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Born in Apuí, in the interior of Amazonas, and raised in Manaus, Malu Lira began writing about money at the age of 11. Today, at 15, she leads the Malu Finanças Group, has authored 20 financial education books for children, and according to Exame, earned R$ 2.6 million in 2024.
While most teenagers are still receiving allowance, Malu Lira became a boss. At 15, the young entrepreneur from Amazonas has already published 20 children’s books about money, set up a group with three companies, and turned financial education for children into a business that, according to Exame, earned R$ 2.6 million in 2024. It all started in a small town of just over 21,000 inhabitants in the middle of Amazonas.
The most beautiful part of the story is not just the numbers, although they are impressive. It’s in the journey. A girl who left Apuí, nestled in the Amazon rainforest, and who could simply ride her own success, decided to return to the interior to bring financial education to those who never had access to it. The Malu Finanças Group was born from a child’s discomfort and turned into a project that today targets the most isolated communities in the country.
From Apuí to Manaus: where it all began
Malu was born in Apuí, a municipality of just over 21,000 inhabitants in the south of Amazonas, surrounded by the Amazon rainforest. In 2018, when she was 9 years old, the family moved from the small town to Manaus in search of more opportunities. Her father is a teacher and her mother is a public agent, and it was in this home environment that the girl’s curiosity found room to grow. Diagnosed with high abilities, she early on began asking questions that many adults avoid.
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The main one was about money. Malu didn’t understand why talking about finances always seemed to be a forbidden topic for children, something distant and complicated. By turning this logic on its head, she found her path. “I understood that money is not a villain, but an ally to open doors,” summarizes the young entrepreneur, about the turning point that started it all.
The problem was that her enthusiasm wasn’t immediately contagious. “I decided to share what I learned with my schoolmates, but most found it boring,” Malu recalls. Instead of giving up, she turned the challenge into a method. If the subject was seen as boring, then it needed to be told in a different way, with stories, with fantasy, with children’s language. There was born the seed of financial education that would become a book.
The first book at 11 years old
The turning point came early. At 11 years old, Malu published “Finances for Children: Beyond the Allowance,” the work that opened all the subsequent doors. The book sold 50,000 copies, a number that would make many experienced adult authors envious, and proved that there was an audience eager for financial education explained in a light manner. It wasn’t a dry manual, it was a story for children to enjoy.
The success of the first title turned into a collection. Other children’s books followed, including the “Millionaire Tales” series, where Malu uses narratives to show, in practice, how small decisions with money can change a life. In total, there are already 20 books published, with over 400,000 copies sold, according to data from the author herself, published by the Exame portal. Each one tries to do what traditional schools rarely do: teach how to handle money before adulthood.
The strength of Malu’s children’s books lies in the bridge they build. On one side, the play and imagination that capture children’s attention. On the other, concepts that usually appear too late in people’s lives, like saving, planning, and investing. It was this combination that took the work off the shelves and into the classrooms.
A group with three companies
What was once a book turned into a real business structure. Today, Malu leads the Grupo Malu Finanças, consisting of three companies with distinct functions. Malu Finanças Educação Financeira handles lectures, partnerships, and social projects. Editora Fada Madrinha publishes the works and applies the methodology in schools. And Editora Pena is dedicated to books aimed at public tenders.
The operation is no joke. According to Exame, the Grupo Malu Finanças has 15 permanent employees, as well as legal, accounting, and editorial partners, and even maintains an office in São Paulo to accelerate expansion. For a teenager, managing a company of this size would be unthinkable without a support network, and she has hers: the business is run with the direct support of her parents, who help the young entrepreneur balance school, books, and management.
The methodology has already gained national scale. According to the company, the method reached more than 200 schools and impacted about 50,000 students, with over 900 teachers trained in the first half of 2025 alone. The financial education that started as a school conversation has become a product circulating throughout the entire country.
The business numbers, with feet on the ground
Here, an honest caution with the figures is necessary. The values that give breath to the story are provided by the company itself and the family, and that’s how they should be read. According to Exame, the Grupo Malu Finanças earned R$ 2.6 million in 2024. The R$ 11 million mark, repeated in various reports, is a declared projection for 2025, meaning a goal, not a confirmed result.
With this caveat, the size of the enterprise remains remarkable. Twenty children’s books published, hundreds of thousands of copies sold, and an operation with the structure of a mature company, all built by someone who hasn’t even finished high school yet. Even treating the numbers with the caution they require, the achievement of turning children’s financial education into a profitable group is rare at any age.
What sustains this growth is real demand. Parents and schools seek material that teaches children to handle money, a topic that formal education still addresses timidly. Malu filled this gap. The young entrepreneur was right in realizing early on that financial education has ceased to be a luxury and has become a basic necessity of education.
Financial education for those who never had access
The aspect that most differentiates the project is the social one. Malu doesn’t want to talk about money only to those who already have it. The project “Tell Me a Story,” carried out in NGOs and non-profit institutions, uses playfulness to bring financial education closer to children in vulnerable situations, and in 2024 alone, it reached more than 450 of them. The idea is simple: no one is too young to learn to dream of a better future.
The initiative extends to adult women. In partnership with Sebrae, Malu created “Cinderella Entrepreneur,” which trains women in vulnerable situations to run their own businesses. The first class, in July 2025, graduated 22 participants, and the declared goal is to reach 15,000 people by April 2026. It’s financial education coming off the paper and becoming a tool for life change.
For Malu, this purpose is the driving force behind everything. “Everything starts with the courage to take the first step, the hardest one, but the one that sets the journey in motion,” says the author, about what she tries to convey to every child and every woman who crosses the path of her children’s books and workshops.
Back to the Amazon rainforest
The journey that began in Apuí came full circle beautifully in 2025, when Malu brought the project back home. Between July 21 and 25 of that year, she toured the interior of Amazonas on the so-called Rich Amazon Tour, passing through Manaus, Iranduba, Tabatinga, Benjamin Constant, and Santo Antônio do Içá. There were lectures, chats, and practical workshops with students from the Amazon rainforest, according to A Crítica.
The highlight was the meeting with young people from the Ticuna ethnicity in Benjamin Constant, in the far west of the state. Bringing financial education to indigenous and riverside communities, places where this type of content almost never reaches, is what gives the story a weight greater than any revenue. “When I talk about financial education, I’m not just talking about numbers. I’m talking about self-confidence, about dreams for the future,” Malu stated during the tour.
Her words summarize the mission. “It’s a meeting between the future and the forest, between what is learned and what is lived,” said the young entrepreneur, about the significance of returning to the Amazon rainforest that saw her birth. What left Apuí as a child’s doubt returned as a project capable of planting a seed in every small town it passes through.
A story that fits in your comment
Malu Lira shows that age is no excuse and origin is no limit. From a small town in the heart of Amazonas, she built the Malu Finance Group, spread children’s books across the country, and proved that financial education can indeed be a topic for children. All with the mindset of including those whom the market usually forgets.
And you, do you think financial education should be a mandatory subject in schools from an early age, as this young entrepreneur advocates? Share in the comments if you learned to manage money in childhood or only discovered it as an adult.
