For many, the word ‘financial literacy’ brings to mind spreadsheets, hard words, and the kind of dry, daunting lessons that are easy to ignore. For Elijah Djan and Danei Rall, the co-founders of Fintr, it was the starting point of a mission, one that has led them from a scrappy board game in a pizza box to a nationwide retail launch and international praise.
Elijah and Danei highlight a new kind of impact-driven founder: one who understands that to solve a big problem, you sometimes have to make it fun.
A shared spark in a university lecture
Every great venture has a starting moment, and for Fintr, it began in an unexpected place, a university lecture hall at the University of Pretoria. A professor shared her personal financial lessons, and in that moment of honesty, a shared passion was sparked between two students.
Danei Rall’s motivation came from a deeply personal place. “My mom had a tough life. She had to start over completely twice,” she shares. Watching her mother face financial hardship, Danei made a promise to herself. “I promised myself that I will understand money for myself, figure out how to plan for the future, and how to be independent from others.”
Elijah Djan felt a similar pull. He had spent his childhood building things to solve problems he saw around him. This time, the problem was bigger. In 2020, as the pandemic changed the world, they entered a competition focused on problems made worse by COVID-19. Their idea, then called ‘Findamentals’, was built on a simple but staggering fact; two-thirds of the world’s population does not understand money well. They won, and Fintr was born.
From pizza boxes to the world stage
The path from a winning idea to a real product was not a straight line. Fintr’s main product, the board game FinMaster, has a delightfully accidental origin story.
“We created it in just three days for a mentor’s daughter’s school market day,” Elijah recalls with a laugh. “We made ten copies, packaged in pizza boxes, and sold four.” At first, they thought nothing of it. But over the following months, interest in the game kept growing, while interest in their first digital-only idea faded.
That first rough version went through 18 months of work and testing, with 27 versions, according to Danei, before the Limited Edition launched in December 2024. It sold out on the very first day.
Since then, FinMaster has grown into something much bigger. It is now available on Takealot and in major shops, and in October 2025, it placed 2nd at the 13th International Educational Games Competition, in Norway. Later that same month, Fintr showed off its game at Spiel Essen, the world’s largest board game fair, alongside industry giants in front of 210,000 visitors.
“The international recognition has been a major milestone,” Elijah says, showing that their work matters far beyond South Africa.
A range of tools for learning about money
FinMaster is a fun, engaging way for families to learn together. For the classroom, there is Fintr4Schools, a digital game-based platform that fits with the CAPS curriculum for Grade 7 Economic and Management Sciences (EMS). Danei explains why they shifted focus to children: “The more we worked with adults, the more people kept saying that they wished they learned about money earlier on in life. We actually develop our money mindsets during childhood.” Fintr4Schools has been a success, earning an impressive 93% for teaching quality from Finland’s Education Alliance.
The company has also launched the Mini Millionaires newsletter, reaching nearly 2,000 South African parents each week with helpful money tips, and Jargon Busters, a card game for EMS words created in partnership with the Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge. This mix of products is building a movement around money skills that reaches the home, the classroom, and the dinner table.
For Elijah, whose childhood building Nubrix (bricks made from old paper), won him awards from MIT and the Kwame Nkrumah African Genius Award, taught him a key lesson. “My TEDx talk was titled ‘Innovators should think like entrepreneurs,’” he says. “Having a great idea is not enough. You have to think about how to bring it to market from day one.”
He adds, “Start with a real problem, not a product. Danei and I did not set out to make a board game. We set out to solve the financial illiteracy problem. The board game came about because we listened to what people actually wanted.”
Danei’s advice is rooted in the reality of building a mission-driven business with long sales cycles. “Keep it lean! Stay in the job that pays you while building your business on the side until you can actually afford to pay yourself from what you earn,” she advises new entrepreneurs. “This makes sure you use your time well and gives your business room to grow so you are never forced to stop because of cash.”
Fintr’s next chapter
The next chapter for Fintr is a major moment. The company will be launching at Exclusive Books nationwide on 10 April 2026. This partnership puts the game in front of a wide, eager audience across the country. With this retail milestone, and an upcoming fundraise for their next phase of growth, Fintr is ready for an exciting year ahead.
From a chance meeting in a lecture hall to the shelves of the country’s biggest bookstore chain, Elijah Djan and Danei Rall are showing that with a real problem to solve, a willingness to listen, and a whole lot of hard work, you can build a business that not only succeeds but makes a lasting difference.
