"I'm not a successful person yet, but I'm on the path." The young Cuban Joan Escandel (Bayamo, 2004) studied until the eleventh grade at a sports school in Jiguaní (Granma) and emigrated to the United States three years ago. In Cuba, he had primarily focused on baseball, but during the pandemic, locked away at home, his priorities changed, and he discovered that he likes the world of finance, business, and technology.
This was what led him to apply for a scholarship at the Tetr College of Business, a business school in the United States that promotes hands-on learning. In other words, learning to do business by doing it. Like him, 91,000 candidates applied, and only 80 of them received the welcome kit in a green box that has written on the outside in English "You're in!". This is a fully-funded scholarship, which includes stays in eight countries, but since he lives in Orlando (Florida), they count seven. His training includes six months in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), New Delhi (India), Singapore (Singapore), Ghana, New York, and Silicon Valley in San Francisco (USA); Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Milan (Italy), and Madrid (Spain).
In an interview granted to CiberCuba, Joan Escandel explains that his dream is to someday ring the bell at the Stock Exchange and why not, do business on the Island, but for now he is working with a friend from Brazil on software that protects banks from fraud through duplicated voices using Artificial Intelligence.
Joan Escandel recounts that the most difficult part of arriving in the United States was learning the language in three months and adapting to a new culture and his new life. Now, his stays in seven countries, starting from August 31 with six months in Dubai, push him to start over. "It's like emigrating again," he explains.
Among his qualities, Escandel highlights resilience, something he attributes to emigration, and also humility. But above all, what stands out in him is the desire to conquer the world; to give it his all at the age of doing so. It's now or never.
The recipe for achieving the success he has attained at 20 years old is to never give up, knock on doors over and over again, and if they don't open, to break them down. He has never been defeated and has tried again and again until he succeeded. And it is this story of overcoming that he wants to share with young Cubans his age. He wants to encourage them to dream big and to pursue their dreams.
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