The founders of a 9-figure decentralized finance business plan to use their success to help children in the villages they originally came from.
Best friends Salim Elhila and Tan Gera both come from humble beginnings but have achieved a lot in their lives, starting Decentralized Masters together and building it into a global company employing 85 people across 27 countries. But they are both keen to do what they can to help children living in remote villages in India and Morocco to thrive.
The pair have already assembled a task force to build schools in the countries their families originally came from. And their vision is to teach children living in rural areas how to code so they can prepare themselves for careers in the tech industry.
Salim, aged 31, who grew up in Paris with his North African family, said: “We hope to help the children in many remote villages learn to code, a skill that we know will help them to thrive, taking their ideas and creativity out into the world. We’re excited that we now have a team in place to begin the plans for building schools in Morocco and India where our families are from.”
Although the plans are still at an early stage, both Salim and Tan are committed to giving back to the communities their families originate from, starting with a project in India.
Tan, aged 29, also grew up in Paris but as the child of Indian immigrants, life wasn’t always easy. And his own experiences have made him passionate about empowering and educating the next generation so they can make a success of their lives like he did.
He said: “I was born in the suburbs of Paris and my parents were Indian immigrants there. Life at home was not always easy and I was the only kid who looked like me in my neighborhood.”
Despite being expelled from two schools, Tan went on to become one of the youngest people ever to take the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) level III certification – and ranked in the top 5% in the world. But he is all too aware life could have been very different for him if he had grown up in rural India.
Tan said: “In remote villages in Punjab, for example, where my family is from, there are thousands of suicides a year, by farmers who simply cannot afford to live if their crops don’t grow. They have no access to loans or financial help. No institution will give them insurance.
“Decentralized finance (De-Fi) can solve this by offering crop insurance tied to rainfall metrics. We already have customers offering this insurance. We want to help change the way everyone accesses finance for the better but that can’t happen overnight.
“This is why we are also doing what we can to give back directly with plans to build schools in India and Morocco and help children in remote corners to learn coding.”
