TechLit Africa

1. All of humanity coming online is an inevitability, but those who are online possessing the means of production is not. That is why we ensure effective usage and adoption of technology, rather than provide internet.

2. After trying many solutions, we combined some potent factors:

a) children love computer games,

b) schools already have vast infrastructure and undeniable incentives to host our programs, and

c) parents are eager to fund local operations.

Our arrangement addresses multiple issues we've learned from our predecessors, such as: students that are not engaged, infrastructure that falls into disrepair, and disinterested communities.

3. We see students that are confident at the keyboard within a few months, but we still need to find the best curriculum and support systems to empower these students to join the digital workforce. We believe that scale is a matter of time, because our model is working very well.

We are focused on preparing the next generation of African students for digital life and work.

The statistics about "Africa still offline" doesn't fully capture our market. Most of those who are online are only using a mobile phone to use social media. Even those who are more aware of the internet at large do not know how to find basic (let alone reliable) information, how to type, how to maintain a professional online presence, and so on.

All of humanity coming online is an inevitability, but those who are online possessing the means of production is not.

We have some human magic and some tech magic that makes everything tick.

In human terms, we get every part of the community something they need:

1) children feel safe in our labs and love games,

2) parents are providing a promising future for their children,

3) young adults get a very real job working with technology, and

4) schools get prestige and free marketing.

Technically, our computer labs are built from 1) used equipment, 2) a custom desktop and 3) a local intranet.

1) We collect used technology from developed countries (so far, mostly from Chicago). There is a vast surplus of equipment churned out of corporations in developed countries every year. That equipment, now going to waste, will be the means of production for other half of humanity.

2) We install a Linux desktop that we customize through observation to be less surprising and easier to use for a beginner. We include kid-friendly games and educational content that kids actually use.

3) It's important to us that all the computers are connected locally, but not globally. Our students cannot find dangerous material online, but they can communicate, collaborate and play games together over an "intranet".

The children we work with are forced to memorize information to pass tests, then often go to an abusing or neglectful home without enough food. When they graduate from school, they are likely to be online with a cell phone, but lack the skills necessary to earn money from the internet.

These kids are respected in our classrooms, and trusted to follow their curiosity and collaborate to achieve digital mastery. Our program is so unbelievably potent because what we do is not only the best part of the day for these kids, but also one of the most empowering events in their lives.

It is on the top of our minds every day that a culture of verbal and physical abuse is just outside our classroom, and our teachers do everything possible to provide a safe, supportive and social space for our students.

All of humanity coming online is an inevitability, but those who are online possessing the means of production is not.

We focus on primary and secondary school students because all of the incentives and infrastructure align so well, enabling us to scale without relying on wasteful and insensitive top-down tactics.

We are always experimenting with adults to find online work, but haven't had a breakthrough yet. The best solution we've had for adults so far is through employment as teachers and IT staff in our labs.

In 2018 and 2019 we experimented with different solutions, eventually discovering and testing the pieces of what we have now.

Having just started our pilot in May 2021, we are already teaching 2500 students by running three computer labs, and have agreements in place for our next two labs. All of our systems are working as expected, including: marketing, agreements with schools, installation, maintenance, recruiting, curriculum and collections from parents. We are on track to be operating 10 computer labs by August, and plan to be in growth mode soon, expanding to another 100 computer labs by the end of 2022.

The innovation we're using is the combination of incentives: school infrastructure and prestige, kids playing games and feeling safe, and parents funding local operations.

Previous groups have only used one or a few of these incentives, and typically with top-down mandates. The result was that programs were never engaging from the start, then fall apart over time.

We expect that anyone from nonprofits "closing the digital divide" to entrepreneurs seeking profit copy us in the next ten years.

We have over 2,500 students using our labs now, after the first month of our pilot program. We will have around 10,000 students using our labs by the end of our pilot (serving 10 schools).

In 2022, we our goal is to serve 100 more schools, which will be closer to 100,000 students. Depending on next year's success, we could target 500-1000 more in 2023.

The total addressable market with this problem (most rural African students) is large enough that we would need to grow exponentially for the rest of the decade before significantly solving this issue.

We have partners using our technology in their own schools, with their own models. We did not include those students.

In 2019 we ran many experiments and focused mostly on engagement. Now that we have a relatively-proved model and such awesome engagement, we are focused on servicing 10 schools.

Because we are struggling to keep up with demand, our impact goals are easily being hit.

In the future, we would like to gather quality indicators about learning objectives. We have an informal tech roadmap that will make that happen.

At the moment, Tyler Cinnamon and Nelly Cheboi are the directors. We have a board of 7 advisors, all with experience in nonprofits and some with experience at very similar organizations. We have one software intern, paid by the University of Chicago, and another two interns joining soon, doing accounting and marketing.

Nelly Cheboi grew up in rural Kenya, then studied computer science in the United States and worked as a software engineer. She knows rural African problems intimately and what the entire road from poverty to high-tech production looks like. Nelly is an inspiration to donors, local staff and everyone in between. She will not stop until this problem is solved, and everyone knows it.

Tyler Cinnamon grew up in rural Illinois, and worked as a self-taught software engineer. He knows how to build and maintain the technology necessary for a continent of local computer networks.

Our board has experience not only in nonprofits, but in closing the digital divide. They have a life's work of experience that says our solution is one step beyond existing organizations.

In our American organization, we hire people who understand the problem.

We will "federate" our African operations so that every country can follow its own customs and hiring practices. So far, we have only hired Kenyans to build, run and maintain our computer labs in Kenya.

We need to get around the misplaced Kenyan import fees on used electronics more than three years old. This is likely not meant for us, and we share many goals with the Kenyan government.

Secondly, we need funding to cover operations (including import fees if our first need isn't met).

Finally, we need to foster and maintain relationships with corporate donors. We are their best path to global impact.

Our biggest challenges are:

1) reducing or eliminating import fees,

2) fundraising to cover American costs and import fees while we grow our African operations,

3) creating and growing relationships with corporations in developed economies.

We believe that in five years we could be the largest organization impacting tech literacy. We will use this prize in one of two ways:

a) If we are able to waive the import fees on our next 4,000 computers, we will use this prize to ship machines for the next two years, likely teaching tech literacy skills to over 200,000 rural African students per year.

b) But if we are unable to waive the import fees, we would use this prize to import 4,000 computers, which would likely teach tech literacy skills to over 100,000 rural African students per year.

Either way, we will likely provide a safe place and a hopeful future for each dollar contributed.

We believe that equality of the sexes is an integral part of tech literacy. In a virtual world, there is no difference between the sexes, and we will not allow any implicit or explicit sexism to survive in our organizations.

Our computer labs are run in contrast to the classrooms next door. We provide a safe place for all of our students, without gender barriers or advantages. In Nelly's words: "every student is treated like the president", and she means that for boys and girls.

We have already faced a barrage of sexism from leaders in these communities, and have always persevered. None of our teachers will be forced to wear dresses or to accept being less than men. We will continue to grow an organization of equality using every ounce of leverage our organization has.

We believe the most powerful innovations in technology have always been those that are needed most and simplest to adopt. The most impactful solution for a more digitally equitable is the redistribution of computers. While equitable financial and governance tools may transform the world, they will not place their benefactors on a level playing field. People need the tools and the skills for digital life. That is why we are not building a distributed ledger or complex consensus system, we are simply preparing the next 6 billion people with the typing skills they need to be effective citizens of this century.