S&E Guarantee Pilot: Roberto Henriquez Perozo

“Business-specific knowledge is one thing,” says Roberto Henriquez-Perozo, “but with data-analytics, you can leverage your position. Data analysis, extraction, cleaning, interpreting, machine learning, AI… it helps you digest information and convert it into actionable decisions. If you have an expertise, and you add to that data analytics, you can put the two together and become a real expert.”

Born and raised in Venezuela, Roberto moved to Spain “for nationality and opportunity”. He interned in the energy sector, but felt that the things he was doing could be automated and executed more efficiently: “I was doing regular operations, administrative tasks, accounting, budget sheets... It was all very repetitive. I saw myself doing things that could be replaced by code, but didn’t know how to write that code myself. That’s when I decided to take the Ironhack course.”

Roberto took a 9-week course on data analytics in early 2020, deciding to expand his skillset and equip himself with programming and data analytics skills - in the midst of the pandemic. “In a way it was good because, with everyone in lockdown, you couldn’t really do much, so I focused on studying. It was intense but it was fun; digging into the tools, exploring, everyone online at the same time…we learned a lot in a short period of time.”

After finishing the course, Roberto joined a freelancer cooperative and with them cofounded ‘Polywrap’, a bleeding-edge tool for the blockchain industry, creating systems that support DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations – a new type of legal entity that lives on the blockchain and is formed by individuals working remotely from different locations). “What we’re building is very technical, but you can think of it as a tool that we expect to be as prevalent as https. Polywrap started as a four-person team and now we are closing our second round of funding. I feel like I’ve found my sweet spot, bringing together my corporate experience and my new-found data analytics skills.”

In order to pursue the Ironhack course, Roberto turned to Student Finance, where he got financial support in the form of an ISA (income-sharing agreement) backed by the EIF under the EU’s Investment Plan for Europe. “I was always sure that I needed to study something like this,” he says. “It just took a while to find the right opportunity. Having the ISA was what allowed me to do it. Otherwise, I simply had no capital to pay for the course. The way the ISA is structured allowed me to do it without worrying about the financing. I had just arrived, with no credit history or funds. It was really the only path I could take to upskill myself.”

Location: Madrid, Spain

Financial Intermediary: Student Finance

Beneficiary: Roberto Henriquez Perozo

Course: data analytics

Institution: Ironhack Madrid

EIF financing: Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot; EFSI

For further information about EIF intermediaries in Spain, please refer to: http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/es