A group of students at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management is set to make an impact in kids' lives a long way from their current headquarters in Evanston, Ill.
Their business? shareEd, a network of resources for preschool students in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, that would give existing schools $1,000 worth of educational resources for a $5 subscription. It's an initiative that would help combat major issues in early childhood development in developing nations, and sharEd is currently in the middle of a fundraising campaign that could launch them into big time social enterprise.
More than 100 million children under age six in developing countries don't reach their potential in cognitive development according to the Clinton Global Inititative. The idea behind sharEd is that students in slums often don't have the variety of educational materials to receive the multi-faceted learning that can set them up for the rest of their lives.
"Many schools don't have a single educational game or puzzle," the sharEd founders explain on their Indiegogo page. "Often the classrooms feature only didactic learning, where kids face the front of the room and recite numbers and the alphabet. Finally, despite their best intentions, many teachers don't have the training they need to provide a holistic education.
"Children who receive proper education in years zero to six are better prepared for primary school, high school and the workplace," they added.
So here is their plan: schools pay $5 to be a part of a network of schools that share $1000 worth of educational resources on a rotating basis. Teachers at the schools will also receive monthly training in early childhood education as well as how to use the resources (including books, toys, and games) effectively. sharEd is currently hoping to raise $10,000 to fund curriculum development, resources, teacher training, and logistics for team members to oversee the pilot. sharEd's pilot program will work with 10 schools in the Kibera slums in Nairobi, the largest informal settlement in Kenya.
If they raise $10,000, that money could end up going a lot further. sharEd's Indiegogo campaign is also an entry for the 2015 Online Challenge for the Hult Prize, a social enterprise accelerator that awards $1,000,000 to an impact start up every year. This year the Hult Prize is focused on start ups that are especially innovative in early childhood development. The top eight startups fundraising on Indiegogo will move onto a juried second round, and the winner of that round will go on as a finalist to potentially win the Hult Prize. Plus, the online winner will gain entry into a summer accelerator to fine tune their business plan.
The sharEd team is made up of four dual degree students pursuing MBAs at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management in addition to Masters in Design Innovation at the McCormick School of Engineering. The full team is made up of Kate Geremia, Nihar Shah, Derrick Wolbert, and Bobby Powers.
"We’re showing the world how to better utilize existing infrastructure and educational materials to educate more children and teachers than ever before," the team said on the Indiegogo page. "We’d be delighted to see our model’s cost advantage be copied all over the world to impact more children on a global scale."
(Image via indiegogo)
