At EO, we’re committed to helping entrepreneurs at every stage achieve their full potential. One way we encourage and support young entrepreneurs is through the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), EO’s premier competition for college and university students who own and operate a business. The competition culminates with the Global Finals―held virtually this year―where “studentpreneurs” from 38 countries competed and connected with both seasoned entrepreneurs and their fellow competitors. Camilo Salinas of Colombia, founder of Residia, was awarded the 2021 GSEA third-place prize of US$5,000. We asked Camilo about his entrepreneurial journey. Here’s what he shared:

Describe your company.

Residia is a community management platform for residential complexes and condominiums. It’s a multiplatform application with over 15 functionalities to facilitate internal processes and ensure effective communication in residential communities.

What inspired you to start your business?

My dad was the main inspiration. Residia’s objective of bringing neighbors together and helping ease the management of gated communities came to my mind while watching my dad struggling with the management of his own residential complex.

Were there specific factors or events in your childhood that inspired you toward entrepreneurship?

Yes. Since I was little, I was always looking to build things. For much of my life, I believed that I should’ve studied architecture or civil engineering―literally building things! But then I came across the video game Minecraft where, from nothing more than my tenacious passion, I built my first venture: a Minecraft community that I converted into a business. That experience taught me that I could build things in other ways, so that’s how I came to study Computer Science.

During my last year of school, I took a class called “Business,” where each student proposed a business idea and created a business plan around it. It was one of the only practical classes that I took in school, and I found what I learned to be eye-opening.