In my plan to change the world, I wish to start my own venture that is focused on creating financial education opportunities to those in even the poorest of areas. I know in my previous post I discussed how the poorest have very little money to save or to even budget however it is providing them with the knowledge to use assets, skills, and day to day activities to help better their financial situation. I hope to start a company that assesses each community of impoverished, not the just the poor, but those at the very bottom and teach them what they can do to get out of their situation. Obviously this involves providing some sort of capital however I believe I can use the capital to help on the micro level. Rather than paying and opening a business for someone, I would like to teach them how to open the business with the money I have provided. It is not only about providing something to these in the poorer areas but it is also about changing the mindset. Often those who are impoverished believe they can only escape the slums through a miracle. However, by investing a little amount of capital into each member of the society, I can create a microeconomy and help them build towards a better future. I am passionate about this because working for a financial education company in Brazil has taught me things. Not only has it taught me about the working C-class, the middle class, but it has also taught me about what the D and E classes of Brazil don't have. I understand middle class can use the conventional style of financial education however there is a whole new world and market for the lower income class. This kind of education doesn't pertain to investing and stock markets but rather ways to save money, ways to make a daily income stream, ways to start a small but attainable business. I think Anima Mundi should support The Shah Firm because we are trying to start at the very bottom. I don't want to be a common failure of helping and then not providing the infrastucture needed to sustain for the future. I want to teach and then allow the teachings to take practice for the lives of each and every person affected.

How to make the world a better place by Ankit Shah

So how to make the world a better place...a question the academics have been pondering for ages. There is no specific answer, no specific solution, however, there are some identifiable problems that need to be resolved. To me, I believe the number one issue that needs to be solved is education. More specifically financially education. Although I know we were told to ignore money, I think educating people on how to manage their money is the key to pulling people out of poverty. Now I know the first backlash will be "how do you get people in the poorest of the poorest areas like the slums of India, or the favelas in Brazil out poverty and tell them to save their money when they spend it all on just surviving"? Well the answer to that is not just teach them how to save money but also how to make money. After consulting for Barkus Educational, a Brazilian social enterprise teaching financial education, I have learned specific ways to provide this type of knowledge. While Barkus is a for-profit company, I had to complete benchmark analysis of their competitors, many being non-profits. Teaching classes about entrepreneurship, selling or creating goods out of what you have, is key to helping establish a solid source of income. Additionally, when the market is stimulated in the slum, a community based off trading, bartering, and selling each others goods to one another, every member of the community benefits. I don't think that having online classes will help someone in the slums if they don't even have internet. I don't think having workshops about saving and investing will help somebody when they have no money to save as all is spent on food. teaching people ways to make side money to help them in the future is key. Although this is an overarching idea and cannot be applied everywhere, I think it would be more beneficial when each organization looked at each slum as a community and focused on stimulating growth differently for each area. Not every impoverished area is the same and I think that is how they should be approached.

T-4 weeks

T-4 Weeks! In only four weeks, I will no longer be a student at the University of Southern California. Technically at least. While I am excited to leave USC, I am also quite sad as I have enjoyed so much while my time in Southern California. There has been so much that USC has given to me I don’t even know where to start. Whether it was from all of the bonding with my suitemates to taking part in clubs and startups and case competitions, my year at USC has been very fruitful. I am so glad that I got to go to USC first of the three schools in the World Bachelor program.

Just thinking about leaving California, hell even America, is very daunting. The whole idea of building a support system at college is built off the assumption of staying at the college for four years. For me, that whole idea was flipped upside down because now I have to keep rebuilding that support structure at each of the universities I go to. However, the biggest thing I am thankful for is my cohort. Class of 2021 has quickly gone from strangers from all around of the world to some of my closest friends in just the span of 8 months. The funny part is that in high school I would say I met friends that I would keep for a lifetime however now thinking about it, the kids in my program are those who will stick with me for a lifetime. I get the privilege of living, studying, and traveling with 51 unique other individuals. Each one of us brings something new to the table and I cannot wait to see us prosper and develop into successful young adults