Why We Need 1 Billion People to Save Our Future (1B2035)

I want to tell you my story

In 2017, a routine medical exam changed everything in our home. My father was diagnosed with skin cancer. I was still very young, but I had already seen other family members lose similar battles against the same disease—my uncle to liver cancer, my aunt to stomach cancer, another to kidney cancer. Metastasis. Three uncles in total. At that moment, I didn’t know there were different mortality rates among types of cancer. I only knew that this word had the power to steal those I loved from me. I know something clicked inside of me. I felt immense fear, helplessness, and suffering. Now, it was my hero, my father. I made an absurd promise, the kind only a young person makes: I told myself I would cure cancer. Not out of ego, but out of desperation.

Over time, I realized that good intentions are not enough. In 2018, I understood that big dreams require real preparation. I began to balance my work as a salesman with my studies, starting to observe the world with more seriousness. I didn’t know exactly how I would make a difference, but I knew that if I stayed on autopilot, I would never get anywhere.

I spent years working almost entirely alone, trying to understand complex problems, studying technology, people, and systems. Until, in 2021, a truth became impossible to ignore: no one solves anything big alone. The youthful idea of being the hero who saves the world began to die—and that was a very good thing. Great changes are not born from isolated individuals, but from people connected by a common purpose.

In 2023, upon joining communities like the Google Developer Group, PMI, and Rotaract, something became even clearer. It wasn’t just about learning technical skills or leadership. It was about finding people who were also restless. People who didn’t just want a position, a title, or a better salary, but wanted to use what they knew to solve something real. There, I gained confidence, learned to communicate, and to lead—and, most importantly, I realized that there were many "problem solvers" scattered around, but they were disconnected.

This is what led me, in 2026, to create the Problem Solvers Foundation. Not as a traditional NGO, nor as a movement empty of slogans, but as a community built on a simple idea: we are all problem solvers—we are just poorly connected, poorly organized, and often looking in the wrong place.

Today, we still introduce ourselves by saying "I am an engineer," "I am a doctor," "I am a programmer," "I am an artist." These labels made sense for a long time. But silently, they have begun to lose their strength. Following the advancement of artificial intelligence, the roles have reversed. While we are distracted by screens, fundamental problems—health, education, energy, security, freedom, economic stability—grow without asking for permission.

What we need to be now is not just specialists. We need to be problem solvers. This requires a change in posture, mindset, and identity—not just mine or yours, but ours, as companies, governments, and institutions.

My purpose with the PSF is not just to prepare people to deal with the problems of the present and the future. It is to provoke a change in perspective. To bring together people who are both similar and different. To tear down artificial barriers. To remind us that, before any profession, we are a single race trying to ensure the existence of future generations.

When I talk about uniting 1 billion people by 2035, I’m not talking about a pretty number. I’m talking about strategy. One billion people represents about 12% of the world's population. In the theory of complex systems and social diffusion, there is the concept of critical mass: when a sufficiently large minority changes its behavior, the entire system begins to transform. It was this way with scientific, technological, and cultural revolutions. It doesn't start with everyone. It starts with enough.

Furthermore, connections change everything. A group with "n" people doesn't just generate "n" ideas. It generates n×(n−1)/2 possibilities for interaction. One billion connected people is not just a billion voices—it is hundreds of billions of potential collaborations. It is the farmer from Northeast Brazil dealing with drought connected to the engineer developing efficient irrigation in Israel. It is the teacher from a forgotten community in rural Kenya speaking with someone building educational artificial intelligence in Canada. It is the young student in France finding the executive who knows how to scale solutions in the United States of America.

The next ten years will not be like the previous ten. History makes this clear. Before the Industrial Revolution, no one imagined factories redesigning entire societies. Before the internet, few predicted global networks connecting billions of people in real-time. Whenever a foundational technology changes, the world accelerates. And in these moments, it’s not just about being left behind—it’s about adaptation. Those who do not change their mindset lose ground, lose relevance, and, in many cases, lose the ability to survive in a system that does not wait.

The Problem Solvers Foundation (PSF) is born from this awareness. Not to compete with the world, but to cooperate with it. Because, in the end, the future will not be decided by who has the most titles, the most followers, or the most capital—but by who can connect the right people to solve real problems, at the right time.

The next 10 years will be decisive for the next 20, 40, 80, 100 years.

And if you’ve made it this far, perhaps, deep down, you already know: you are also a problem solver. You were just waiting for the right context to act.

Fill out this form so I can get to know you better and so we can collaborate with one another.

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