Lending against talent, with Joel Frisch (Prodigy Finance)

Back of the envelope, according to Poets and Quants, a Harvard MBA will set you back $130,000 per year once you've added in all the extra costs, maybe knocked down to $100,000 if you get yourself a scholarship.That's already a lot of money if you're an up-and-coming American executive, but it is it even more if you're living and working in the developing world.One hundred thousand dollars is R1.6 million back in South Africa, which is pretty much what I got earlier this year for selling my two-bed/ two-bath house in the financial district. In India, it's 6 times what a Google search tells me is the average annual salary of a data scientist.The rewards are worth it, but that level of outlay is simply unattainable for the vast majority of people. This is, of course, where a student loan would normally fit in, but how many Indian lenders are going to give that much money to someone they know is leaving the country? Probably none. How many South African lenders? Well, actually, at least one, sort of, Prodigy Finance is headquartered in London but with two out of three founders being countrymen of mine, I feel like I can round that one up.In this episode of HTLMTS I speak to Joel Frisch, Prodigy's Head of Global Acquisition, about investing in talent and lending to international students for world-leading post grad studies.Because the hardest thing about getting into Harvard should be getting into Harvard, not getting approved for a loan.You can learn more about Prodigy Finance at https://prodigyfinance.com/You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] full written transcript with timestamps can be found on HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.ShowYou can also find my pulpy action-adventure novels in all their formats on Amazon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.