Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- “I aim to build myself up, whilst giving back to the community.” says Hkm Saharan, also widely known as HK. A budding entrepreneur and founder of the exclusive community organisation ‘Third World’ which serves as an amazing guide to those new to investments and Web3. Being an avid follower of GaryVee (Gary Vaynerchuk), he believes firmly on building a brand identity out of strong purpose. “I want my brand to stay in the scene profoundly, even after 20 years, I want to build a legacy,'' he adds.
From being a kid from the remote village of Eheliyagoda, Sri Lanka to an up and coming Entrepreneur, Hkm Saharan has come a long route. He is literally the embodiment of the quote ‘rags to riches’. Born, Hkm Saharan, to middle class parents, he didn't have it easy. His parents barely knew about modern technologies, not even having heard about the internet. He got put into an international school soon after his parents discovered his growing interest in learning English after they got him a Nintendo game console when he was a kid. Previously a student of an all-Sinhalese government funded school, the new ways of the international school were daunting to him. “ I struggled a lot in class, I could never really grasp this new curriculum all at once.”, he says. “I was an average student, but I was always looking for something to learn beyond textbooks. I don’t believe in paper-qualifications. They don’t matter too much in the bigger scheme of things,” he added.
Web3 has been his new found passion, he has always been on the outlook for opportunities to build finances. “I wasn’t really into Pokémon, but I still collected the cards. I could see how some cards held more value, and I would either sell them or flip them for better cards cuz I understood the flip game.”
Besides this, he has been on the grind ever since early 2013, when he started making tech videos for his youtube channel. “My teachers told me to quit YouTube as my grades weren’t too great, but I just couldn’t. It was something I loved doing,” he added whilst being on the podcast ‘The Satirical Us.’
Even as a 16 year old, he made some quick bucks by helping local brands with promotions and social media marketing. He has partnered with some of the leading brands and celebrities worldwide, for example PrawnCrazy, Artlist.io, Zox.la, DKM, Kaizer Kaiz, Costa and etc. “I had an insanely high screen time, still do, in-fact. If you check my phone, the average screen time will never report to be less than 12 hours a day. I am always on my phone, but even as I consume media, I keep learning, I’m always looking out to learn about new things. I believe in the power of the internet. It can bring you unbelievable experiences.”
“We can do anything if we put our minds to it. Anyone can achieve anything with a good amount of dedicated effort,” urges Hkm Saharan. He shared a brief story about how he barely got 2% in accounts in the school tests, and he had his GCE final test in a month. He then proceeded to score a whooping 80% in the GCE test by putting in the work, leaving all his teachers completely baffled. “Everyone was in sheer shock, no one believed I could do it, haha,” he shared.
But school wasn’t really for him. Having taken Software Engineering and Development for his higher national diploma, he soon dropped outta school, mostly pertaining mostly to his tough financial situation back home,“ I didn’t enjoy it at all, it felt really constricting,” says Hkm Saharan.
Soon after dropping out from school, he started working 9 to 5 in a company as an analyst, wherein, he worked for a little around a year. Even after being offered a permanent contract and raise, he left the company. He aimed for the bigger picture.
“I wanted to go to the city. I had already made a considerable amount of connections in the city through social media, I just wanted to go out there, meet them, and work for them in real life,” says Hkm Saharan. “There was this company (name kept confidential) whom I reached out on Instagram asking if they’d let me have a place to stay in the city and three meals a day if I’d work for them for free. They agreed, and I set out”, Hkm Saharan shared.
The city experience didn't come with all its glamour. In fact, Hkm Saharan recalls having slept on floors and on ragged beds after long tiring days of work. “But I was happy. I am always happy doing what I do, because I always do things that I want to do genuinely. If I wanted to be a carpenter tomorrow, I’d be one, and be genuinely satisfied. I always do what I love,” explains Hkm Saharan.
Soon after being with the unnamed company for about a year, in 2020, Hkm Saharan was hit with a roadblock. The cornea in his eye needed replacement which needed an immediate surgery and he needed some considerable amount of cash for it. He tried asking for a base level salary from the company he was working under but they refused. And this, kind of marked the end of his passion for videography. “When you don’t get paid for your efforts, you start loving the craft a bit less,” Hkm Saharan explains. “I slowly saw my passion for videography fade, and me not wanting to pursue it anymore, and I just got demotivated,” he added. His semi-pungent experience kind of leaves its trail till date. In his words, he doesn’t feel motivated enough whenever he has to work on videography or video editing.
And there he was in the late 2020s, at his parents’ place, in urgent need of money for his eye condition. “I was doing social media marketing to save up for my eye surgery. I couldn’t ask my parents for it, cause my dad had just run outta business. It was around this time, I heard of NFTs,” Hkm Saharan narrates. “I got into NFTs to look for a quick buck. I didn’t think much of it back in the day,” he added.
He reports to have asked for Ethereum in exchange for his social media marketing gigs. “It was not possible to buy cryptocurrencies through cards in Sri Lanka, but you could have a wallet and have someone transfer it for you. You see, I had to get my hands on Ethereum somehow, I didn't know about the P2P method back then cuz I was very new to it,” Hkm Saharan explains. “I would ask smaller NFT firms to pay me in Ethereum or give me an NFT in exchange for Social Media Marketing. That’s how I started my NFT journey.”
Being an ardent follower of GaryVee, he was early to get into the VeeFriends community. He was reported to be “grinding hard” in GaryVee’s server to get himself to own a ‘Veefriend’ somehow. “Those were going for 4 ETH back then and I barely had 1 ETH back in the day,” he explains. “But I got noticed by this ex-client and a completely random stranger. They took note of my daily grind and offered me around 3 ETH to help. That moment was life changing for me”
Since then, Hkm Saharan has been unstoppable. He has turned into an inspiration for many. In a year, Hkm Saharan has built himself up to be one of the best upcoming entrepreneurs. He founded his own organisation named, ‘Third World’ which helps enthusiasts worldwide with investments and Web3. “I aim to tell the stories of ‘us’, from third world countries, who plan on doing something fruitful in this world. It’s our combined journey,” he explained. “ ‘Third World’ shall be the new name of our parent company and ‘Third World Humans’ shall be our NFT project under the same name, highlighting the fact that the vast majority of the team hails from third world countries and because of the fictional story behind the project. We’ve had a fresh start again. We’re rebuilding the website and redoing the artworks all over again, making sure it is meaningful to the community.”, Hkm Saharan conveyed to the members of his exclusive discord server while his company went through a meaningful rebrand. “I’ll have my accounts public. So people know where the money they've invested goes.”
“Even on my server, I always look out for genuine people who are in need of a push to start their NFT game. I try getting my friends into Web3 as well, cuz I want them to explore its fullest potential. In the end, what matters to me is being able to give back to the community in general.” he added.
Hkm Saharan's journey has just begun. He is ambitious and won’t stop till his visions are realised. As he said, “I wish to do this for my life.”
Connect with Hkm Saharan and join the community:
Web: https://hkmsaharan.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hkmsaharan
Instagram: https://instagram.com/hkmsaharan
Third World Discord: https://hkmsaharan.com/discord
Third World Twitter: https://twitter.com/thirdworld_io
