Once upon a time, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett were little boys, counting their coins and dreaming of buying toy rockets. If they can go from piggy banks to billionaire status, there’s no reason why your kids shouldn’t either. And Gugu Sidaki is here to make sure that they do.
If you can’t get your child to eat their broccoli or make their bed, encouraging them to save might seem like just another tall order. But Gugu, founder of My 3 Piggies, a financial literacy platform for kids, has shown that it can be done.
Gugu’s interest in finance has a rather surprising source: The Boiler Room. She watched the testosterone-drenched movie about stockbrokers as a teenager and was thrilled by the idea of finishing each day on the stock exchange floor on an adrenaline high, having made deals that changed people’s lives.
The reality wasn’t quite as exciting, she found. “I joined a trading desk after my studies in economics, but frankly, after two years, I was bored.” When she was offered a job in wealth management, she decided to make the change. “That wasn’t quite what I expected, either. I was only twenty-something at the time, and you feel a bit like an imposter telling people what they can expect from retirement when you’re that age.”
Happily, with experience and maturity came confidence, and Gugu’s passion for her field grew. “It’s incredible to see how people’s lives can be transformed by good advice,” she enthuses. By 2018, she had decided she wanted to make even more of an impact by narrowing her focus, and so she established Wealth Creed, a wealth management service targeting women.
This planted the seed for My 3 Piggies. “My clients often told me about the people who were affected by their financial decisions – including, of course, their kids. And, time after time, I received the same request: Now that I’d taught them how to manage money, could I do the same for their children?”
At the time, schools weren’t paying any attention to financial literacy, nor were there many books or resources available. Gugu decided to remedy that by writing the first of the five books in the My 3 Piggies range, which focuses on the three primary actions Gugu has identified as central to smart money management: Saving, Planning (spending on current needs or budgeting for tomorrow), and Sharing, which encourages a spirit of philanthropy. Gugu has also penned a book encapsulating these actions, rooted in Christian values, along with a money diary, so that kids can practically apply everything they learn.
The books are available on My 3 Piggies’ website, along with a piggy bank especially designed to encourage saving, planning and giving. “It’s all about helping kids adopt a future focus so that they can one day become serious investors and grow their own wealth – in other words, equipping them with the skills many of us wish we’d had when we were younger,” Gugu says.
She has even created a vehicle for children to make money through Coin Your Talent, a kids-only market featuring homemade wares. The event has grown from 25 stores last year to 50 stalls in 2025, with goodies for sale ranging from beaded jewellery to lip balm – and, to live My 3 Piggies’ philanthropic ethos, the platform’s giving partners – the Cotton On Foundation and The Bookery, which establishes libraries in previously disadvantaged and under-resourced areas – are also taking part.
The platform has been eagerly embraced by parents and kids alike – and Gugu is not surprised. “We have terribly low levels of financial literacy – not just in South Africa, but the world over. What’s more, studies show that there is a direct link between financial literacy and the ability to manage money effectively.”
She’s determined to help raise a generation of girls and boys who don’t feel afraid when they hear the word ‘finance’, because she’s seen how people’s lives can be ruined when they avoid the issue – until it’s too late. There’s an entire generation of women who were never taught about financial management, or who abrogated responsibility for their money to their husbands, she points out – and we have the power to end this struggle, right now.
Details: my3piggies.com; @my3piggies_za
Money matters
Want your children to become smart investors – or simply to develop a saving habit? Here are Gugu’s tips:
• When it comes to money, you set the standard. Your children will mimic what you do, so model the behaviour you want to see.
• Teach delayed gratification: it’s one of the most important money skills.
• Have real conversations about money: talk about why you’re not going to buy them everything they want (even if you can afford it), explain that earning money takes hard work, and remind them that while saving money is important, planning how and when to spend it is also critical.
• Most of all: teach them that you shouldn’t spend every cent you make. That lays the foundation for them to become investors.
Pencil this in … Coin Your Talent My Three Piggies Market Day will have over 50 kids-owned stalls for you to browse. There will be free pre-financial literacy session, a book reading corner, music entertainment and more. 10am to 2pm at Norscot Manor, Douglasdale on September 20.
Article by Lisa Witepski. Images by Megan Brett.
