Richard Ells, The Uk Serial Entrepreneur Who Never Gives Up

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Richard Ells is simply a salient entrepreneur from Maidstone, Kent, who decided to task into crypto pinch nan extremity to extremity financial removal successful processing countries | Credit: Electroneum

Exclusive Interview: Richard Ells recalls having a awesome upbringing, but astatine nan aforesaid time, he remembers facing challenges, specified arsenic teachers telling him he would do poorly successful school, wherever he was arguably nan only “geeky” kid. In an question and reply galore years agone pinch nan Euro Weekly News journalist penning this story, he said of “a awesome upbringing, but astatine nan aforesaid time, I retrieve facing challenges, specified arsenic teachers telling maine I would do poorly successful school, wherever I was arguably nan only’ geeky ‘kid.”

By his early teens, he had nary thought what he would do arsenic a grown-up, and moreover little that he would 1 time beryllium nan CEO and laminitis of Electroneum, a cryptocurrency task he launched to thief group successful processing countries entree nan world integer system and person a amended opportunity for financial inclusion to extremity nan rhythm of poorness that has galore of them trapped.

“I don’t deliberation I was a bully student, and that is evidently really my teachers saw maine because they predicted I would get terrible, unspeakable grades,” Richard remembered. 

He thought for a while earlier narrating his clip successful schoolhouse astatine a very young age. “I didn’t perceive very overmuch and seemed distracted each nan time.” And then, smiling, he added: “I whitethorn person had immoderate attraction shortage disorder, though those were times erstwhile cipher sewage diagnosed pinch these things. Instead, we sewage whacked upside nan head. I sewage deed frequently.” He, however, proved his teachers incorrect by getting bully grades.

Richard besides looked backmost successful clip to remember, “I was nan only geeky kid successful a schoolhouse based astir metalwork, and not truthful overmuch astir maths and science.”

However, they did person a machine room, he recalled. “They beautiful overmuch gave it to me. I utilized to commencement coding and learning everything I could astir them and really they could thief make our lives easier and our activity much efficient.”

Keenness for electronics and computers

His parents were very supportive and were a fountain of inspiration for him. His mother worked for nan Ministry of Agriculture astatine a investigation plant, and his begetter was a self-employed electrical engineer. 

“I sewage my avidness for investigation and accusation from my mother. My begetter had a shop astatine location wherever he repaired galore things, and truthful I sewage my passion for exertion from him,” he said.

“And because we didn’t person overmuch money, each nan machine parts and gadgets I bought were used. Many of them needed repairing, which, pinch nan thief of my father, I learned really to do myself.”

Richard said he often looks backmost astatine his puerility and remembers being drawn into coding and programming astatine a very early age. “There were nary graphics erstwhile I was increasing up. That’s really aged I am. But I wrote a basal algorithm. I created a dot successful nan mediate of nan TV surface and animated it truthful that it moved astir successful a circle.”

Growing up, Richard had galore interests, including science, “but honestly, successful my early teens, I genuinely had nary thought what I wanted to do aliases what my spot successful this world would be.”

A knack for business, a life-defining moment

The business tone successful Richard emerged astatine a very early property erstwhile he did chores, delivered newspapers, and sold magazines and different items to schoolmates for rate to bargain machine parts and tech gadgets, immoderate of which he refurbished and resold for a profit.

He claimed that his existent entrepreneurial tone really took disconnected erstwhile he sewage his driver’s licence astatine 17 and could abruptly recreation distances to present his products and services, thing that was not imaginable connected nationalist transportation. And a truly defining infinitesimal was erstwhile he created ‘Data Dump,’ which tin beryllium considered nan starting constituent of his way to occurrence successful his 3 starring tech ventures.

“Before nan Internet, arsenic we cognize it today, location were integer places wherever group exchanged information. I created excavation called Data Dump. It was a graphical bulletin that I managed to get hundreds of assemblage professors to usage for messages and accusation they wanted to stock pinch their colleagues worldwide.”

A way to success

In 1996, Richard Ells teamed up pinch Adrian Reeves and founded Sitewizard pinch their ain money. The thought was an all-in-one website creation strategy that would later go 1 of nan earliest contented guidance systems (CMS) connected nan market.

By 2011, nan business had much than 3,000 clients and had go 1 of nan UK’s astir recommended website creation firms, according to news outlet Kent Online. SiteWizard received nan National Business Awards Bright Business prize for package successful 2004.

“By recruiting and training a creation squad to incorporated their Photoshop bespoke designs into nan SiteWizard CMS system, a monolithic time-saving was achieved complete accepted design, allowing SiteWizard to create beautiful, bespoke websites astatine a fraction of nan normal price,” nan Kentish news outlet wrote.

Richard explained that nan logic for SiteWizard’s occurrence was nan simplicity of nan model. “While everybody was trying to make money trading websites, we were trading them astatine costs and making our money successful monthly hosting fees.”

SiteWizard was arguably Richard’s astir singular occurrence astatine that time. And in 2013, nan occurrence would proceed to grow. He founded Retortal, a institution specialising successful integer trading devices for nan nonstop trading industry. It is simply a societal media guidance dashboard presently utilized by thousands of awesome marque names, including Mary Kay, FOREVER, and Herbalife Nutrition.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain

“In 2016, I began reasoning that my squad and I could do thing pinch crypto, which astatine nan clip I felt was truthful difficult to use. My ideas for crypto were tied to mobile phones. Because I already had a very talented squad of coders and programmers, I pushed up pinch plans for a mobile cryptocurrency, which we now cognize arsenic Electroneum.”

He, however, recognised that it was not until aft nan successful US$40 cardinal ICO that he began to spot it arsenic a measurement to thief nan unbanked and arsenic a instrumentality to assistance world financial inclusion. He besides collaborated pinch galore NGOs, including UBUNTU Pathways and others, which he ensured, done thorough owed diligence, were making a affirmative effect successful African countries, delivering semipermanent and life-changing assistance to thousands of families.

Through nan Electroneum ICO of September 2017, which remains nan largest connected record, pinch complete 115,000 participants, Richard realised that location was a monolithic liking successful Electroneum from group successful processing countries.

Electroneum has astir 1 cardinal progressive wallet addresses. Ells besides launched AnyTask, a freelance level akin to Fiverr, which ETN powers. Today, hundreds of thousands of group person utilized it. The UK-based crypto institution received nan Sustainability and Social Impact award, granted by City AM, during nan first version of their Crypto Awards successful March 2020.

Today, Richard has rebranded Electroneum. He’s added smart contracts and EVM compatibility. He’s launched an Africa blockchain acquisition inaugural to turn Electroneum’s ecosystem pinch decentralised applications aimed astatine improving people’s lives. Richard, who ne'er gives up erstwhile he takes connected a project, erstwhile told maine that he felt that, “for nan first clip successful my life, I genuinely judge I tin thief amended nan lives of many.”

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