Hello! My name is Dylan Djoenadi. I am 18 years old. I am here to tell you about a unique opportunity I have to get a 10-20 year head start to achieve my wildest dreams, and to make a huge difference in the world as "a billionaire entertainment mogul and generous philanthropist” one day. However, in order to do so, I need your help. How so you might ask? 

Since last year, I have been blessed to be a part of a one-of-a-kind innovative year-round program, the Business and Leadership Institute (BLI) of the Academy of Business Leadership (ABL) that trains young people like me to “become fulfilled, prosperous, and transformational prominent and preeminent leaders in all fields who will fulfill their destiny and become generous philanthropists that will leave a positive legacy behind for the long term sustainability of America and the world.”

The year-round ABL BLI program focuses on four initiatives: college, career, wealth creation, and philanthropy while teaching us how to acquire empowering conscious and subconscious beliefs to help us make quantum leaps towards our wildest dreams. ABL covers those four initiatives through three components throughout the entire year. Last summer, as part of one of the three components of the ABL Business and Leadership Institute (BLI), I attended the award-winning ABL Summer Business and Leadership Institute (SBLI) at the USC Marshall School of Business where we were taught by college professors, and a Chicago Booth MBA. While in this intense life-changing program, we wrote business plans in a team setting; we presented our business plans to venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and corporate executives; in teams, we invested and competed in million-dollar stock portfolios; and we visited with the CEO of American Funds and other senior executives at the company, among many other things.

Currently, I am in another key component of this year-round BLI program, the ABL Management Trainee Semi-Virtual Internship, where we will raise money to pay it forward and for our college trust fund while we learn transferable employability skills to prepare us to become entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and leaders in all fields. My goal is to raise $100,000 for my college fund, and to raise $50,000 to pay it forward. As someone who has benefited immensely and continues to benefit from the ABL BLI program, and who has received a major scholarship to be able to attend, I want more students to have my experience and understand that anything is possible through the right conscious and subconscious beleifs, hard work, determination, and commitment.  

The ABL capital raising model was created and formulated by the ABL Refounder, President, and CEO Anna Ouroumian based on her life story and experiences. Though Anna grew up in orphanages in war-torn Lebanon, and was destined for a second-grade level education, she convinced the nuns to help her get an education and a priest to raise money for her to get to high school. Later on, she convinced the priest to pay for her ticket to America. Since coming to America alone as a young teen with only $160 in her pocket and barely speaking English as her fourth language, and studying economics at UCLA where she received the highest honor at graduation as outstanding senior as one of four out of 10,500 seniors for her academic achievements as well as her service to UCLA and the community, Anna has dedicated her life to making a difference in the lives of thousands of youth. Anna was able to persevere due to not seeing money as an obstacle. Just as she used capital raising to radically change her circumstances and help thousands of youth achieve their dreams, she is now teaching us how to do the same. If Anna could do it, so can I!

A little bit about me: I am a first-generation immigrant. I was raised by a single mom. Prior to the economic downturn of 2008, my family would have been considered middle class enjoying a very comfortable life.  All that changed with the great recession when my mom lost everything, including her job, our home, and the respect of our relatives and our community. Since then, we have been renting and had to move around 7 times to make ends meet. Over the past 11 years, living in small and confining apartments with other people, was such a sharp contrast to the sprawling home that we lived in! The worst part, I could not raise my voice in my own home for fear of disturbing neighbors and housemates. Instead of giving up, I became even more driven and committed to rise above my circumstances.

I am here to ask you to consider investing in my future and the future of many other aspirational students as I do not want a handout nor do I expect one. Besides learning to not see money as an obstacle, another key reason for the ABL college capital raising component is so that we do not fall into the $1.52 trillion dollars federal student loan debt trap that, according to a June 2018 article by Forbes magazine, affects 44.2 million Americans; and according to NerdWallet, of those, only 18.6 million Americans have loans in repayment. I am here to ask you to invest in me as a “Champion” by making a one-time investment, and/or by becoming a “Super Champion” to help me capital raise so that through you, I may invest back in my community, and our great country!

By not having to worry about paying back my student loans, I will be able to focus on my studies and immerse myself in all the opportunities that UCLA has to offer to prepare me for future leadership roles. Moreover, being in this management trainee internship, I will learn transferable employability skills such as sales, marketing, branding, relationship building, relationship management, team building, time management, organization, project management, power networking and connecting as well as grit and stamina, among many other skills. In addition, having a team of “Champions and Super Champions”, who are invested in my success, will hold me accountable to my dreams. I promise that for every dollar that I receive, I will one day pay it forward a thousandfold as a generous philanthropist.

Thank you for believing in me, for investing in my future, and for investing through me in the future of other youth, my community, our country, and our world! I will not disappoint you!