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When it comes to giving back, there are those entrepreneurs who feel enough is never enough! A self made millionaire by the time he was in his early 20’s, one rags to riches story of a bullied little boy turned successful CEO of various companies is someone to keep an eye on. Gurbaksh Singh Chahal has numerously time and time again, been able to help those who have come before him.
Image: Gurbaksh Chahal
Chahal was born in Tarn Taran Sahib in Punjab, India to Avtar Singh and Arjinder Chahal. In 1985, his parents received a visa for America through the Diversity Visa (DV) program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, and the following year, when he was four, the family settled in San Jose, California.
With little friends to hang out with, Chahal had the spare time to work side jobs and make thousands of dollars buying low and selling high. For example, he’d buy refurbished printers from a local flea market for $50 and sell them on eBay for up to $200.
He used that money to capitalize a startup, ClickAgents, at age 16, and ended up selling that business for $40 million. ClickAgents was an advertising network focused on performance-based advertising. Two years later, on November 1, 2000, ValueClick announced it agreed to buy ClickAgents in a $40 million all-stock merger. Chahal had a three year non-compete agreement with ValueClick.
In time, The Chal Foundation dream came true. His ground team came to find many people from all walks of life, that were able to be helped directly through him and his team’s contributions. One of the principles of The Chahal Foundation is to aim to provide and ensure every child’s basic right to be educated is available to them. On several occasions, Gurbaksh Chahal himself has been known to go to schools, underprivileged shelters, and community centers to voice his belief and vision to create communities across the globe, where every child has a venue to dream big and then follow his/her heart to achieve that dream.
Gurbaksh has been known to large communities together, and strive to solves challenges that are hindering our children’s educations. He doesn’t just talk the talk but walks the walk too. He has set up several school funds and student scholarships across the globe: US, UK, Africa and India. On a regular basis, students benefit from his personal generosity and contribution, through he hopes to enrich their lives and give opportunity. More so, Gurbaksh constantly supports and enriches entrepreneurs like him through his motivational blog www.belimitless.com, where he gives tips and advice on the things that drove him to his success.
In India, the Chahal Foundation has launched a new campaign known as “Let’s make our kids smile.” In an interview, Gurbaksh shared his thought of starting this campaign. In a conference, he highlighted the fact that India has 440 million children. Of these, over 180+ million students, lack proper education. He posed the question, “how can India lead if we as a community can’t take care of our future?” Gurbaksh Chahal further highlighted the major cause as to why kids don’t finish school in India.
Welfare for children is a major focus of the Chahal Foundation. Not only does this foundation provide means to proper and safe schooling, but address the issue of child labor – often an issue that is ignored. For millions of children across the globe, education is an impossible dream. Many children end up being part of the workforce at an early age to support their families. Gurbaksh Chahal Foundation aimed to address this issue when they created their slogan: “Save the future. Share hope. Share a dream. Make them smile. Make a difference”.
There has also been aide in helping for various disaster reliefs such as Hurricane Irma and Chahal will be donating 100.000 to help those affected by the hurricane. It’s amazing individuals like Chahal who keep us motivated, inspired and encouraged to do more for those around us.
