Thoughtfox interviews Thomas Schwendener, the Swiss trade school employee raring to gift USD 21,000 to suitable entrepreneurs
Thoughtfox reached out for an interview last week to Mr. Thomas Schwendener, who wishes to donate USD 21, 000 to a worthwhile entrepreneurial proposal. The interview was conducted via Google Messenger and Gmail by Dr. Piyush Mathur. With the consent of Mr. Schwendener, the interview transcript has been copyedited for clarity, grammar, and effect.
For the report on Mr. Schwendener’s initiative, click here.
Mathur: On the 18th of March, you made a somewhat dramatic post on the Facebook group I manage called Rich People Help Poor People; in this post, which I have withheld, you declared that you would give out up to USD 21, 000 (Twenty One Thousand) to anybody with ‘a meaningful, intelligent business idea’. Is that correct?
Thomas Schwendener
https://luttai.com/en/
Schwendener: Fairly correct…
Mathur: Right—in that there are other considered qualifications and conditions in place inside your offer. We will get to them soon. First, let me ask you this: Are you a millionaire, sir?
Schwendener: No, I'm not. But I currently have enough money for my desired livelihood; and I am willing to give some of it to people who are worse off.
Mathur: Hmm... That is definitely intriguing; and, I should think, unusual for somebody not a millionaire to make such a large public offer of financial help to complete strangers worldwide. I bet a lot of parents would lose their sleep if their progeny made similar declarations—and meant it!
Well, when I looked at your Facebook post, I had to withhold it since I wanted to check your credentials—and thus this interview. Based upon the textual, photographic, and video evidence you have submitted—and your overall web presence—Thoughtfox upholds your credentials: critically the fact that (as reflected by your bank statement dated February 10, 2021), you do have the funds to back your declaration.
In that withheld Facebook post (which includes a video), you provide some clarifications toward what you mean by ‘a meaningful, intelligent business idea’. Those clarifications are part of the qualifications and conditions attendant upon your offer. Could you please re-state and perhaps elaborate upon them here for our readership?
Schwendener: Yes, sure. I have two other conditions besides the first I mentioned earlier—that the person has to show me ‘a meaningful, intelligent business idea.’ By meaningful or intelligent, I mean something that increases the well-being of sentient beings (humans or other animals).
The second condition is that the person must agree to an ‘alternative’ business model that I have in mind; and the third condition is that the person must credibly demonstrate to me that they have too little money to start an enterprise of their choice.
If I find a person who meets those three conditions, then I would give away that person a maximum of USD 21,000 this year as seed capital.
Mathur: But there is also, in a way, a fourth condition in place: You have asked potential applicants to turn in video submissions to show their prospective projects. My question is, why have you insisted upon video submissions?
Schwendener: I believe that only sincere ideas would be published if I ask for videos—because one has to show one’s face [on a video]. I also hope that other people with money would also join in my initiative because of the video submissions—and, so, my seed grant of USD 21,000 would magnify.
Mathur: Do you have a specific site or sites where entrepreneurs eyeing your charity must upload their videos?
Schwendener: There is no specific site where they have to do that; however, they must post their videos anywhere on the following three social media platforms: Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Equally important, they should prefix their videos’ titles with the hashtag #LuttaiTeamHuman; and include in these titles their country’s name followed by their own name followed by their proposed project’s (or idea’s) specific title (with each of the above separated by an underscore).
All in all, their video submissions’ titles should be structured along the following formal order—using #LuttaiTeamHuman at the beginning—as shown below:
#LuttaiTeamHuman_Country_Name_IdeaTitle
I would search for that hashtag using the search function on the relevant services.
Mathur: And what would you do if you fail to find the right candidate for your award?
Schwendener: I would donate the money to the charity GiveDirectly.org. It would be in good hands there.
Mathur: In other words, you are utterly determined to give USD 21, 000 to some—presumably worthy—entrepreneurial project managed (and likely articulated) by somebody you have not yet met or talked to. Is that correct?
Schwendener: Yes; that is correct—so long as the proposal for such a project meets the three conditions.
Mathur: Do you intend to restrict your donation to just one person—or are you open to donating it to a team of people or even to mutually unrelated individuals?
Schwendener: I am open to everything. If there are smaller projects, I could support several; if I find only one big project deserving USD 21,000, then I would give all that money to that project. Of course, USD 21,000—in and of itself—is very limited.
Pending scrutiny of his credentials for this interview, Mr. Schwendener’s above post to the Facebook group Rich People Help Poor People—managed by Dr. Piyush Mathur—had been withheld.
Mathur: As part of your preparation for making this public offer, you have also prepared a video—in fact, more than one video—and have also posted information on your blog. In the main video (which was also included in your withheld Facebook group post), you have called your entire initiative LUTTAI Experiment 2021. This video also explains what you mean by your ‘alternative business model’—and why you require that applicants to your donation promise to adhere to it. Could you please explain that model as succinctly as possible for our readers?
Schwendener: Gladly. LUTTAI stands for Let Us Try To Act Intelligently. With LUTTAI, I am pursuing three objectives, one of which is to establish a more sensible, intelligent economic model. Per this business model, entrepreneurs give away—not invest for a personal benefit—a part of their profits to promote other sensible business ideas being pursued by other entrepreneurs who would also be willing to do the same.
Should this model succeed, more and more companies would work according to it—and profitable companies would continue to support newer ideas [of other entrepreneurs]. I want to get [wannabe entrepreneurs] away from interest-based loans.
Mathur: As you know, the world is full of scammers and cheats. The digital world is perhaps even more dangerous in that regard. Given this dimension of our current global economic reality, how would you make sure that your money goes to the right person—who is otherwise a complete stranger to you—with the right project? I mean, this won’t be easy. Are you ready for this part of the challenge as the Good Samaritan?
The point is, you are neither a bank nor do you have any type of authority; so, how would you ensure that the integrity of your offer is not violated from the other side?
Schwendener: That is a very valid question. And I'm not sure if I'm prepared enough for it. But I think I have set the hurdle reasonably high with the public video: I will only contact people who present me with a great business idea. I've already been contacted privately [by many people] on Facebook—but I just don't respond to that.
And to a certain extent, I'm an optimist; and I believe in ‘the good’ in people. And I've already met so many great people from around the world. So I hope to recognise scammers and honest business ideas: but I can't be sure.
Mathur: A related challenge could also turn out to be the sheer quantity of responses that you might receive before the end of this year, which is your deadline for making the donation. Examining even a very simple entrepreneurial proposal takes a few hours; so, how do you propose to manage, say, a virtual flood of proposals vying for your donation?
Schwendener: At the moment it doesn't look like that at all. The experiment has been running since 01-01-2021—and not a single video with #LuttaiTeamHuman in its title has come to my attention. In addition, I hope that if a lot of video proposals with that hashtag are uploaded, then other people also willing to donate might look for videos with that hashtag—and thus my ‘work’ will get distributed (and even the amount of money on offer might go far beyond USD 21,000). But that's just my hope.
Mathur: Wow, you launched your open offer on the 1st of January this year (which I have just cross-checked with the date on your main video)—and it is the end of March; and you have not come across a single response yet! That is surprising. May I ask exactly what channels other than Youtube you have used up until now to advertise your offer?
Schwendener: I have posted it on several Facebook groups and also written to some people to help me disseminate my message—but so far I have not had any success.
Mathur: In other words, this is the first time that an independent media outlet has interviewed you?
Schwendener: Yes; this is my first interview. So, thank you!
Mathur: Oh, you are welcome. I suspect that nobody trusted your offer on social media platforms as it had not been journalistically screened; besides, the precondition of video submission, while useful in some ways, also has its limitations (especially if the videos are sought in the first stage of a screening process like this). Nevertheless, I believe that you will be busy soon after this interview is published!
Schwendener: I look forward to it.
Mathur: Mr. Schwendener, for the sake of our readership, what exactly is your occupational title—and which institution do you work at?
Schwendener: I work as a sports teacher and as the Deputy Head of the Baugewerbliche Berufsschule in Zurich.
Mathur: Are you a Swiss citizen?
Schwendener: Yes.
Mathur: Are you married? Do you have any children?
Schwendener: No, I am not married; and I have no children. But I do have a very nice girlfriend!
Mathur: So, you may conceivably marry one day and have children?
Schwendener: That’s possible.
Mathur: And yet you have decided to donate quite a chunk of money at such a young age: i.e., before starting a family (which you might start). That's a bit of a risk; wouldn’t you agree?
Schwendener: I think I can cope with the donation of USD 21,000. If it were my own family that had to live in such terrible conditions as so many people do from around the world, then I would certainly be ready to donate that family much more. But I am not yet compassionate and selfless enough for that!
Mathur: That's stirringly idealistic. Did you get your girlfriend on board with you before making this decision—or was it solely your own decision (and you later informed her)?
Schwendener: To be honest, I've been with my girlfriend for approximately only two months—and we haven't talked specifically about this experiment yet. But she knows my website—and therefore probably also knows that I am doing this experiment. I think we have very similar views; and I think she likes it.
Mathur: And what about your parental family?
Schwendener: I informed them that I wanted to do this; and they were not against it. It is my own money—and, so, I can do whatever I want with it. But of course I am happy that they find my initiative sensible.
Mathur: Well, Mr. Schwendener, it was a pleasure having you with us. For that matter, it is also some type of an honour to Thoughtfox that we could facilitate your desire to disseminate your word of charity to the wider public.
We wish you the best in this endeavour—and assure you that you could always rely on us to report on future developments in this regard. Thoughtfox would certainly keep in touch with you!
Schwendener: Thank you very much for the opportunity to do this interview with you—for taking the time and interest in my experiment. I will be very happy to stay in contact with you.
Mathur: Thank you!
The author of Technological Forms and Ecological Communication: A Theoretical Heuristic (Lexington Books: 2017), Dr. Piyush Mathur manages the Facebook group Rich People Help Poor People. His most recent academic publication is ‘Understanding post-Covid-19 global politics: A tentative theoretical framework’ (TIGA Studies 3: 2020), which could be freely accessed here.
Some readers of this interview might be interested in a prior report for Thoughtfox by Dr. Mathur; this report can be accessed here. If you wish to contact Dr. Mathur, please send a message via this form.