Bodega budget

Syclus partnered with Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) to create BodegaBudget™, a web-based game with the transformational goal of empowering Black youth from low-to-moderate-income (LMI) communities to learn how to own and manage their financial futures.

BodegaBudget™ is an allegory revolving around New York City's (NYC's) famous bodegas, inclusive of playful interactions that engage Black youth to invest in themselves by further exploring the basics of budgeting, credit, debt, investing, and business, while boosting their confidence (aka: trust) in financial institutions that have not traditionally served their community well.

Gaming Strategy

Gaming is a huge business and plays a critical role within the Syclus model. Games are educational, fun, and have the power to reach billions of people across the planet. The games industry has undergone a major shift in its business and revenue models in recent years. As a result of putting players at the center of its approach, gaming is currently the largest form of entertainment globally – larger than film and music combined – with nearly $180 billion in annual revenue ($65.5B coming from the two-thirds of Americans, 227 million, who play video games), and projected to surpass the $200B threshold in 2023, and hit $217B in 2024.

Since gaming is projected to be the center of influence in the 21st century, and since Gen Z is the most diverse generation in history - with half of the group identifying as BIPOC - there is a huge opportunity to connect with the cultural influencers and stay in the conversation.

That said, Syclus embraces game-based learning as a powerful new strategy to make learning about money easy, fun, and above all, effective. We trust that by innovating in the gaming space affords us the opportunity to create customer-centric experiences that foster an emotional connection and thus, builds community.