Alumni from the Rady School of Management share how they used their degrees to disrupt their industries to bring innovative ideas, products and programs to the market.
Jimmy Wu – Foreign Exchanges Made Easy
Sending money abroad? Prepare to spend an exorbitant amount, thanks to transaction fees and exchange rates. And don’t forget to provide confidential information, such as your bank statements, addresses and phone numbers. Rady School of Management alumnus Jimmy Wu (MBA ’17) recognized the currency exchange system was broken, and was costing him and his family a fortune, when transferring money to and from his home country of China– so he set out to disrupt the industry.
Swapsy simplifies global currency exchange by connecting users who have different currencies rather than relying on banks to initiate transfers. Utilizing the free and real-time payment tools in different countries, people get the target currency they need without making costly international money transfers.
The Swapsy system is also safer and more secure than using traditional forms of currency exchange. Rather than having access to an individual’s entire bank account, the system connects others to payment tools. Swapsy does not hold the money and does not ask users to provide confidential information that banks require. All the features allow users to pay significantly less and transact much faster.
The innovative approach to currency exchange is disrupting the multibillion dollar industry, generating interest in the company. Swapsy was recently accepted into the prestigious EvoNexus accelerator – a premier tech startup incubator in Southern California.
Wu was inspired to scale Swapsy into a fully-fledged company after completing the coveted Lab to Market sequence housed in the Rady School of Management, which teaches students how to turn ideas into market opportunities. The company has also received investments from the well-known LA incubator MuckerLab.
“The extraordinary entrepreneurial atmosphere at the Rady School motivated and encouraged me to start my own business,” Wu said. “The Lab to Market courses and accelerators gave me confidence that I can make my idea happen. Without the resources and connections I have access to at Rady, it would be much more difficult to achieve today’s milestones at Swapsy.”