Benyamin Ahmad, 12 years old, enjoys swimming, taekwondo and coding, is not your ordinary schoolboy. He is already a millionaire made possible by selling his NFT collection called Weird Whales.
His interest in programming grew as early as nine years old, influenced by his father, Imran, a web developer. Benyamin started his programming journey by learning HTML and CSS and advanced his coding skills by learning other programs, including JavaScript.
Benyamin told CNBC that his interest in NFTs and smart contracts grew early this year. His interest in the technology behind NFTs pushed him to create his NFT collection, the Weird Whales.
Benyamin Ahmad and His Family
His father greatly influenced Ahmad’s passion for technology. He was intensely into computers because of his career as a web developer. On realizing the desire his son has for computers, he carried him along.
Imran reports that his passion for computers grew at the age of 12 years old. He recalls that his father got him his first computer at 12, which came with computer programs written at the back.
Out of curiosity and love for computers, he would type the codes and watch them play in fascination as animations. It was not until 18 years when he took up computer studies as a career. Thirty-five years later, he is still passionate about coding, programming and he is currently working at the London Stock Exchange.
Imran says that he noticed Benyamin’s interest in computers at six years old. In pursuit to nurture the interest, he purchased a new laptop for Benyamin. He states that it started as fun and games, but after confirming that he was genuinely interested, he moved to more structured and formal training.
The training involved coding every day, even during holidays. According to Imran, consistency is key in coding. For that reason, he ensured that his boy practiced coding every day, irrespective of the duration.
How Weird Whales Came to Be?
Many people do not know that Weird Whales was the second NFT project from Benyamin. He started by creating Minecraft Yee Haa, drawing his inspiration from the iconic game Minecraft. He managed to create and upload 40 small and unique Minecraft’s. However, this project did not go far because he created them manually, making it very difficult. He did not sell any of NFT from his first collection because he did not work in marketing and giveaways.
After studying how to generate NFTS, he finally used the acquired script to create unique images with different traits and backgrounds. The inspiration for Weird whales came from the popular term Whales, in Bitcoin, which represents investors with large amounts of Bitcoins.
Benyamin says that the project that cost him 300 dollars sold in 9 hours, and so far, he has earned more than 400, 000 dollars.
Benyamin says that he does not own a bank account since his parents are paying for all his expenses. He aims to prove that you do not need a bank account to survive and thrive in the financial world.