Toynovo

Play is a fundamental right to grow healthily, but we have 3 problems: 1) Half the children in the world don´t have access to toys and their families don´t know about the importance of play. 2) Children get bored of toys in less than 12 weeks. 3) Toys produce 30M tons of CO2/year. 

Toynovo is the first circular economy community for toys & pedagogical materials, that matches supply and demand through an intelligent platform. On the supply side, we have schools & families that sell or rent their toys to generate income. They also donate, repair or recycle. On the demand side, we have schools & families that renew toys every month, buying used or renting. 

When scaling Toynovo, we can democratize learning through Play, as we reach families with better and a wider variety of play tools, while donating toys and promoting toy libraries in vulnerable communities.

Playing is a fundamental right to grow healthily. Multiple studies show that brain development depends on the connections we generate while playing. But we have 3 problems.

1. Children get bored of toys before 3 months because the outgrow them.

2. Half of the children do not have toys to play with, this is 260M children in the world. 

3. Toys produce 30M tons of CO2/ year. 

Toynovo is the first circular economy community for toys, matching supply and demand through an intelligent platform. On the supply side we have families and schools that sell or rent their toys to generate income. They also donate, repair or recycle. On the other side, we have families and schools that renew toys every month, buying used, buying new or renting. We also promote play with partnering foundations, so that lower-income families receive donations of toys and participate in workshops about the importance of play. 

Supply is curated through pictures that are registered in a landing page in our web page. Toynovo´s team offers rent, buy or barter of the toys and materials and negotiates with families and schools. In the future, this offers will be automatized. 

Demand is managed through a platform that offers available toys to families and schools. 

Currently Toynovo is working on a wallet so that families and schools can use available cash on the platform. Meanwhile, families pay for monthly plans of 10USD, which gives them availability to a combination of toys priced in 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 USD. We include 1 transportation per month, insurance for damages, cleaning and pedagogical coaching. 

After 24 months, Toynovo is serving 1000 families in all levels of the income pyramid. Currently we are serving 400 families of middle-low, middle, middle-high and high income that pay for the rental service. Toynovo is also serving 400 families in low and low-low income communities through partnerships with foundations. On the other hand, 200 families are receiving income renting or selling their used toys and materials. 

The description of these families is:

* Working mothers, mainly entrepreneurs, teachers and dedicated to the health sector (therapists, doctors, nurses) .

* During the pandemia 80% worked from home. Now 60% do so. 

* They live in Bogota and sorroundings, mainly near parks and areas with shopping malls.

* They value (in order): variety and access to toys and educational materials, savings, eco-friendly initiatives. 

The description of schools is: 

* Private Prekinders

* Private Schools with a high population of children from 4-10 years

They are underserved because for the money the have available, they cannot reach the development needs of their children concerning toys and educational materials. 

To assure we understand their needs, we are building a very participative community with the following strategy:

* Families and Teachers are served personally with the help of our educational team. Currently service is managed through Whatsapp, calls, and meetings. The goal is to classify the needs and the actions in order to systematize solutions and then digitalize them. 

* We are promoting the businesses and services of our customers (they are entrepreneurs, teachers and health agents).

* We are trialling solutions constantly in order to assure we ADD VALUE to our customers.

Their needs are addressed through (in order): 

* Wide variety of toys and materials. What we don´t have, we find.

* Development needs packages

* Personalized customer service (to be automatized and digitalized after learnings)

The use of toys and pedagogical materials is highly inefficient and  results in families and teachers lacking the tools to promote learning through play. The situation is worse in vulnerable communities. On the other hand, teachers normally lack the resources necessary to renew materials in order to innovate and promote significant play experiences. 

The solution is a highly effective platform that matches supply and demand addressed to families, teachers and schools.

This solution supports and builds the capacity of formal and informal educators to better prepare learners of all ages for the jobs of today and tomorrow, giving them access to more and better materials.

Support and build the capacity of formal and informal educators to better prepare Latin American and Caribbean learners of all ages for the jobs of today and tomorrow; and

Toynovo started operations 24 months ago, and is currently serving 1000 families. We are generating income, and have negotiated a Franchise for Costa Rica and Central America to scale the model. 

We have innovated a business model that matches supply and demand.

We are currently web based on Word Press, and use an operation platform from an outsourcing https://toynovo.clynk.me/o38we... 

In Jan 2022, we will migrate to https://bubble.io/

We currently work with marketplaces and will develop our wallet in https://bubble.io/ 

We have information risks that we overcome with security software

We currently serve 1000 families. We plan to serve 25.000 next year and 500.000 in the next 5 years.

Families served and fully developing the potential of children

Teachers served and fully developing the potential of children

CO2 evaded

We present an annual impact report with the help of consultants

Our team has 6 full time members and 5 contractors for logistics. 

* Maria Rubio: As CEO, I have a 25 year experience in the social sector, both in education and early childhood development. I also owned a toy shop were we delivered workshops for children. In my experience I have accumulated a wide variety of partners worldwide, with which we are negotiating the global scale of Toynovo.

* Daniel Rubio. As COO, Daniel has s 12 year experience in finance and controlling, that has given him the capacity to put in place the structure for the 

* Carolina Paredes. As Chief of Play and educator, Carolina has more than 6 years experience as teacher. She understands Children´s Development and teachers needs to promote learning through play. 

Our team has all ages and genres. We have a vesting program, so that our first employees become part of the associates. We follow all B Corp rules, and are on our way to be certified. 

Toynovo wants to scale it´s model to accelerate democratization of learning through play in the region. Winning the prize will give us the exposure and funding needed to scale our solution.

Toynovo needs to automatize and digitalize it´s solution in order to scale the model. Once this step is covered, the model can be scaled through franchises, as modeled in Costa Rica by the end of 2021. 

Schools around the region, serving them with better materials.