Sabeer’s entrepreneurial journey began far from the world’s tech capitals.
“Silicon Valley” is synonymous with bold innovation, disruption, and global leadership. But what if the next big tech hub wasn’t in a sprawling city, but in a small town with untapped potential? This is the vision Sabeer Nelli, CEO of Zil Money, has brought to life with Silicon-Jeri—a bold initiative to transform his hometown of Manjeri into a vibrant tech ecosystem.
It’s more than just about building a company. Silicon-Jeri is a direct challenge to the idea that successful tech hubs must be in large metropolitan areas. It shows that innovation and growth can thrive anywhere, as long as the right resources, vision, and support are in place.
From Small-Town Entrepreneur to Global Fintech Leader
Sabeer’s entrepreneurial journey began far from the world’s tech capitals. As a teenager, he ran a cooking gas shop and managed potato farming operations—experiences that laid the foundation for his business philosophy of spotting opportunities in unexpected places
By 2005, Sabeer had founded Tyler Petroleum in the U.S., growing it into one of America’s fastest-growing private companies with over $60 million in annual revenue. Amid that success came a challenge: payment inefficiencies. Instead of accepting the cost, he built a solution—Zil Money.
What started as an internal tool evolved into a fintech powerhouse now processing nearly $100 billion for over one million business accounts, with capabilities spanning ACH, wire, virtual cards, and real-time cross-border transfers.
The Vision: Innovation Without Borders
With Silicon-Jeri, Sabeer aims to overturn one of business’s oldest myths—that great innovation must be rooted in large cities. His model blends global technology standards with local community development, creating an ecosystem where talent, not geography, defines success.
The heartbeat of Silicon-Jeri is the Zil Money Global Development Center—a modern facility with space for 500 employees, scalable to 1,400+ across multiple shifts. It’s not just about office space—it’s about creating a global-standard workplace that matches the ambitions of the businesses inside it.
This investment taps into a growing phenomenon: ‘reverse brain drain’. Skilled professionals from the region—long accustomed to leaving for career growth—now have a reason to return. Here, they can access global opportunities without giving up community, family, and quality of life.
Beyond that, Silicon-Jeri is designed as an innovation hub, not a single-company success story. Through the ZilCubator accelerator, Sabeer is helping startups access mentorship, resources, and opening doors to international markets. Regular hackathons ensure that the region’s emerging talent is consistently developed and deployed into high-impact roles.
Redefining the Geography of Innovation
Silicon-Jeri’s existence challenges more than business norms—it questions how the world defines opportunity. By anchoring high-value work in a small town, Sabeer is proving that infrastructure, vision, and execution matter more than a postal code.
Kerala already offers strong foundations—high literacy rates, a robust education network, with a growing startup ecosystem . Silicon-Jeri amplifies this with private-sector agility and Zil Money’s ready-made global reach.
Beyond the physical infrastructure, Silicon-Jeri fosters a mindset where local entrepreneurs are empowered to think globally. It’s about creating an environment where innovation thrives not because of geography, but because of the right ecosystem—a space where talent, vision, and opportunity intersect, regardless of location.
The Takeaway: Talent Strategy
Silicon-Jeri is not about recreating Silicon Valley—it’s about rewriting the blueprint. It’s proof that you can compete on the world stage without uprooting talent from their roots.
This is more than an innovation story. It’s about rebalancing opportunity, bridging the rural-urban gap, and creating a replicable model for small-town transformation.
Sabeer Nelli is crystal clear on the mission: “You build the right environment, talent will come. You give them the tools, they will build the future. Where it happens is just geography. What matters is possibility.”
Manjeri’s rise as Silicon-Jeri is just beginning—but it already carries a message for every small town and beyond: The location is no longer your limitation.