Local entrepreneur launches business focused on financial literacy for girls
April 28, 2023
A Sioux Falls entrepreneur with a background in startup growth has launched a venture aimed at teaching girls money management.
Sara Kurtenbach founded moveHER Money after being inspired to create something to support financial literacy in young women.
“I have really big goals for what I’d like to achieve with moveHER Money,” she said. “At a starting point, moveHER Money will help girls to budget, save and stay away from debt. Those three little things alone can change a girl’s financial future.”
Kurtenbach has seen what it takes for a new venture to do big things. She began her career as the second employee at BLiNQ Media, a Facebook tech company with locations in Atlanta and New York City. She was promoted to vice president at age 27 before the company was acquired for nearly $100 million. She then started a consulting company called the KB group that focused on social media ads, influencers and tech startups.
“Last year was when everything changed for me from a career standpoint,” she said. “After consulting for about seven years, I had a major client unexpectedly shut down their business, which left a gap in my schedule. For the first time in my consulting career, I didn’t try to fill that gap immediately with new clients. I truly felt that God was leading me down a different path.”
She found inspiration when she learned about the federal government’s move toward student loan forgiveness.
“I could not wrap my head around why the government would potentially spend hundreds of billions of dollars to forgive student loans,” Kurtenbach said. “If student loan debt is a crisis, teaching people about money so they don’t get into that mess to begin with is crucial. It lit a fire in me to be that person to teach girls about money and how to stay away from debt.”
Her initial moveHER Money courses are online, with one for high school girls and one for college women. Each will have five modules covering topics such as how to be an asset with your money, how credit card companies target girls, how to buy a car in cash and how to create a monthly budget. They’re designed to be completed on a phone or laptop at an individual’s own pace and include quizzes to measure progress.
“My bigger dreams with moveHER Money are to help save future marriages as finances are the No. 1 reason for divorce,” Kurtenbach said. “I also believe that girls who learn about money at a younger age can change generational wealth in their family. I truly believe that girls taking moveHER Money could cause a massive shift for their future and future generations.”
She initially is focused on encouraging family members to buy the courses for girls.
“Money is often very difficult and awkward to talk about at home. A large majority of parents hope their girls can learn money from someone else,” she said. “Having their daughter learn how to be wise and responsible with her money is crucial to her overall well-being. Often, the best people to learn from can be individuals who are a couple of steps ahead of you in life. I am that to girls. I vividly remember trying to understand money in high school and college, and am so excited to teach and mentor girls about finances.”
She took online classes to explore the market and surveyed girls and parents to learn what they would like to understand about money and how they would like to learn it.
“I took those findings and started developing an outline that turned into over 300 unique lessons, five modules, 80 videos and 12 quizzes,” Kurtenbach said. “All of the examples, stories and illustrations are geared towards high school and college girls to make the content adaptable to their season in life.”
For now, she’s the sole employee, but she has hired contractors to help develop the course content.
“I would love for parents to consider moveHER Money as an end-of-year or graduation gift for their girls,” she said. “An Apple watch, Stanley tumbler or new comforter won’t change your daughter’s life. But gifting your daughter with the ability to learn and understand money will significantly change her life.”
