Create the life you desire’ is Sanja Kon’s website tagline. It is more than that, though. It is the vessel that projects and drives her passions. Sanja declares her life’s desire: “I’m very passionate about closing the gender gap, and I help women around the world to unlock their true potential.”
Technology is at the centre of that passion. Sanja wants to create the world in which she wants to live. She’s a new sort of digital nomad. Born in Croatia, she grew up in Italy, lived in the United Kingdom, the USA, Portugal, and Denmark, has her business based in Portugal, and lives between Italy and Portugal.
After 10 years working in e-commerce and traditional payment systems at Vodafone, eBay and PayPal, she immediately recognized the potential of blockchain technology to reshape payment systems, markets, industries, and global business. “For me, decentralization means taking control of money, finances and wealth into our own hands,” Sanja knew blockchain could redefine financial access for billions of people, especially for women in emerging markets. Sanja certainly walks the talk, having invested in dozens of companies, predominantly in the web3 and life science space. She is also an active member of Plum Alley, a VC that focuses on earlystage advanced technology and healthcare companies founded by women.
Utrust evinced those values and aims. She joined this startup as a cofounder and adopted blockchain technology as a tool for empowerment to create the life (and world) she desires.
Utrust is a leading web3 payment platform. It was recently acquired by the Elrond Network, a highly scalable, fast and secure blockchain platform that provides utility for dApp developers and enterprise solutions for the new economy.
Sanja’s forthright about Utrust’s development of this new world of web3: “Utrust bridges the gap between web3 and traditional retail by allowing anyone anywhere to pay with cryptocurrency from any wallet, and allowing any merchant to get paid in either crypto or fiat.”
It also serves a two-sided market: buyers and sellers. Anyone who owns cryptocurrency and wants to use it to purchase goods and services can benefit from Utrust: “Merchants and retailers will greatly benefit from our solution, as they’ll be able to significantly reduce their payment processing fees, eliminate chargebacks and fraud, and generate more revenue by serving a new segment of customers.”
This technology and platform exemplify Sanja’s pursuit and the purpose of Utrust. “My mission is to disrupt traditional payments,” she explained. “What that means to disrupt traditional payments is to open the gateways in business, stop the overcharging for merchants and prevent a lot of fraud. By removing the middlemen, we can be the bridge between the world of free and traditional retailers. More than 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to the traditional financial system due to its complexity.”
Cryptocurrencies, blockchain and other web3 tools are gateways to f inancial inclusion and can help people in emerging markets access global trade. “Almost 2 billion people worldwide remain unbanked,” Sanja stated. “Many more are underbanked. This has overarching implications that limit access to everything, from credit to healthcare and education. We now have the technological means to allow everyone with access to the internet control over their own finances. We must build that world – and we at Utrust won’t stop until we do so.”
Web3 may yet be in its infancy, but the structures for a new world are being built. Sanja’s outspoken on the benefits and opportunities of web3, sharing that “For me, the Metaverse is the digital version of the physical world. I’m excited to be part of this new era where exponentially accelerating technologies will impact our daily lives and society.”
As an entrepreneur, advisor, investor, and woman with a vision for creating a world she wants to live in, she says she wants to “be able to anticipate those trends, recognize them, and help great people with great ideas bring them to life faster. The best companies will be taking advantage of converging technologies and using them to disrupt traditional industries.”
Outlining the spaces ripe for disruption, Sanja highlights that education, healthcare, and finance will advance in leaps and bounds in the coming years. She believes that health is society’s most valuable asset, and she’s inspired by the advancement in healthcare through technology to increase lifespans. Sanja involves herself in this mission, too. As with payments systems, Sanja is adamant that blockchain will fuel the new healthcare systems of the future, and she’s advising healthcare companies on using this technology and AI to eradicate deadly diseases.
The power of the Metaverse is its inclusivity and redressing the balance in the order of a new world. Here, Sanja believes education will find its most significant opportunities for inclusion and the industry’s future. Taking a step further, she’s identified the potential opportunities blockchain will bring in other areas: “The same can be applied to virtual co-working spaces, now that more and more companies are choosing to have remote only workers. This will finally help create more opportunities for people previously excluded due to geographical location, background, or resources.”
She sees healthcare as another industry with tremendous potential to be disrupted by the Metaverse. Online doctor and medical consultations have recently become more common in healthcare. It allows more people to have access to doctor care within their homes, and “the 2.0 version of this will definitely use the Metaverse to create a virtual network of doctors, and bridge the gap between patients and medical carers to provide high-quality medical services that could not be accessed locally.”
The Metaverse will become a pervasive force in all areas of our lives, and sooner than we think, believes Sanja. This shift will fundamentally change how the world interacts, works, shops, travels, and even consumes information.
Regarding the Metaverse, it’s more evident now that web3 will serve as its backbone. Currently, more than 350 million people are using and having experiences in the Metaverse: it is estimated that by 2030 the market value may reach $13 trillion.
“For example, customers will be able to try items and services without physically commuting to a store,” commented Sanja. “Work environments will take on a whole new meaning in the Metaverse, and companies will be able to hire internationally, creating new opportunities for people who were previously unable to take them.”
She added: “There will be thousands, if not millions, of new exciting business opportunities to be explored with the Metaverse in the coming years. 2021 was a pivotal year for the whole web3 industry, as it marked the beginning of mass adoption. For the first time in history, crypto trading revenue surpassed stock exchange revenue. This was a big change from just a year before when traditional exchanges made four times more than crypto exchanges.”
Looking to the future with Utrust and disruptive web3 technology, Sanja aims to reshape the world. It is the world she wants to live in – where women are celebrated and recognized. “The legacy I want to create is a world where everyone has equal access to the financial system with a new one.”
SANJA KON’S METAVERSE & WEB3 TIPS
Website: sanjakon.com
