Jernej Pangeršič
Slovenia
Jernej is a Computer Science student from Slovenia working on WhoDo, a project designed to encourage and motivate people to participate in volunteering. Through Watson University, Jernej’s goal is to develop skills needed to guide others to create their own entrepreneurial stories.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leonardo da Vinci
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Protect your courage
Jernej’s love for technology began at 6, when he got his first computer. Since then, he has learned about technology with passion. In high school he learned programming, and because of his wish to share knowledge, he then taught it to his peers.
His wish to help others led him to teach elderly how to use computers and help them lose their fear of technology. After that he realized how much experience he got as a volunteer and began thinking about ways to encourage others to try it out. He tried to establish a Time Bank in Slovenia – a platform where users “trade” with their time by helping each other out. He realized that the mentality is not mature enough, and began looking for alternatives to promote volunteering and helping each other.
And thus WhoDo was born, a project designed to connect NGOs, Companies and Volunteers where NGOs post the projects they need help with and the volunteers apply. Each hour spent helping NGOs is rewarded by a Coin (a virtual currency), which can then be exchanged for gifts donated by companies. The final form of WhoDo will be when it is used for people to help each other not just the NGOs.
