Zamná

Socioeconomic mobility in the rural areas of Mexico is, practically, non-existent. A lack of affordable education means the potential job opportunities for children in marginalized areas are extremely limited, furthering the cycle of poverty and inequality. Most of these costs can be attributed to transportation, housing, and food out-of-house —not education itself. 

Therefore, the proposed solution is the creation of a self-sufficient learning environment, centered around a sturdy, solar-powered, tablet. This tablet comes preloaded with not only the government-required curriculum, expanded to a private-level degree, but extra content such as: books, gamified learning content, and extra chapters on Personal Finance and Health.

Globally, an initial adaptation period would be required to analyze the local factors that currently hinder education, and address them the directly. The content thus will change, but both the product and the business model allow for high versatility and durability, to resist the harshest of conditions.

The particular problem I'm addressing is the "non-education cycle". A couple that doesn't count with the necessary education or skills to access a high paying job must turn to jobs that don't remunerate them enough to afford proper education for their children, who in turn grow up with the same dilemma as their parents, furthering the technical and economical divide with every generation. 

The INEGI, which is the national organism in charge of census, estimates that while 90.5% of children age 12-14 are in school, only 45.3% of those continue on their education. While there are multiple reasons why this happens depending on the region, two big factors are distance and infrastructure: some small towns have primary schools, but almost none have high schools, let alone colleges. And even if a town has a school, it could still be far away from one's house, making every trip an odyssey can't or won't make, specially when the school itself, sadly, doesn't offer much quality. 

My solution is to do away with those problems in one swift move: a solar-powered preloaded tablet requires no further infrastructure, kids would only need to travel once a year to take the government exams. 

My solution comes in two parts: tablets and teachers. The tablets are devices not so big they drive up costs but big enough you can read in them without straining your eyes. This tablet comes with a solar charger, both of which are protected by a case with a recycled plastic frame and rubber corners. This tablet comes preloaded with every content for a particular grade according to government regulations, plus books and courses in English and personal finances. The technology is fairly simple —as of now. In the future, AR technology for subjects like biology and physics could be implemented, a Bluetooth network so devices could connect with each other, but that's hypothetical, and that doesn't count.

The second and equally important part is the teachers. This part involves recruiting teachers already in the community and empowering to give more and better classes: each student will be assigned a predetermined date and time for a weekly or biweekly session with their closest teacher and other students, so they can clarify the questions the tablet couldn't. The teachers will have didactic tools and a tablet of their own. This way, a single teacher can teach hundreds more than before.

The educational issue is a complex and convoluted one, as you surely already know. No one kid is the same, but nevertheless, segmenting the different undeserved groups can help make the problem easier to tackle. The challenge this year is to help the under-resourced population of Latin America and the Caribbean, and so far I've been able to identify three big groups: marginalized communities, remote towns, and remote homes. 

Marginalized communities, or MCs, are those that live either in the outskirts of some cities or in the very center of others. The individuals in this group are underserved in that while they can physically access to places with better education, they are financially unable to. The jobs people from MCs can aspire are mostly very physically demanding and don't remunerate well. It's not uncommon for kids from these families to work as soon as possible to support their families, and the work schedules make it hard to pair both lifestyles. To better understand this segment, I have conducted surveys  and interviewed the different stakeholders, from the teachers "on the ground" to the school directors and government officials. It is with this group where I would start to implement my solution, mainly because they are the biggest group and servicing them will be easier as I'm just starting out. Their proximity will cut down transportation and logistical costs, and the availability of teachers will also facilitate the onboarding process to get the necessary volume of them and get the business going. Strategic allegiances with local distributors will also make the business model of small monthly payments easier to roll out. This, in turn, will create a new opportunity for anyone to learn private-level education at their own pace, which allows more people to still sustain their families while furthering their own education, which culminates in access to better work opportunities for people in MCs.

After a certain level of capital has been obtained, we can move on to the second group: people in remote towns, or RTs. RT's have a far greater challenge ahead, because they have the same issues as MCs but they also have the factor of distance against them. There are teachers available to teach some subjects but not enough infrastructure to house the students, and even if there are some brick-and-mortar schools, they only go up to a certain level, after which anyone that wishes to further their education must go to the nearest city. Even without counting the cost of education itself, costs of transportation, housing, food, etc. means, for most people in RTs, this feat is impossible. Having gotten to know some of these people, something is very clear: they value education; parents believe it's the best inheritance. They simply can't afford it. This is where Zamná comes in: we bring the education to them. The tablet enables people to continue their education at home, no further costs required. The teachers that live in the town can now service everyone in a personalized fashion, because the personal sessions are spread out amongst the students through the month. Unfortunately, the transportation costs that are shifted to us are only feasible (while maintaining an affordable price for the tablet) once economies of scale have been achieved. However, once this group has also been successfully serviced, we can move on to the final group.

People in remote homes, or RHs. These are the families that live in places that don't even qualify as towns. While by far the minority in this issue, I believe no one should be without access to quality education. Unfortunately, I've been unable to get any first-hand information from anyone involved with this group, or the people of the group themselves. Nevertheless, if the point is reached where a network of hubs through the country have been established, said hubs could serve as supply stations for people in these homes. While I believe it's unlikely there are teachers in these towns, a different software could be preloaded which is specialized in people with no previous contact with technology. A warning, however: a very small subgroup of these people willfully choose these living conditions; they like working the fields and the farms, and that's okay. The objective of this business is to offer people education, not force it to them. Expand their choices, not limit them. 

The three groups previously identified all collectively encompass anyone you could qualify as under-resourced, and my solution is aimed not directly at the challenges set by Tprize, but to the root causes. Developing the skills for a good job, which in turn leads to better opportunites, which in turn correlates heavily with well-being, starts with good education. If I artificially create high paying jobs, the only thing I've done is dilute the total workforce, making their job worth less. Bet for the long run, create a sustainable educational system, and the objectives Tprize set will follow naturally as well. 

I'm currently undergoing incubation in the university Tecnológico de Monterrey, where my prototype is being developed and my business model being validated. The MVP for a live test is scheduled for November, and if the hypothesis that children can learn through this system is validated (which one could argue that through the pandemic it has been, but it's never wrong to be sure) we'll start the pilot in January 2022.

The technology in and on itself is nothing new -yet. A tablet with sufficient data storage and regular screen, battery, and processor. Solar panels are also nothing exceptionally new. The didactic tools would be 3D printed or made of recycled material, but the point is, no new or disruptive technology is employed because it would be, at this stage and for the short/middle term, unnecessary. AI, AR, or IoT devices are all incredible tools, but they increase costs and therefore prices, and price sensitivity is a big factor. 

The biggest barrier in this business, by far, will be charging the money. Since none of this is done online (because it's meant for people that may not even have electricity), I can't just ask them to put in their credit card info. Likewise, upfront payments for an electronic device will be too costly for most families within my demographic. Therefore, I will need to, quite literally, go door to door asking people to pay either their monthly fees or their subscription. If historical data is anything to go by, this problem alone might kill my business before the year. Which leaves me to do one of the following: partner with a bigger distributor who has the debt collecting infrastructure but charges high interests to the customer (which I would like to avoid), or get enough money to create a small debt collecting infrastructure myself, with lower interest rates. This is where Tprize comes in: the money would be used to further develop this infrastructure so I can avoid the high interest rates. Tprize could also help in showing me a third alternative, one which I perhaps haven't thought of before and that could solve this debt collecting dilemma. In fact, if given the option between the money and the idea, I would take the idea any day.

First and foremost, I need content creators. I may be able to develop the software that goes into the software, and I also know the subjects that will be taught. However, the difference between knowing a subject and teaching a subject is abysmal. I have tried teaching myself through a local charity, and it's not easy. I need expert teachers who can reliably teach a subject when they can't get quick feedback, who can anticipate the questions so they can be preloaded.

I also need help in how to continue to recruit these content creators: do I give away equity? Commissions for each sale? Fixed amount? Something completely different? Basically, how do I get them to be involved in the process while keeping the operation lean?

Any partnership with a parts manufacturer would be incredible, Zamná would be able to reach lower costs which would then translate in more affordable tablets which of course leads to more adoption and volume, in turn fueling the subscription model and creating a snowball effect where growth occurs fast and organic.