Sometimes life takes people to unexpected places. A person could plan their entire life down to the last detail, but the universe could still throw them a curveball and they’d end up somewhere they never thought they’d be. For some people, this might mean a change in career, and for others, it could mean finding a purpose in life and figuring out what they were meant to do all along.
For Billy Elderige, life so far has been anything but ordinary. On the contrary, it seems that he has lived through many lifetimes. He went from a small-town boy with no money to now being the CEO of his own SaaS company within the FinTech Space and a philanthropist and charity foundation trustee.
From age 19 until now, Billy Elderige has lived an interesting life. He has seen the Northern Lights in Iceland, gone scuba diving with manta rays and whales, went to Burning Man, was asked to play basketball for England, modeled around the world, watched an erupting volcano up close, got a master’s degree in economics from UCL, and climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia. But what he is most proud of now is his company and his philanthropic ventures.
After getting his master’s degree in economics, he moved to Hong Kong and started working as a gold trader. While living there, he found out that the Chinese government was moving their poverty-stricken rural population to the cities, so millions of children were left behind in villages across the country.
Billy couldn’t stand knowing this and not doing anything. “I was reading about these kids in The Economist one day and said, ‘I’m here, in Hong Kong, living in the Four Seasons hotel. Many of my small bunch of friends in Hong Kong are billionaires’ – I knew I had to do something,” he explained.
So he set up a charity to rehouse orphans in rural China called The Left Behind Foundation. Now the charity extends to all over the world, helping children who have been left behind for several reasons—displacement from war-torn areas, the cruel backlash of rural-urban migration, or simply negligent or oblivious parents.
The foundation focuses on providing help in several causes: early years and high education programs, daily meals, sustainable crop and clean water programs, and financial relief programs for orphaned children. The funds raised by the foundation will go toward these causes.
The Left Behind Foundation currently has several ongoing programs worldwide, one of which focuses on the rural orphans in China. Another program is the Bangladesh Lifeline Project, which seeks to help the Rohingya people who have fled Myanmar for refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.
Another project is the Syria Lifeline Project, which seeks to help the more than 8 million Syrian children who are in immediate need of aid. They also have the Yemen Lifeline Project. With the civil war ongoing in the country, 11 million children need humanitarian assistance, and the foundation aims to provide financial support to this nation and its children.
The Left Behind Foundation is doing its best to gather the necessary funds to help children all over the world. With Billy Elderige at the helm, the foundation will continue to lend a helping hand to children in need.
Find out more about the Left Behind Foundation on their website.
