Right after his master's graduation, the 23-year-old young man took bold steps in the world of finance. Now, Badr Berrada, the Moroccan national living in England is dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. Portrait. Badr Berrada is a 23-year old man who is trying to leave a mark in the hectic world of finance. Fearless since an early age, he knew that he would become one of those successful entrepreneurs out there. Following his high school graduation in Morocco, the young man flew to London in September 2012 where he joined Cass Business School, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in finance. His grades opened doors for him at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the UK, to pursue his master's degree. Meanwhile, Badr Berrada completed an internship at Société Générale and the Commodity Index Limited as an assistant trader and Junior Stock Broker, respectively. Sharing information with the rest of the world As a self-taught person, Badr Berrada also launched his own website dedicated to the latest trends in finance and the business world in general. «Moroccans are resourceful. I started to build my website on my own and then, as I went along, I contacted developers who helped me launch and develop it», says the young man. It was hard to ensure the funding part : «I contacted people via LinkedIn and by email asking to meet them to explain my project. And they were hooked up». After the Brussels and Paris attacks in particular, Badr Berrada thought of a new project in attempt to redefine mainstream media. «I wanted to make Moroccans abroad proud of their country again», he said. Thus, by the end of May 2017, he founded BBN Times, a «business platform» that connects decision makers to the public. It engages with people by creating an innovative content that they can relate to. The articles are written by traders, bankers, engineers, influencers, activists and entrepreneurs. «Everyone has their own field of expertise from finance to politics, technology, entrepreneurship and social issues. The website focuses on every region in the world, notably on emerging countries : India, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and the Maghreb», said the ambitious young man. «We would love to work on artificial intelligence softwares in the future to translate our articles into every single language : Chinese, Arabic, Japanese ... to enhance information sharing with the rest of the world. We are also working on a mobile app that will be soon available». Investing in artificial intelligence «People between 25-34 year-old are mostly passionate about finance and new technologies», said Badr Berrada. Started from the bottom, now, he has a team of more than thirty Gurus who graduated from leading universities such as Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, King's College London and previously worked for big companies such as Goldman Sachs. «Some of the Gurus have years of experience. They brought their own expertise and greatly improved the quality of our content. As a result, we tried to focus on older readers. Most of the gurus write on average one article per week». Asked about his ambitions Badr indicated that he likes financial markets the most. «When I was kid, I wanted to become a trader and an entrepreneur. It is challenging, stressful, and allows you to interact with the markets. It is a job of perseverance, where everything changes. There is no rest in that. Always choose the right strategy, be aware of the latest trends, and read newspapers. It is this kind of career that I want, I really feel at ease despite the challenges.» «I know there will be ups and downs, but the right thing to do is to remain calm and stay upbeat. I am not afraid of criticism». «In the future, I would like to invest on big data and artificial intelligence with the help of other people who are passionate about this field and are ready to produce an innovative content. But that will be when I'll have more funds.»
