As income inequality is rising and connectivity becomes ubiquitous, Thomas realized that in today's world we have a paradoxical economic phenomenon, where billions of people work, contribute content and actions for free but very few reap massive economic gain. He calls this system "Freeism", where a person’s actions on the internet create economic gain that benefits the few, thus having a built-in income inequality component. In 2009, Thomas had a vision of a much fairer economy, based on sharing, where if someone contributes and value is created, then members receive something in return. This way sharing becomes true sharing. He calls this new economic system "Wowism, where the majority of economic gain is shared with the community and the community can share in turn to do good in the world. To put Wowism in practice, he started building WowApp, launched in 2015 and with over 1 million users already, which basically shares more than 70% of its own revenue margin with its members.
Born in Switzerland, Thomas founded his first company at age 7, a fresh food delivery business. His inherent entrepreneurial spirit has led him to start several businesses throughout his life, currently on three continents. Today, Thomas is working on his most special project of all time, a project with big ambitions to reinvent the world economy and doing good in the world through the power of connections and sharing. The new project called WowApp has been officially launched in October 2015.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx