Building a Board Game to Teach Fundraising: Margaret Nanyombi on Money Movers and Learning by Doing

Recorded live during Idea Week, this quick-hit conversation on Rooted & Reaching features Margaret Nanyombi, Founder of Money Movers, a board game built to teach entrepreneurs the real mechanics of fundraising. Originally from Uganda, Margaret moved to the U.S. in 2024 to pursue a Master of Science in Engineering, Science and Excellence through the STEAM program, graduating in 2025. With over five years of entrepreneurship experience spanning ecosystems in Uganda, the U.S., and Chile, she brings a rare, cross-continental view of what it actually takes to fund and grow a startup.Margaret walks through how a familiar problem sparked the idea: most startups fail because they run out of money, and financial jargon keeps too many founders in the dark. Working alongside colleagues at her current role with EnFocus, she set out to turn a dense funding curriculum into something practical and playable. The result is Money Movers, a group game that moves players from the pre-seed stage through seed and Series A, letting them weigh investment offers, trade equity for capital, and make strategic decisions in a risk-free environment.The conversation covers where the idea came from, who the game serves best, and why gamifying financial education works when a classroom often falls flat. Margaret also shares hard-won advice for anyone hesitating to launch, along with what South Bend's willingness to share has meant to her own journey. It is a warm, energizing look at building something useful and doing it fast.Key Takeaways:● There's never a right time to start. Margaret and her team built an MVP in under a year by choosing to begin rather than wait for perfect conditions.● Most startups fail because they run out of money. Money Movers exists to close the funding-literacy gap that trips up so many founders.● Learning by doing beats memorizing jargon. Playing through the pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages makes abstract terminology concrete.● Strategy is the heart of the game. Players decide how much control to give up for how much capital, mirroring real equity and valuation trade-offs.● The game serves more than solo founders. Entrepreneur support organizations, classrooms, and investors all benefit from playing in a group setting.● Fail fast and pivot. Margaret's approach is to learn quickly, fail quickly, and adjust rather than stall out of fear.● Community accelerates growth. In South Bend, people are willing to share and advise, which helped Margaret improve as she built.Resources Mentioned:● Proof of Concept Fund, a micro-grant fund from Startup South Bend Elkhart: https://www.startupsouthbendelkhart.com● EnFocus: https://www.en-focus.org/● Idea Week: https://ideaweek.com/● World Health Summit: https://www.worldhealthsummit.org/Connect:● Rooted & Reaching Podcast: https://www.southbendelkhart.org● Host: Marty Mechtenberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-mechtenberg-515a648/● Guest: Margaret Nanyombi, Founder of Money Movers, https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-nanyombi/#RootedAndReaching #SouthBend #CreativeEntrepreneur #CommunityBuilding #Elkhart #Entrepreneurship #IdeaWeek #Startups #Fundraising #MoneyMovers #EdTech #BoardGames #SupportLocalEntrepreneurs