Our journey to El Dorado began while looking for opportunities to increase the positive impact we wanted to create in Venezuela during the hyperinflation and economic debacle. Wanting to serve a greater purpose, we explored the possibilities of providing more Venezuelans with the essential tools needed to deal with currency devaluation, a drastic economic consequence evaporating quality of life in Venezuela.
Kindergarten first brought us, Eduardo and Guillermo, together. We were both raised in Caracas and studied in the same school for over 12 years. During college, we both became interested in Bitcoin and the world's financial system, especially in Venezuela, as the people around us were struggling with inflation and currency controls. We became involved in a variety of ventures such as mining, trading, and arbitrage, which helped us earn money that was later invested in El Dorado. This shaped it as a solution to the turbulent financial times the people around us were experiencing.
Later, on a trip to Europe, we met Juan Andreu at the Dutch Blockchain week. Juan is an avid software architect with 10+ years of experience leading development for companies in Europe. Juan was already working on some Ethereum related projects, which really helped us understand the potential of Defi in disrupting the financial system.
The El Dorado Team
Throughout our journey, we were following the progress of the Celo network and how it was helping communities. About 6 months ago, we happened upon a Celo Camp vídeo on Youtube, and after some research we thought that our project could perfectly fit this accelerator. Soon enough, we applied for batch 2 and a few days later we were accepted. That night the El Dorado team celebrated with a pizza party and a few beers in a local restaurant near our headquarters in Caracas.
Our team founders upon receiving our acceptance mail
Our first impression at the camp on day 1 was that the teams selected were spectacular, and that if we wanted to stand out we needed to make a huge effort. We soon found out, they were all indeed top notch.
We are amazed by the variety of projects and skilled members we had the luck to share this experience with. Since the first day, we felt the warm welcome provided by the Celo and Celo Camp team during our activities, and saw how their mentorship helped us to further develop our product. We felt great to see other projects from emerging economies such as Nigeria, which proved Celo's mission of economic development and financial inclusion in the most needed regions.
One of the most memorable moments was after the Prosper series with Adriana. We felt like making a change in our office in order to improve creativity. A day after, the whole team joined and we painted the office with El Dorado Motif.
El Dorado team adding some color to the office
We also felt like adding a small fish tank
We also realized how important teamwork is, especially for a startup in emerging economies.
We decided to implement weekly team sessions outside the office as well (mostly during weekends).
During the camp, we developed a Celo Dollar wallet that is also connected to our P2P exchange. This will allow Venezuelans to exchange their devalued bolivars safely and quickly and we hope that these are the first steps towards financial inclusion through blockchain. Let's remember that only 8% of the population owns a USD savings account, so the only form of access to currencies other than bolivars is through cash.
Venezuelan and Latin American adoption has been proven, and we expect that El Dorado and Celo have the possibility to change people's lives through open financial services.
Moving forward, we plan to implement what we learned in Celo Camp, and as a mission-focused company we are looking forward to creating the conditions of prosperity that Venezuelans and Latin Americans wish so much for.
For more information on El Dorado, visit https://eldorado.io/en
Author: Eduardo Feo - El Dorado, co-founder
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