by Uday Patel

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” This quote by Benjamin Franklin has been ingrained in me, and has been embedded in my mind since a very young age. This inspirational quote has always motivated me to address every obstacle that I’ve encountered. These words have taught me how important every aspect of my life is, even if it’s the smallest thought that enters my mind.

Being raised in a country with one of the highest poverty rates in the world, this quote opened my eyes to a new way of perceiving the world. These simple, yet powerful words instilled a passion within me from a very young age, to volunteer and dedicate my time to the community to perhaps have the opportunity to see a smile on someone’s face.

Last year, I had the chance to reflect on the purpose of my life, and what would make me truly happy. I resolved that my life’s purpose was to help other people, and to help improve the environment in the most positive and innovative ways possible.” It was this purpose that brought me to FinMango.

While exploring FinMango’s web page, I ran across Anthony Schilt’s instagram page, and I was intrigued by the mission of FinMango. I saw this as a great opportunity to serve my community through data, advocacy, and technology. After speaking with Scott Glasgow, the CEO of FinMango, internally known as Mango Scott, I immediately got involved in FinMango as a Marketing and Technology intern .

My first responsibility was to work with Kishan Patel to utilize a $120,000 grant for our Google Adword campaign. I appreciated how I had the opportunity to showcase my skills, and the way Scott trusted me with every step of the way. After settling in with this project, I was given the opportunity to be co-coordinator with Kishan Patel and Anthony Schilt for the technology segment of the Extravaganza. Extravaganza was a 24-hour zoom call with 50+ keynote speakers. This event was filled with impressive and successful people who shared their stories about financial literacy.

I also had the privilege of being a moderator for one of the panels titled “The Impacts of Financial Literacy on Young Professionals.” Being involved in the Extravaganza increased my knowledge about financial literacy, in addition to improving my communication and leadership skills. Several hundreds of people participated in watching these panels, challenging me to step out of my comfort zone, and invest all of my energy into making this program a success. I felt really good after being a panel moderator; this achievement reinforced in me the importance of educating a person about financial literacy. I also recognized the fact that I possibly made someone smile! I felt confident I was  impacting other people’s lives while simultaneously educating myself.

After a couple of weeks, we started to work on FinMango’s Data project. I didn’t know where this project would lead – it has turned out to be one of the most amazing projects that I’ve worked on as a member of FinMango. I am in awe of the depth of information and experience I have gained from this project, and the impact it is having on people. In the collaborative project with Google, I am the lead mango for covid data collection for South Africa with two fellow mangos, James Glasgow and Dr. Glasgow. After investing hard work at the inception of the project, including reaching out to hospitals, health departments, managers, different resources, and collecting data, we had the most reliable Covid-19 data in the world.This was an unforgettable feeling. I am grateful to Oscar Wahltinez for providing this tremendous and unique opportunity to us. The Covid-19 Data Project was the idea of Oscar Wahltinez, a Developer Programs Engineer at Google, who provided insight and guidance for our team throughout each step of the process. This project led to another avenue of data collection – researching Covid-19 outbreaks data in K-12 schools across the United States. I was designated as the lead on this project for all K-12 schools on the east coast of the United States. I am proud to see our team gaining recognition for our work of collecting and sharing pertinent data with the world – we have been published on CNN, The New York Times, and The Daily Beast, with (hopefully) plenty more to come.

After several weeks on the Google Data Project, the United Nations informed us that they wanted to use the data we collected. They also wanted to learn about the framework of the project in its entirety. Scott asked me if I was willing to present our project with Kishan Patel and OJ Singh in front of the UN. When I heard the news, I freaked out! I had to prepare extraneously for this presentation, which meant going out of my comfort zone, again. Nevertheless, the presentation went well, and now I can say that the biggest accomplishment in my life (so far) has been presenting in front of the UN!

So far, FinMango has been an epic journey for me; I can't wait to see what our team of mangoes will do next! I love every single one of them and look forward to continuing growing with them. FinMango helped me develop my personal drive and motivation. It helped me become someone who will never stop trying to become what they aspire to be. Our team of mangoes truly feels like my second family; an environment where everyone is encouraged to be their authentic self.

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