Challenges and opportunities in the current global economy are as numerous and as full of potential as they haven’t been in a long time. We are venturing into the unknown in regards to the future socio-economic situation. Slowly but surely we are overcoming the initial crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aftermath, however, is yet to come. Are we ready for the enormous amount of work that will have to be done to rebuild the world’s reeling economy? How can we prevent or at least reduce the effects of the following recession? With so many people losing jobs, companies going out of business. How are we going to overcome the problem of finding employment, and is remote work, freelancing, the answer? And the crucial one: Can blockchain technology lead the way to new, more efficient and user friendly ways to start successful enterprises, and how can it speed up the process of finding and implementing solutions? I talked to the founder and CEO of Ideaology, Khaled Alkalbani about these important topics. I’ve been following the progress of Ideaology, and I’m, honestly, quite impressed with how relevant their platform is becoming along with the solutions it offers to these arising questions. Khaled, as a successful entrepreneur, how has the current world situation affected your work and plans for the future? Throughout my career, I’ve learned that every crisis is also an opportunity for those who can look ahead and predict to some extent the needs and necessities of people during and after the crisis. The project which is personally very important and dear to me, Ideaology, came to be some time before the pandemic even started, so there is no clear correlation between them. However, the fact is that, as a digital platform where a community of people and enterprises connect with each other and cooperate to start and develop projects from the idea stage to reality, will be an important tool in the near future for professionals, innovators and investors alike. People will be looking for a new environment for employment, freelance work, which will allow them to work remotely, and use their time efficiently. They will need a place to open a virtual shop and sell their digital assets. Great ideas and solutions for emerging problems in the aftermath of the pandemic, but also climate change and other looming issues, will need an efficient launching pad, with a pool of investors ready to support them financially, but also a community of experienced professionals to fill in the necessary job positions. And the public, the customers who will be able to see and use these solutions, products... Ideaology combines all these aspects of project development and adoption on one multi-sided platform and a single community within it. In that sense, yes, our project is now even more relevant and needed than when we started developing the idea, about a year ago. Has the pandemic slowed down the progress of Ideaology? Instead of slowing us down, or making us doubt the success of our project, the pandemic, on the contrary, made us realize that Ideaology is truly the next logical step in the economic system’s overhaul which will be necessary in order to keep up with the rapid change we are experiencing. We’ve intensified our work and our team has doubled during the summer, now numbering 15 quality individuals from all over the world. This is still a small team for such an ambitious project, so we plan to expand manyfold as we go forth with development. As of July, we have made a couple of key partnerships, to secure the coding structure and legal regulation aspects of Ideaology. More partnerships are in the works as we speak, but I don’t want to announce anything yet. Originally from Dubai, UAE, we have expanded to Europe with our second office in Zug, Switzerland. We’ve officially joined the Crypto Valley association, and as we have finished the project prototype, we are ready to start our ICO. The first stage, private sale, is announced for October 1st. Thus, we strive to speed up the progress and development, but still retain the quality of work and employ the best possible professionals to bring us to the next level. How did you come up with the idea in the first place? I think all great ideas come from personal experience. If your product or service doesn’t fill a need you have once felt yourself, then it’s bound to fail. I’ve been developing businesses my entire career, and so many times I found myself turning into a messenger between developers, designers, investors and clients who were all involved with the same project without ever talking to each other! It just didn’t make any sense. That’s when I realised, hold on, there’s something here. What if all these developers, investors and customers were gathered under the same roof? How much better would that product be? We need a platform that pools all this talent together, and gives investors the opportunity to see it first-hand. A platform for the people, by the people, which ultimately benefits everyone. Why did you choose blockchain technology as a cornerstone of Ideaology’s platform and community? I firmly believe Blockchain is the great revolution of our generation. The reason it’s importance is still disputed in some circles is that it, seemingly, doesn’t have enough applications used universally by people everyday, yet. Yet is the key word here, since new use cases for blockchain are being recognized by the minute. I know of so many great new projects being developed on this technology as we speak. Ours is one of them. Ideaology platform will harness the amazing potential of blockchain technology to allow a free, fluid and fast exchange of ideas, funds, information… Blockchain will enable us to create a community of registered and proven professionals, innovators and entrepreneurs, where they will be able to earn, sell their work, and invest, with minimum fees, fastest transfers, all within a secure and coordinated system. This decentralized ecosystem will help people with just a great idea and little or no funding of their own, still be able to get that idea off the ground and find a development team, investors and even customers all at the same place. Additionally, as a great bonus, there will be implemented options for safe and efficient crowdfunding of these projects, on Blockchain. We plan to make the platform as secure as possible, with legal advisors and industry leaders reviewing every potential project entering the system, to completely prevent scams, and the transparency of Blockchain technology will help us with that. Thank you, Khaled. Could you tell us about your plans for the future, and the future of Ideaology? As always, my plan for the future is to adapt to the times, stay ahead of the change. I’d like to keep meeting great people and work with them to create solutions, thus investing in the future. This can also be translated to Ideaology. We have a huge amount of work still ahead of us. I’d like for our project to provide everyone with an equal opportunity to realize their dream. Sometimes even with a great idea, people simply never get the opportunity to build a successful business. They might have all the requisite talent and attitude, but desperately lack the proper surroundings that would allow them to grow and excel. There’s no such thing as self-made success, in my opinion. Business founders who claims such accomplishments are simply ungrateful and unwilling to give others credit. We all need a little help when we’re getting started. And with the right kind of network, the right kind of guidance, I believe everyone can achieve great things.
