Its author, Pilar Mellado, a specialist at the CNMV who takes part in the Financial Education volunteer programme, tries to bring financial education to young children.

Pilar Mellado has been a CNMV staff member for four years. In addition to her professional work, Pilar is keen to devote part of her time to promoting financial education. That is why she had the idea of spreading concepts through original formats for new audiences. BAPI, an imaginary elephant that stars in a children’s book for children to learn basic financial concepts, such as “piggy bank”, “bank”, “saving”, “spending” and “debt”, in a fun way.

“With this story the little ones at home will learn very useful and fundamental terms for their future while having fun,” claims Pilar, who believes that “it is important that children are immersed in stories that take them to a world of superheroes, princes and princesses, fantastic animals and objects that come to life. These stories, besides being entertaining for them, can be accompanied by what I call educational pills, and that is the goal of BAPI, to entertain by handing out financial pills”.

Pilar participates in the “Finance for All” volunteer programme. “The idea of trying to bring financial education to everyone – children, teenagers, the elderly and people with disabilities – has always seemed fantastic to me,” she tells us. “In some of the talks in this programme I have used comic strips to help the audience understand better what was being explained and remember it forever. That is how the idea for BAPI came about,” says Pilar.

BAPI can also be read in English, as more and more schools offer bilingual education.

It is recommended for children between 4 and 10 years old. “However, I don’t like to limit the age range,” adds Pilar, pointing out that she supports shared reading between parents/educators and children, “plus the fact that for children under 4 the story has very funny illustrations (apart from the fact that 2 and 3 year olds are as smart as a whip) and for children over 10, it is never too late to keep learning,” she affirms.

For more information, take a look at the Instagram profile @bapi_el_elefante