Many of our
earliest
memories
involve
unwrapping
presents,
jumping in
puddles or
playing on
swings.
But Canadian
e-entrepreneur
Michael Furdyk
recalls a
distinctly
different
childhood -
one where he
was playing
with a
Commodore 64
home computer
at the tender
age of 2. It
was, of
course, a sign
of things to
come.
While still in
high school
Furdyk started
a website he
later sold for
seven figures.
He has worked
with the
United
Nations,
corporations
including
Microsoft, IBM
and Xerox,
contributed to
a list of
media
organisations
as long as
your arm, and
appeared on
Oprah Winfrey.
For many, that
would be a
lifetime of
achievements,
but Furdyk has
just turned
23.
Many young
entrepreneurs
with his track
record would
be unable to
fit their ego
through the
door, but
Furdyk is
polite,
engaging and
passionate
about helping
a younger
generation
realise its
dreams.
He is in
Auckland this
week to speak
at the ULearn
educational
teaching
conference,
which promotes
the use of
digital
technology in
the classroom,
and runs till
tomorrow.
Furdyk wants
to challenge
educators to
"help find a
way for this
generation to
get more out
of education
and challenge
them to use
technology to
engage them in
doing that".
He says the
technology
boom since the
1990s has
given young
people
different
expectations
and
educational
needs from
those of their
parents.
"Educators are
challenged to
really help
develop new
types of
skills [to
meet] the
expectations
of the
workplace of
the future,"
he says.
Furdyk wants
to encourage
more support
within
education "so
young people
with creative
ideas can
actually get
that time off
[school] and
get credits
for it instead
of being made
to feel they
are risking
everything
just to invest
in their
idea".
He was a
16-year-old
schoolboy when
he co-founded
a website
called
MyDesktop.com,
publishing
articles by
young people
interested in
technology.
The budding
e-entrepreneur
took some time
off school to
run the site,
which
attracted a
million
visitors and
advertising
revenue of up
to US$60,000
($89,120) a
month, Furdyk
says.
He sold the
site in 1999
for an
undisclosed
seven-figure
sum, then
launched
shopping
comparison
site
BuyBuddy.com.
Furdyk's
current
passion is
TakingITGlobal.org
- a non-profit
website
community he
co-founded in
2000 to raise
awareness of
global issues
among young
people.
The site has
almost 100,000
members in 200
countries and
receives
60,000
visitors each
day, he says.
"A lot of the
other teen
sites out
there are
focused on
consumerism,
dating or
things like
that and we
just wanted to
create an open
space for
people to work
on positive
contributions
towards their
communities."
The site has
five themes -
action,
community,
opportunity,
expression and
understanding
- and is the
youth partner
for the UN's
eight
"millennium
development
goals", which
include
universal
primary
education and
eradicating
extreme
poverty.
Furdyk says
the site is
working for
the
incorporation
of technology
into education
to "broaden
the horizon of
young people,
help them to
learn about
global issues
and also
connect with
other young
people".
Content is in
five languages
but he wants
to expand
this.
Michael Fundyk
ranked #2 in
GNEXTINC.com's
Top Teen
Tycoons in
2004: Michael
Furdyk is the
Co-founder and
Director of
Technology for
TakingITGlobal.org,
a global
online
community for
young people,
engaging
members in
over 200
countries and
territories.
In the past,
he has turned
his interest
in technology
into a series
of successful
online
companies,
co-founding
MyDesktop.com
in 1997 (later
sold to
Internet.com
in 1999) and
BuyBuddy.com
in 1999. Over
the last few
years, Michael
has consulted
for many
Fortune 500
companies,
including a
6-month
engagement
with Microsoft
in Seattle,
Washington.
Complete List
Original
published in
New Zealand
Herald, by
Owen Hembry
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