How Ella the Banker Introduces Financial Literacy to the Next Generation
Banking rarely enters a child’s world gently. More often, it appears as a movie heist backdrop, a late-night TV commercial, or an anxious conversation overheard at the kitchen table.
That’s precisely why Ella the Banker feels so disarming.
Overseen by Shamim Okolloh, Vice President and Community Outreach Officer at Encore Bank in Little Rock, Arkansas, and co-authored by her children, Liam and Ella Sprinkle, the book series introduces banking the way children learn best: through curiosity, familiarity, and trust. It doesn’t lecture, oversimplify, or assume kids are disinterested — an approach that mirrors how banks think about building trust with the next generation.
“They take this seriously,” Okolloh says of her young co-authors. “This wasn’t a cute project to them. It mattered.”
Where the Idea Began: A Third Grader’s First Spark
For Liam and Ella, the origin story begins not with banking, but with reading.
“Back when I was eight or nine, in third grade, we had to read Harry Potter as a class,” Liam says. “I really enjoyed the story, and that made me want to write my own.”
What captured the pair of fledgling authors was not just the adventure, but the authority.
“I didn’t like the way some things went in the books I was reading,” Liam recalls. “I thought it would be cool to be in charge of it, to have everything be the way I wanted.”
That instinct — imagining, shaping, and owning the narrative — would later become one of the quiet throughlines of Ella the Banker. But at the time, it was simply two children discovering that stories could be built, not just consumed.
When Liam reached fourth grade, Okolloh mentioned her children’s creative interests to a publisher. The response was encouraging.
Around the same time, Ella began saying something that stopped her mother in her tracks. “She said she wanted to be a banker,” Okolloh said. “And that’s not something you hear kids say.”
Turning a Bank Visit Into a Child’s Adventure
The first Ella the Banker book centers on an elementary school field trip to a bank, a deliberate and deeply personal choice.
“Field trips are really big for kids at that age,” Okolloh says. “They’re exciting. They feel important.”
Liam explains that the story’s concept remained steady from start to finish.
“The goal was for Ella to go to the bank on a field trip,” he says. “She meets different parts of the bank and learns about what people do there.”
Rather than overwhelm young readers, the book introduces banking as a place filled with people, roles, and purpose. The name of the banker Ella meets is Nuru, the Swahili word for “light.” The setting for that interaction, the fictional Pesa Bank, borrows its name from the Swahili word for “money.”
“We spent a lot of time on names,” Okolloh says. “They matter.”
Those choices were influenced by family travel to Kenya and Qatar, experiences that give the book its rich cultural texture.
“We couldn’t explain everything,” Okolloh adds, “but we could infuse our life into it.”
Making It Together and Making It Real
The project became a true family collaboration.
“I did most of the writing,” Liam says. “And my mom helped with things I didn’t know.”
Ella focused on character design and visual direction, while Ghana-based artist Nils Britwum created the illustrations. Each image underwent family review.
“He would send them to us, and we’d all have to agree on them,” Liam explains.
For Okolloh, the process echoed a core professional value — investing early in curiosity, confidence, and the kind of thinking that eventually shapes the future banking workforce.
“Trust matters,” she says. “Whether you’re talking about families or banking, it’s the same.”
Childhood Impressions of a Bank
One moment clarified why this work felt urgent.
“I went into a first-grade classroom for career day,” Okolloh recalls. “I was talking about banking, and a kid asked if my bank had been robbed.”
The classroom buzzed with excitement. Unexpectedly, the youthful curiosity wasn’t directed at funds; rather, it conjectured about crime.
“They wouldn’t move off it,” she says. “We had to stop the session.”
That moment stayed with her.
“They couldn’t see any other narrative,” Okolloh admits. “And that’s a failure on our part as an industry.”
The realization was stark: kids know doctors, teachers, and YouTubers. Very few know bankers. And almost none imagine themselves becoming one.
Saving, Budgeting, and Growing Up with the Bank
The second book in the Ella the Banker series, Let Us Save, builds on the first by focusing on saving and opening accounts. It’s available in English and Spanish and draws directly from the children’s real lives.
“They both have savings accounts,” Okolloh reveals. “They deposit checks. They talk about saving, spending, and sharing.”
For her, that normalization of financial habits is the goal. “These are things I didn’t grow up with,” she admits. “But for them, it’s normal.”
A third book is now in development and will introduce budgeting through a new character: the family cat.
“That way, kids can learn about budgeting for what the cat needs,” Liam explains. “And Ella really wanted to add our pet as a character.”
A Reminder for Bankers
At its heart, Ella the Banker isn’t just a children’s book about money. It’s a reminder that curiosity is a gift — and that exposure changes outcomes.
“If you asked me three years ago if this was in my future, I would have said no,” Okolloh admits. “But Liam used to say every morning, ‘I am an author.’ He believed it before it happened.”
For an industry often focused on the next quarter or the next hire, Ella the Banker suggests something quieter and more enduring: the next generation of bankers may already be raising their hands. They just need to know the door is open.
Ella the Banker and Let Us Save are available via Amazon. Information on bulk orders and related initiatives can be found at Ellathebanker.com.
