Will Fan, CEO of NewCampus, on Market Downturn Opportunities, Integrating Web3 into Education, and Future of Education | Ep. 351

In an exclusive interview with Cryptonews Podcast, Will Fan, the CEO at NewCampus, a challenger business school designed for emerging markets, discussed how market downturns provide great opportunities for all.

He talked about disrupting the $5 trillion education industry via Web3, crypto, blockchain, and DAOs, as well as investing capital into emerging companies in emerging markets, which are solving big problems.

Resetting the Wave: Market Downturn Provides Excellent Opportunities

Commenting on the recent market downturn, Fan said that he sees the ups and downs as part of the hero’s journey.

This is not the first time that a project or an industry has taken a hit.

“And if anything, it’s actually a really good opportunity to scout and see how your portfolio, your investments, the ecosystem evolves,” the CEO said. “I always see this as another good chance for resetting the wave a bit.”

For example, what is currently happening with millions in BTC in Germany is “just a calibration of the world trying to figure out where crypto sits as a legitimate asset or infrastructure” on which we’re building technology.

Meanwhile, one notable thing in the space is the founders’ evolving maturity, Fan remarked.

Just a couple of years ago, there would be teenagers creating projects and then rug-pulling.

Now, we see big players “putting their life’s work behind the business.” Animoca Brands is an excellent example. It’s partnering with and backing projects in this evolving space.

“I still think there’s a long way to go, but a lot of these highs and lows is character-testing, and that’s also part of the game,” Fan said.

Open Campus has been around for over a year and launched the EDU token in the last bear cycle. Making noise and building up a reputation was difficult, the CEO remarked.

We’re investing $1 million in prize money to support those looking to build and expand the Open Campus ecosystem. Apart from funding, you’ll gain access to mentorship from industry leaders and work on projects that have real potential to impact the educational space. If you’re… — Will Fan🕊 (@hellowillfan) July 8, 2024

However, “12-18 months later, we’ve obviously had a different turn of leaf and hopefully proved our stripes a bit.”

The crypto/Web3 sector is young and volatile, but Open Campus works to blend it with Web2, governments, corporations, universities, and many other entities.

Disrupting the $5 Trillion Education Industry

Open Campus is an ecosystem with many partners, including TinyTap, Animoca Brands, and NewCampus. Fan is one of the key partners for Open Campus and runs New Campus.

The foundation’s goal is to “pick apart challenges in the education system, reinventing education, putting it on-chain, and getting more partners involved.”

In short, the team is working to disrupt the $5 trillion education industry.

There are several areas they are trying to tackle:

supporting the DAO and Web3 ecosystem to become more mature through education;

supporting young founders and teams building for emerging markets in Africa, Southeast Asia, LATAM, and the Middle East through education financing;

supporting the next generation of teachers, content creators, and educators.

To accomplish these goals, the foundation needs to “blend these nodes of education problems, use existing technology or the high frequency, high volatility of Web3, and marry those two together.”

Therefore, it’s starting with baby steps, Fan said. “We already have a few products that are underway.”

Education is undoubtedly one of the most challenging sectors to innovate in, but it’s also among the most rewarding. Especially when you’re focused on solving long-term problems. We’re committed to transforming lives, financing new technologies and increasing access to… https://t.co/i17LJLZ7sx — Will Fan🕊 (@hellowillfan) July 11, 2024

Importantly, opportunity is everywhere when it comes to the education space, the CEO stated.

As the team builds the portfolio of companies, more and larger doors are opening in front of them.

Investing Capital Into Emerging Companies Solving Big Problems

One of the key problems NewCampus is working to solve is enabling the next generation of young managers and leaders at emerging companies to thrive.

For example, in Southeast Asia, NewCampus serves a large portion of the tech companies.

Accessing formal education is difficult in this and other parts of the world the team is focused on.

In Africa, LATAM, and the Middle East, “you have this next cohort of billion users that might not have access to your Harvards, your Stanfords,” said the CEO.

As AI and Web3 evolve, the team wants to help this next generation of learners access education and shape their own 10- or 15-year career roadmap.

“Even the 60 projects that we finance now, they actually span 20 million learners globally,” Fan noted.

“So how do you really support these frontier innovators, creators that just need that extra step forward? And for us, it’s playing that financing part, that connection, collaboration part,” he explained.

Introducing the EDU Chain Hackathon Series! Win your share of $1 million in prizes across 3 events. Join Web3's top developers as they build the future of education on-chain. Semester 1: DeFi and Infrastructure, hosted by @DoraHacks, starts July 15. Register below 👇 pic.twitter.com/pCjHjY56RC — Open Campus (@opencampus_xyz) July 8, 2024

Meanwhile, education remains a gap in the Web3 space. NewCampus and Open Campus work on filling it.

“Everyone’s quickly moving to sexier problems like GameFi or DeFi,” but education is a long-term play. It’s about building over the next century and creating a timeless brand.

To accomplish this, this fragmented ecosystem needs to come together. And the team must pick the battles carefully.

Going into mature markets like Europe and the US quickly to transform their education system overnight is impossible.

But “we invest capital into emerging education companies in emerging markets that are solving big problems,” Fan said.

Meanwhile, the team has launched the Open Campus accelerator and a 150 million EDU rewards pool for node operators, and it’s launching Layer-3 with Arbitrum.

Excited to announce our collab with the @arbitrum team, who've provided a grant to support our Layer 3 development. This partnership will open doors for students, educators, universities, corporations, and governments eager to explore Web3—guiding them every step of the way.… — Will Fan🕊 (@hellowillfan) July 4, 2024

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That’s not all.

In this interview, Fan also discussed:

a challenge with education: having to deal with many different stakeholders;

playing ‘double-edged sword’ with education projects and founders;

verifiable credentials and educational financing;

education being unique to every person’s life journey;

verifying education problems on-chain;

integrating crypto and blockchain education into curriculums;

bridging Web3 and education;

launching a new L3 on Arbitrum.

You can watch the full podcast episode here.

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About Will Fan

Will Fan is the CEO and Head of School at NewCampus, a challenger business school designed for emerging markets.

As a partner at Open Campus, a pioneering Web3 foundation, he is deeply involved in financing groundbreaking education and future of work initiatives.

His work is driven by a blend of education, community building, and exploring new industries.

Over the past decade, Fan’s experiences have spanned from China and the Middle East to Southeast Asia.