Holberton lebanon school fintech students

Fintech project built by Holberton School Lebanon’s Students

Opened in March 2020, Holberton School Lebanon is offering to students with prior knowledge in programming to specialize in Machine Learning, Web React, or Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies via our Specialization programs. The school, which has strong connections to local companies, gives students the opportunity to connect with industry professionals to use their tech skills for project collaboration.

Beirut’s startup Cedar Oxygen has offered two Holberton School Lebanon students, Rana El Khoury and Mohsen Abdelaal, the opportunity to work on a Fintech platform: a P2P FX platform to match the Supply and Demand of Dollars.

beirut lebanon student holberton school
Rana El Khoury and Mohsen Abdelaal, Holberton Lebanon Machine Learning students

The objective of this platform is to:

  1. Facilitate access to fresh dollars to address industrialists’ financing needs;
  2. Offer a transparent supply/demand backed FX rate to the industrialists;
  3. Engage the Lebanese diaspora through a remittance platform to support the actual economy in Lebanon.

While Rana previously had some knowledge and skills in programming, she believes that Holberton School helped her brush up on these skills and filled the gaps in her knowledge. 

On the other hand, Mohsen is an Electrical Engineer who is passionate about software programming and is determined to become a successful software engineer; to him, what really matters is how to write clean and efficient code.

For both of them, the Holberton School opportunity became possible thanks to the support of the Lebanese International Finance Executives (LIFE), which provided them with a scholarship that covers the full costs of the program.

Rana and Mohsen were both interested in this project because they felt that they could help their country to solve a major economic crisis. 

After 2 months of work, the project was shipped: Cedar Oxygen’s internal algorithm now calculates the provided FX Rate. The Corporate and the Lebanese diaspora can directly access the platform through Cedar Oxygen’s website, using a unique login and submitting  FX needs to buy or sell US dollars. 

Mohsen found the project challenging since he needed to meet the client’s requirements while delivering excellence on the technical side. This gave him tremendous experience and allowed him to enhance his soft skills. He says “Always work hard, practice, and dream big to reach and achieve your goals in life.” 

Cedar Oxygen was delighted by the work done by Rana and Mohsen and offered them both a full-time opportunity upon their successful graduation.

To know more about Cedar Oxygen P2P FX platform project, visit this website.