Today in America there is $1.7 trillion of student debts.
People should have access to quality education
for a reasonable amount of money.
This is the case in all European countries.
This is the case in many Asian countries.
The case in like most countries actually.
You know sometimes most ideas
are ideas searching for a problem
and we're a problem searching for decades for a solution.
Our goal, the mission of Mos is to tear down
all financial barriers to opportunity to everyone.
I'm Amira Yahyaoui and I'm the founder of Mos.
I was born and raised in Tunisia, grew up in Tunisia
under a dictatorship at that time.
I was very active when I was young,
against the dictatorship and was part of the Arab Spring.
I was one of those who started
these social movements online, as a blogger.
I was on Twitter talking about human rights abuses
in my country.
At the time
I was definitely one of the youngest activists out there.
So one day I was kidnapped in the street
and threw out of the borders and made my way to Europe.
So I lived in France.
I worked illegally for all sort of underpaid jobs
like dog sittings, babysitting,
anything sitting basically.
In 2011, Tunisia became a democracy
and I felt like my job was done.
What I owe my country was done,
and that's how I decided to jump into my next chapter.
I moved to the US in 2018.
So when I came here to San Francisco,
I was like spending
a lot of time with Uber drivers talking to them
and to their families to understand
if you can fix anything in the world, what would you fix?
For them it was how can I make sure
that my children have a better future than mine?
And this is where it was so interesting to go dig deep
into what does that mean?
And that's how actually Mos started.
Mos is a financial app
that helps you tear down financial barriers to opportunity.
The idea of Mos
is how do you take those financial solutions
that are built for the 1%
and make them accessible to the 99%?
What is incredible in this country
is that the cost of college is like flight tickets.
You can be sitting here paying $200
the person next to you is paying 1,000
and next person next to you is paying zero.
And so Mos' job is to make you the person who's paying zero.
Mos has a set of financial features that helps you
with the biggest financial problems you will face
in your first years of adulting.
And we attack the problem
of college tuition through two ways.
One, by making colleges asking you for less.
And two, by getting you the maximum of free money
you are eligible for.
One of the most incredible things we do
is that Mos has the biggest scholarship pool in America.
We have over $160 billion of financial aid.
And this is the place for scholarship.
We have like a ton of scholarship
but what is good is why I opened my Mos account.
They know, for example, that Mos knows already
that I'm a Hispanic student and that I come from Texas.
So, instead of me being lost
into the $160 billion of scholarship
that Mos has for everybody,
I have the ones that I know will be good for me.
I have the high chance Texas grants.
They're all here.
Some like $10,000, $3,000,
$3,000, $10,000 and I can just go and apply.
The other thing that we have at Mos
is that we actually give you cash back
on applying for scholarships.
We actually help you get money
by getting you jobs through our gigs platform.
So we work with gig partners
who are looking for students
and pay students well and we connect you with those.
People think it's crazy
that the financial app gives you free money
or a bank gives you free money.
We're very different from what's in there.
I am absolutely amazed by the work that has been done
by all the activists who are fighting every day
to get people a fair future,
a better education, access to education.
I believe that the ultimate goal
is that we do not let people
borrow insane amount of monies
and then beg for a savior
to come and give that money to them back.
Nearly 45%
can have their student debt fully canceled.
That's 20 million people
who can start getting on with their lives.
There is a true business potential in the 99%
and making them better, making them earn more.
By earning more, they will spend more.
By earning more, they will enjoy life more.
By earning more, they will enjoy the solution
you gave them more.
And so if you think about it
just from a business perspective,
that is already like a win-win.
I'm absurdly optimistic.
I really do believe things can change.
I believe that the future can be bright.
I'm someone that wakes up happy in the morning.
And so I always think about the biggest problems
in a positive mindset and that keeps me going.