful things that were going on. So, you applied to some programs like Wharton Global Youth but couldn’t afford them despite acceptances. What did that tell you about financial and entrepreneurship education as a privilege and not a right in Peru?

Chelsea: This year, I wanted to expand my knowledge in this field, which motivated me to start applying to several great college entrepreneur programs. And I got into several of them, which was very exciting. But when I received the financial aid decision, I was disappointed because I didn’t receive the scholarship I needed. And despite all my family’s efforts, we couldn’t cover the cost, and I had to withdraw. That was both frustrating and heartbreaking, because I really wanted those opportunities to educate myself financially.

A few days later, I wrote an email to those universities asking for reconsideration, please. And the universities responded that they had run out of funds due to the high demand of financial aid and couldn’t offer me more, which made me realize that many students like me might have been accepted into those programs, but without the support they needed. I remember that in those days I was very lost because as financial literacy is not a right in many emerging countries, it is not included in our curriculum, and when people try to get that knowledge from abroad, they are still limited. As a result, I thought that my generation would remain stuck in the painful pattern of launching a business that is like they struggle, close down and sometimes restart, but only to face the same cycle again.

After launching my non-profit, which is called FinWise, as my last attempt, I applied to the Future of the Business World program of the Wharton Global Youth because I felt very aligned with its focus on building human-centered enterprises. I didn’t expect to receive a full ride. And I could hardly believe when I read my financial aid decision saying that I got a full scholarship! That was fantastic. I just couldn’t believe it, and I was so excited, because I understood that I would be completely focused on learning and enjoying this program to the fullest without worrying about financial limitations.

The first day of the program, I was very nervous, but then I realized that I should be calm because I was working with like-minded peers, learning about what I was passionate about, and receiving the full support of the TAs and mentors. And this made the experience very transformative, because I also participated in business simulations, working with teams to build a human-centered business while taking into account the business trends of the future. I’m very grateful to that program for giving me this opportunity and investing in me.

“I realized that no matter your field of interest, whether you are passionate about STEM, arts, law or literature, in a globalized economy, knowing how to manage your finances and monetize your skills is essential. That’s how FinWise was born.”
– Chelsea Rojas

Wharton Global Youth: So now it’s time to talk about that venture of yours. You were inspired to take action, and you started your own NGO, which is called FinWise. Am I pronouncing that correctly?

Chelsea: Yes, well, it’s a marriage between Spanish and English, because FinWise, the part of Fin comes from finances, which is finance in Spanish. And wise, well, you know the word.

Wharton Global Youth: Yes, and so, can you tell us more about it? What is the origin story?

Chelsea: The origin of my nonprofit began after applying to those programs [from which] I had to withdraw, because that setback made me pause and reflect for a while.  I asked myself, why am I waiting? Why am I looking for opportunities to educate myself financially when I could create my own and not just for me, but also for our generation who, like my dad, deserves access to this financial education. I realized that no matter your field of interest, whether you are passionate about STEM, arts, law or literature, whatever, in a globalized economy, knowing how to manage your finances and monetize your skills is essential. That’s how FinWise was born. What started as a personal frustration became an NGO, which means a non-governmental organization that provides financial literacy resources to underserved communities and young people in Latin America.

Our work is based in three pillars that are entrepreneurship, investment and personal finance. We’ve expanded access to this education through webinars, boot camps, challenges, e-books and our social media content. For example, we have organized our investment boot camps and created spaces where young people can gain the knowledge they need to pursue their projects with confidence.

When we launched FinWise, I was also focusing on the SDGs, which are the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. I learned about this during my participation in La Companía, a leadership competition that encourages students to build companies addressing those SDGs. And in the opportunity, my team addressed the SDG three by creating a lunch box with a refrigeration system to preserve food. But in this case, the mission of FinWise is strongly aligned with SDG four, eight and 10, which are quality education, decent work and economic growth, and reduced inequalities. These goals give us a global framework and remind us of our objective when trying to decide what’s next for FinWise.

Wharton Global Youth: What impact have you had with FinWise in Peru?

Chelsea: We have impacted 1,600 youths across 10 countries, because we [deliver] all these events virtually through our boot camps and the content we publish. This not only motivates them, but also shares important financial insights, such as the story of the economy, how to track monthly savings and the use of credit cards, among others.

Wharton Global Youth: Do you have a story or two that might reflect or illustrate some of the work that you’ve done and how individual students lives have been changed?

Chelsea: First of all, I think that the most impacted students are the ones who have attended our boot camps because they go beyond theory. Participants have the opportunity to evaluate their learning, join competitions where they can win personalized mentorships, and, most importantly, connect with peers from around the world because they share their money stories, their struggles and goals regarding financial freedom and entrepreneurship. Through our satisfaction forms, we have received many responses highlighting how this exchange is transformative for them. Students from emerging countries share the challenges they face, which makes others from more privileged backgrounds aware of the opportunities they sometimes take for granted. At the same time, everyone is learning from each other’s economic realities across Latin America.

One powerful example of how FinWise has transformed the understanding of finance comes from a girl who shared her testimony after one of our sessions in an investment boot camp. She said that she believed that saving money was always the best approach. However, she learned that while short-term saving is helpful for specific goals, like buying a new phone, long-term saving exposes money to the risk of inflation, which reduces its value over time. This changed her perspective on the importance of investing as a protection mechanism against inflation. She also realized how small daily habits can silently accumulate and limit financial growth. And she loved learning concepts like good versus bad debt, learning how even a giant company like Coca-Cola manages its obligation strategically. I know that this might seem like basic knowledge, but she didn’t know it, and she gained all this in just our first season of the boot camp. By the end, she said that she felt like ready to start investing for long-term security and growth. So that was a really impactful experience.

Wharton Global Youth: What’s next for FinWise, and what’s next for you? You’ve had this wonderful summer with Wharton Global Youth Program. You did our Future of the Business World Program online, and ideally it helped to empower your entrepreneurial spirit. Can you talk about where you’re going from here?

Chelsea: Yes, we want to launch an international hub, which is an online library where they could provide financial literacy e-books. Beyond that, we are working on competitions we call research challenges, where peers from around the world could share their insights. So our goal is to transform those contributions into dynamic, interactive ebooks designed with images and colors, so that young people who are just starting to explore the economic world feel engaged, interested and motivated to learn in this way. This hub will not just be a place to read, but a platform for conversation and deeper understanding.

On the other hand, we have partnered with EcoStem, an NGO that expands STEM education, and we want to merge entrepreneurship and STEM in a prestigious university in our country. We are organizing our first face-to-face food camp, and we’re working on this very carefully, because we know that there are several logistical aspects we need to consider.

Wharton Global Youth: You said something to me over the summer that really resonated with me. You said you believe that young people don’t need to wait for perfect opportunities. They can create them. And you mentioned that earlier in our discussion today, too. Tell me more about what you mean. Sounds like you have discovered that you need to make things happen and take action.

Chelsea: For me, as you said, people don’t have to wait for perfect opportunities. We can create them ourselves. I experienced this personally when I felt devastated and limited by my country and our economic situation. We couldn’t access a strong financial education, and when I tried to learn from abroad, the economic barriers limited me again. That’s why, when I say that we can create opportunities, I mean that if things don’t go as planned, we need to accept it, pick up the lesson from that experience and move forward.

For me, creating opportunities shouldn’t be just for my own benefit, but also for the benefit of others. When you impact people, you also grow and you learn from bad education and experience. So knowing that you are able to create your own opportunities makes you feel in charge and responsible for your future. If you believe that your opportunities are always limited by external factors, then you will get disappointed, you will face depression, or even think that there’s nothing you can do, when in reality, you should have the perspective that you can change things. That mindset is what makes all the difference.

Wharton Global Youth: Let’s end with our lightning round. Why don’t you answer these questions as quickly as you can.

Would you suggest Instagram or LinkedIn for networking?

Chelsea: Instagram. It lets you know the person beyond the professional side.

Wharton Global Youth: FinWise is a superhero. What is its superpower?

Chelsea: It’s a strong commitment and resilience to keep pushing forward, even when it’s not always taken seriously.

Wharton Global Youth: Do you prefer spreadsheets or storytelling?

Chelsea: Storytelling. Definitely.

Wharton Global Youth: The biggest startup mistake you have learned from?

Chelsea: Taking loyal customers for granted.

Wharton Global Youth: What is something about you that would surprise us?

Chelsea: Before becoming a changemaker, I overcame eating disorders that once led me to be hospitalized.

Wharton Global Youth:  I’m very sorry to hear that, but you look very healthy and happy now, so that’s good to see. When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Chelsea: About 20 minutes ago with this interview! I had never been featured on a podcast before, especially in my non-native language. I speak Spanish.

Wharton Global Youth: You are starting a business-themed talk show. Who is your first guest and what is your first question?

Chelsea: Howard Schultz. I would ask him, when did you first envision Starbucks becoming more than just a coffee shop? What was the boldest risk you took that others around thought would fail?

Wharton Global Youth: Chelsea Rojas, thank you for joining us on Future of the Business World.

Chelsea: Thank you.

Conversation Starters

Chelsea Rojas says, “I grew up surrounded by local shops and street stands. So, it is literally impossible not to feel the entrepreneurial spirit of my community. That was my first approach to that business environment, which continues to inspire me every day.” Do you have a similar experience immersed in entrepreneurial energy? Share your story in the comments section of this article.

What pain point in your community has inspired you to take action?

What financial challenges have you faced that might inform Chelsea’s mission? What questions did this interview inspire in you? Ask them in the comments section and she just may answer you!