Entrepreneur/CEO
StudentFunder

Time Code

Juan – Entrepreneur London

00:01

My name is Juan. I am the founder and CEO of a company called StudentFunder.

00:07

You know, in Mexico there’s a huge gap between independent education and government education and so my mother, who was divorced, had to work very hard to keep my sister and myself in private education, which was the best she could afford for us and we were very conscious of that. So we had to keep our grades at 95% or higher, to keep the scholarships that we needed to stay in school.

00:39

So I’m originally from Mexico and when I was 19 I could not afford university. So I figured out that in Germany it was almost free.

00:48

Receiving a letter of acceptance from the German university, it was quite a scary moment because for like five months I’d been planning this dream of going to Germany. I was 18 and then suddenly I get this letter, you’ve been accepted. Oh dear, not I have to make it happen. Where do I even start? And, you know, I started fund-raising, throwing concerts and doing all kinds of things.

01:13

And then, yeah I got to Germany and there was this point where I had no money. I didn’t have money to eat or pay the rent or anything.

01:22

I juggled 10 different jobs and got my degree, learned a bit of German, a bit of Polish. I just had to keep pushing and somehow and maybe things would work out. But definitely, if I didn’t push, things would certainly not work out.

01:35

And then, after a few years of work, I was accepted into an MBA programme here in the UK and the only trouble was I was still missing some of the money, even though I had a few scholarships and I was thinking, oh not again. But this time I asked the university whether they would lend me money. I needed £10,000 and they offered to give me 5000 as a scholarship and I said, well, that’s great but I need 10, so I’d rather borrow 10 than take 5 for free. In the end it was so complicated for the university to give me a loan that they just  gave me the whole 10 as a scholarship, which was great for me. So that stayed in the back of my mind and I was always very grateful because even though it had been hard for me, I was able to reach opportunities that many other people didn’t have.

02:26

I guess the last turning point happened while I was at my corporate job. I was being paid very well to do not very much. I mean there was activity but it wasn’t very meaningful and not very stretching either and I felt that I could lead a comfortable life if I just stayed put or I could try to put my assets to the best and highest use and I couldn’t think of a better use for my skills and my time and my passion than solving the problem that I always suffered from.

03:02

So I said, what if I just started a business to help other people  overcome the problems that I faced and so I one day left a cosy corporate job to set up a company called StudentFunder, that provided loans on deferred terms to people trying to pursue professional or postgraduate courses, because these courses are not covered by the government or banks.

03:27

So I guess in a way, people worry too much about  having this cause  or having this passion or having this dream and you need to have one, otherwise you’re nobody. Well, no, there’s no rush. Your dream, your cause, your passion, whatever it is, will come and find you. But the more different things you try, the quicker it will come and find you because you’ll start finding that path and pulling on that thread.

03:54

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