GLUE-TECH MULTI LINKS

In Nigeria There are millions of out of Primary and Secondary School children, affecting their pathway for economic sustainability and good living, much of this trend is driven by insurgencies and bandithdity like Boko Haram and Kidnaping, especially in the northern part of the country, among the most vulnerable are; girls child, children living in IDPs and rural areas.

According to The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq about 10 to 12 million children are currently out of school in the country, according to the National Bureau of Statistics 90% of them are in the northern part due to the Boko Haram Crises.

Also according to the UNICEF 
In 2021, there were 25 attacks on schools. 1,440 children were abducted, and 16 children killed.

In March 2021, no fewer than 618 schools were closed in six northern states (Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Niger, and Yobe) over the fear of attack and abduction of pupils and members of staff. The closure of schools in these states significantly contributed to learning losses and added to out of School children.

Thenceforth, the government of the day engage most of its activities such as humanitarian assistance, job opportunities, government palliatives and other government Interventions through online platforms, this initiative seems to be catastrophe to these vulnerable areas, even international donors, NGOs contribute their own quarter to those communities through online platforms 

According to NBTE Nigeria has 90 million unemployed youths, out of them 10 million are almajiri from northern Nigeria who have neither formal education nor basic digital literacy.

These barriers left people in vulnerable condition, for lacking basic needs and social amenities like; 

Lack of access to basic communities health care

Lack of access to Government Intervention programs

Lack of access to International and Local Support

Lack of Basic formal Education

Lack of Digital literacy and entrepreneurial skills

This penonomina left these vulnerability in hash conditions having nether basic formal education nor basic digital literacy to access Governmental and Nongovernmental assistance to earn their lives. This gap must be fill up.

Glue-tech Multi Links is blended online and off line platform that provides access to basic education as well as basic digital literacy to vulnerable communities in Nigeria, where is no internet access we use RASP (Rural Awareness and Sensitization Platform), to tech and sensitize the vulnerable people in the communities most of them are children age bracket (5-18), Women, Almajiris, People living with disabilities. we engage them base own their schedule, because majority of the youth are going to farm in the morning in rainy season, the women engage in home activities in the afternoon and evening, there we engage them to their convenient time, using Community centers, Government School building and Village heads Place as a venue and also uses computers projectors and Tablets as a tools for RASP Platform.

for the RASP (Rural Awareness and Sensitization Platform), we are engaging our Volunteers Members most of them are graduates and corps members, to teach and sensitize the communities, we divided the program in to 3 groups first morning program for women, Friday to Sunday 8 am to 11 pm, and 3 pm to 6 pm Young Boys. 

We also engage both male and female in the nigh, viewing centers, we are showing the program with helps of projectors, the program has been shown every Friday and Saturday between 8 pm to 11 pm.

We are using SLMSP (Social Learning Management System Platform), for our online Platform, in the area where there is  internet access, we are using social media to share our content like WhatsApp, e-mail, the content are downloadable so if one person downloads can share the content to many, and we have developed Learning Management System Platform, for easy accessibility to user, online content are informs of Audio and Video.

We design our curriculum, that teaches basic literacy, basic numeracy and sensitization on digital entrepreneurship in English and their local languages  

Based on this we capitalize on our 3 core principles that is 

1. Organizing and giving the training to our Volunteers through, our online platforms (Glue-tech Learning management System, Glue-tech App, Zoom and MS Team Platform), Trained the Trainers. 

2.  Educating the parents on how best to help the children both at home with their learning and how best to engage with their children based on personalized content and chatbot, then how to access Government intervention programs.
3. Physical Training to our Volunteers and guiding them on how to present our SLMSP (Social Learning Management System Platform), to our target Class while engaging in RASP (Rural Awareness and Sensitization Platform), they can also sensitize to people on to how use SLMSP (Social Learning Management System Platform), where there is internet access.

Our target population is out-of-school adolescents between the ages of 5-18 years from vulnerable communities across Nigeria. This cohort of young people is mostly Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), out of School children, People living with disabilities who never got the opportunity to enroll in a formal school or dropped out of school due to armed conflict, as well as young girls that didn't enroll as a result of socio-cultural norms.

Our solution allows our target audience to access learning conveniently, build resilience and skills that better position them for opportunities in education, entrepreneurship, and employment

We are committed to support our volunteers to engage with different mechanisms, to transmit the learning process we continually organize seminars and workshops to increase the awareness of students and the teachers. We choose the topics based on the situations and their needs. We see and understand the real problems of the basic primary students in our country—the design and implementation suit precisely what children, teachers, and parents need nowadays

We also RASP (Rural Awareness and Sensitization Platform), we are engaging our Volunteers Members most of them are graduates and corps members, to teach and sensitize the communities, we divided the program in to 3 groups first morning program for women, Friday to Sunday 8 am to 11 pm, and 3 pm to 6 pm Young Boys. 

We also engage both male and female in the nigh, viewing centers, we are showing the program with helps of projectors, the program has been shown every Friday and Saturday between 8 pm to 11 pm.

We are using SLMSP (Social Learning Management System Platform), for our online Platform, in the area where there is  internet access, we are using social media to share our content like WhatsApp, e-mail, the content are downloadable so if one person downloads can share the content to many, and we have developed Learning Management System Platform, for easy accessibility to user, online content are informs of Audio and Video.

We design our curriculum, that teaches basic literacy, basic numeracy and sensitization on digital entrepreneurship in English and their local languages  

Based on this we capitalize on our 3 core principles that is 

1. Organizing and giving the training to our Volunteers through, our online platforms (Glue-tech Learning management System, Glue-tech App, Zoom and MS Team Platform), Trained the Trainers. 

2.  Educating the parents on how best to help the children both at home with their learning and how best to engage with their children based on personalized content and chatbot, then how to access Government intervention programs.

3. Physical Training to our Volunteers and guiding them on how to present our SLMSP (Social Learning Management System Platform), to our target Class while engaging in RASP (Rural Awareness and Sensitization Platform), they can also sensitize to people on to how use SLMSP (Social Learning Management System Platform), where there is internet access.

We are applying to this solve because we want add to our existing program to create access to our platform for million of vulnerable people in rural and sub- urban areas, to have basic literacy on numeracy and digital literacy. 

Unlike competitors, which are mostly exam driven, and concentrated on online learning dependent, our Hybrid approach (online/offline web app and Physical engagement via school partnerships) promotes early access to in-demand skills and employability, inclusiveness of user segments with low or no internet penetration in low- and middle-income communities, hence it can scale to impact a larger user segment mostly found in public schools and in millions of enrolled students as they are being deprived early access to technology education.

Glue-tech more-so possesses a 5-year Traction with deep market Insight (user needs, pain-points) of different user segments; Schools that want to add value but don’t have access, Parents that seeks a return on 12 years of education investment in a child, teachers that are willing to upskill but do not have the access and means and young learners that craves for their dream jobs but do not have the employable technology skillset. This has been gathered over the years to validate the misalignment between school learning and in-demand employability in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Thirdly, unlike other competitors and solutions, which deploys technology education as optional, a club, or as independent online learning, Nigeria is integrated as a subject in schools, just like Mathematics, taken term in, term out all through a learner’s study cycle from grades 5 through 12, hence provides a sustainable and long-term learning approach using pre-existing school structure. The Glue-tech implementation approach captures the highest concentration and clusters of where learners can be found, Schools.

implements both video-based and interactive project-based approaches to learning to foster critical thinking and collaboration through its project challenge and Glue-tech community unlike competitors focused on video and multiple-choice assessment

Glue-tech presently focuses on the Sub-Saharan African market for the next 5 years while Indian Ed-tech leaders BYJU and LEAD are direct competitors running the same B2B models as Glue-tech, however with different market segments concentrated in Asia. Cypher coders the UK based Ed-tech and valued at 6.8 million Euros implements the same approach as Glue-tech but concentrated on the UK market

Implementing the Glue-tech model gives us the platform, access, and potential to impact a total available user segment of 27 564 906 young minds enrolled in primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria. However, we are committed to impacting an estimated 500 000 students in the next three years. Just like Codecademy for teams that launched in 2020 and partners with organizations and universities, consequently recorded 350 percent year over year increase, The Glue-tech B2B school and organizational partnership model will also give us the speed to scale faster and larger for younger learners, while our B2C widens our reach for more inclusiveness. 

Some of the major challenges out of school young people and our community experience are; Lack of employability skills which leads to Unemployment and generational poverty, vulnerability to join bad gangs that leads to insecurity in the community, Lack of dignity and self-esteem among many others.

Our vision is to reach over 2,000,000 young people aged 5-18 years from marginalized communities across North-Eastern Nigeria with alternative learning pathways to access basic literacy, numeracy, and soft skills by 2023 thereby equipping them with the necessary skills required to become productive in the communities.

Through our solution, we intend to reduce the population of out-of-school youth in North-eastern Nigeria through access to quality and relevant education and skills. We also want to substantially increase the number of youth who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, and entrepreneurship. We shall ensure that youth achieve literacy and numeracy. 

Glue-tech, through its online, offline Web App and Physical Learning Centers provides early and affordable access to In-demand Tech Skills and as a subject just like “Mathematics” set in (Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Game Design, Coding, Fun Electronics, and Creative Digital Arts) for Grades (4 -12) for low and middle-income communities characterized by low or no internet penetration all through their study cycle in grade school.

Consequently,  learners complete Grade school with multiple in-demand technology skills as needed and relevant to any course of study or career field they choose. Our immediate goal is to improve inclusiveness by increasing early and affordable access to updated technology content and in-demand employable skills sets for these young learners from disadvantaged communities

600 000 yearly graduates in Nigeria remain unemployed for 5 years after graduation, as the unemployment rate increased to 33 percent by the end of 2020 (2020 National Bureau of Statistics Report (NBS)), resulting in an unproductive workforce. According to the “Future of Jobs” Survey (World Economic Forum Report 2020), 55.4 percent of companies surveyed say, The Skills gaps in the local labor market are seen as a perceived barrier to the adoption of new technologies.

However, in the long term, TAP will have reduced unemployment rates and created an early career and employment opportunities for more than 500 000 out of 27 564 906 pupils presently enrolled in primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria.

Over the past 4-years, TAP has impacted 18 580 learners with over 65 000 teaching hours across three states: Abuja, Niger, and the Kano States in Nigeria. Our video feedbacks from subscribed learners and partner schools suggest young learners can now compete healthily with their contemporaries in other parts of the world. More than 90 percent of our School Partners have become repeated subscribers while they recommend TAP to prospective partners. Our partner schools have added more value to their graduating students while parents reap a positive Return on their Educational Investment.

Glue-tech through its online, offline Web App and Physical Learning Centers provides early and affordable access to In-demand Tech Skills and as a subject just like “Mathematics” set in (Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Game Design, Coding, Fun Electronics, and Creative Digital Arts) for Grades (4 -12) for low and middle-income communities characterized by low or no internet penetration all through their study cycle in grade school.

Consequently, Glue-tech learners complete Grade school with multiple in-demand technology skills as needed and relevant to any course of study or career field they choose. Our immediate goal is to improve inclusiveness by increasing early and affordable access to updated technology content and in-demand employable skills sets for these young learners from disadvantaged communities

600 000 yearly graduates in Nigeria remain unemployed for 5 years after graduation, as the unemployment rate increased to 33 percent by the end of 2020 (2020 National Bureau of Statistics Report (NBS)), resulting in an unproductive workforce. According to the “Future of Jobs” Survey (World Economic Forum Report 2020), 55.4 percent of companies surveyed say, The Skills gaps in the local labor market are seen as a perceived barrier to the adoption of new technologies.

However, in the long term, Glue-tech will have reduced unemployment rates and created an early career and employment opportunities for more than 500 000 out of 27 564 906 pupils presently enrolled in primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria.

Over the past 4-years, Glue-tech has impacted 18 580 learners with over 65 000 teaching hours across three states: Abuja, Niger, and the Kano States in Nigeria. Our video feedbacks from subscribed learners and partner schools suggest young learners can now compete healthily with their contemporaries in other parts of the world. More than 90 percent of our School Partners have become repeated subscribers while they recommend Glue-tech to prospective partners. Our partner schools have added more value to their graduating students while parents reap a positive Return on their Educational Investment.

To promote inclusiveness and accessibility, Glue-tech uses its online and offline Web and Mobile application (Progressive Web App) to provide easy and affordable access to learning modules for different learner types from middle- and low-income communities characterized by low internet bandwidth. Glue-tech users can be enrolled via school or organization, and independent self-paced learners anywhere, anytime. For self-paced independent learners, Glue-tech can be used on any device (Laptop, Mobile Phone, Tablet) with low or no internet bandwidth, and learners’ progress is updated periodically using as low as EDGE data rates to synchronize learning updates. For our school partnerships, Glue-tech is installed in a local central server and accessed offline via our partner schools intra-net, while student progress and update are synchronized to the Glue-tech cloud Server at the end of each term. The Glue-tech learning guide AI engine guides learners or parents to decide course modules relevant to their chosen career path hence creating a suitable learning path.

To amplify our hands-on project-based Learning approach, Integrated Development Environments (Eclipse) for learning different programming languages is integrated via Application Programming Interface (APIs) to enable each learner to implement live projects while a live support button for on-demand technology educator hire can be tapped when stuck. We are integrating Simulation environments to make hardware technology courses (Robotics, Fun-electronics) affordable compared to the high cost of purchasing physical hardware kits. More-so, Glue-tech uses gamification and leadership scoreboards to motivate learners to participate in quarterly and yearly Hackathons

Glue-tech learning is created to be interactive, self-paced, and personalized, using a lot of learning analytics to identify knowledge gaps, learning pace, and preferences per technology module per learner. We use Microsoft Azure Cloud and Analytics to enable a stable platform to contain scalability to accommodate more than 500 000 active subscribers beyond 2025

We are people from the northeast where opportunities are very few. We are fortunate to have met and created a highly diverse, gender-balanced team that brings unique skills and experiences to the table. We all come from this community and we have witnessed some of the challenges children and young people continue to face with regards to accessing basic learning opportunities. We understand the magnitude of the problem and the resulting consequences of not finding a lasting solution and while we cannot just wait on the government to do it all, we believe our solution would best address some of these challenges to an extent and ensure that these young people become more engaged and productive citizens in their communities. Through this project, we want to be the change factor that our community needs through youth power!

B2B Users (Private and Public Schools/Administrators): They are low and Middle-Income public and private Schools located in Urban and Semi-Urban areas in Nigeria and charge well below $100 US Dollars as termly school fees, characterized by low or no internet access, have owned or donated computer infrastructure. They implement conventional and outdated curricula taught by instructors with inadequate skillsets that do not match todays’ evolving employment demands. These schools, however, seek to add value, justify termly school fees charged, and be given the same opportunity and access to in-demand technology education as other advantaged schools in other parts of the world, while their students can compete globally. Through participation in local Education Fairs, Exhibitions, TAP creates awareness and further engages this customer segment through a 3-day Demo Bootcamp with subsequent handholding all through the onboarding process. A TAP technical trainer provides online and on-site support depending on each customer needs. TAP is studied as a subject term in, term out all through a learner’s study cycle in grade school while each partner school signs up for a renewable yearly TAP contract agreement. This provides each partner school affordable access to the updated and evolving curriculum and content for all enrolled students. Each Learner enrolled in TAP partner schools pays a $10USD termly subscription which amounts to $30USD a year. This gives partner schools with low or no internet affordable access via the offline web application, installed on the local server. Each term learning and assessment data is synchronized at the end of every term with the TAP Azure cloud server. All enrolled students at the end of each term take an assessment, upload their termly hands-on projects, more so present their projects during open days.  To retain school partnerships, TAP harvests customer feedback from School Principals, Parents, Teachers, and Learners through video interviews and feedback forms capturing ways to improve Tap and discovering evolving needs. TAP provides other Ad-hoc services like free yearly teacher training on basic use of technology in classrooms through the (Microsoft Innovative Educator). For market expansion, TAP is engaging the Education Policy commission (UBEC) for partnerships to onboard more public schools which have the highest number of learners

 2. B2C Parents (Paying Customers): They are middle and high-income earners and Parents of Independent learners in-school or out-of-school but have limited knowledge or no access to continuous in-demand technology or employable skills set while they look forward to making their kids be able to compete globally and have a good return on investment in their child's 12-year study in Grade School. They more so have access to learning devices with adequate internet speed, they sometimes access erratic technology courses through clubs or one-off learning platforms and boot camps but with no consistent and sustainable learning plan all through their child’s early years (Grades 4 to 12). TAP creates awareness to reach this segment via testimonials and customer Education videos on social media handles (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). For customer consideration and engagement, TAP holds webinars and career fairs and 7-day free access to limited course modules on the TAP web app. The TAP web and mobile interactive application provide access to project-based curricula and content. Parents can independently subscribe their child with a quarterly access fee of $15USD while they engage the TAP AI course recommendation feature that matches a child’s chosen career path to the course module(s) giving them the curriculum to learn. Hence, this creates a suitable learning plan and path which is a sustainable approach term in, term out. The TAP interactive and project-based learning and assessment promotes personalized and independent learning, and at the end of each course and level, a child uploads assessments to earn a digital certificate of performance. To keep re-engaging this segment on subsequent subscriptions, TAP provides access to other TAP features like the on-demand Technology Educator support, Participation in Hackathons, and Gamified Learning.

 3. B2C: (Primary Users) They are Students from (Grades 4 to 12) enrolled in low and middle-income private and public schools as well as Independent Out of School learners in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa who have little, late, or no access to in-demand technology education, up-skilled ICT Teachers, employable skillset, and internet. There are 27 564 906 Total Available Market (TAM), presently enrolled in Primary and Junior secondary school and are seemingly excluded in having early access. With a forecast of internet penetration to be 54 percent in 2022 and 57 percent by 2024 (Details: Nigeria; Statista; 2010-2019; All values are estimates), there will be an estimated 14 885 049 Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) with access to the internet. Steamledge is obtaining 3.4 percent of this estimate to impact over the next three years. TAP gives them access through its online web interactive platform anywhere with any device while offline access can be gotten if enrolled in a TAP partner school, at any nearby TAP Learning Center or off-line mobile app.

 4. B2C (ICT Teachers as Enablers): They are ICT Teachers and Independent Technology Educators or Teachers in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa seeking to up-skill and earn. They are the first point of contact with the primary users we impact but most times left out of the learning value chain which negatively impacts the primary users (students).  They are employed in low, medium, and high-income primary and Junior secondary schools. TAP provides free access to its on-demand hiring feature that in turn provides support to learners that get stuck in the learning process on its web/mobile interactive application or onsite. They provide on-site support in partner schools that adopts the offline mode. TAP certified teachers are exposed to consistent hands-on learning, mentorship, as technology evolves, while they earn extra income as a technology mentor on its platform. 

After consistent iterations and user feedback over the past 4 years, TAP has consistently designed, created, implemented, and updated its proprietary technology curriculum and modules (AI, Creative Digital Arts, Coding, Robotics, Fun Electronics, Game Design, Data Analytics) based on our primary customer segment needs which are learners between grades 4 to 12 or of equivalent age bracket. The TAP problem-solution fit focuses on providing early, affordable access even to middle and low-income schools and individuals living in Semi-urban areas characterized by low or no internet bandwidth. Before now, TAP delivered value through physical classes in partner schools. TAP has recruited, trained, and re-trained more than 85 full-time technology educators to facilitate physical learning in different partner schools. However, as the numbers, engagements, and school partnership requests grew, and Covid happened, TAP scaled its delivery and implementation to a Hybrid approach, through our Online and offline Web Application, Virtual live classes, and Physical classes. Consequently, TAP has adopted the B2C model and is presently engaging in market penetration and expansion to more states (Lagos, Abuja, Oyo) and to west African countries (Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia) beyond 2025.

Consequently, to be able to facilitate and fund our B2B and B2C engagements, market penetration, expansion, and product delivery to 500 000 learners from now to 2025, TAP will use its Fee-for-Service Model. Our termly recurrent revenue model requires each learner studying in any of our partner schools to pay $10USD per term subscription fee which amounts to a total of $30USD per year while our B2C customer subscribers pay $15USD for 3-month access to the TAP platform. TAP more-so provides freemium but limited access to basic technology modules for a 7-day trial period

TAP looks forward to raising $1.5 million USD in venture capital funds in return for 12.5 percent equity in Steamledge TAP to be able to accelerate our growth and impact. We plan to spend 25 percent of this on growth and expansion,50 percent on Product Development, IT infrastructure, and Human Resources, 20 percent on Marketing and Sales, and the remaining 5 percent on Network and expertise: This is broken into details as below:

• Product Development: Activation of more Web APP features, (AI and Machine Learning Models, Simulation Canvas, TAP mobile APP version, and Gamified Content)
• Increase marketing and sales promotion activities for Market Penetration and Expansion
• Hire sales and marketing team, software and content development team for product expansion and user retention, and onboard key account managers, Legal and HR for Hiring and partnerships
• Hire of a Chief Financial Officer/Consultant, Chief Marketing Officer

In the next 3 years, we would have generated an estimated revenue of $6 000 000 USD over 200 000 On-boarded Subscribers at $30USD per Subscriber over 3 years

Technology Acceleration Program (TAP) was bootstrapped by estimated debt financing of 11,111 US Dollars from family and friends while TAP started in October 2017 as market demand and need from our first client (Sweet-Haven Schools, Kano-Nigeria) which rolled in our first revenue on termly subscription.

Technology Acceleration Program has generated a total of $288,254 USD revenue in the last 4 years via a termly/quarterly subscription model, through school partnership enrolment and individual learner enrolment. Breakdown of Revenue generated is as follows:

Total Revenue Generated 2018: $41,934 US Dollars

Total Revenue Generated 2019: $83 960 US Dollars

Total Revenue Generated 2020: $74 360 US Dollars

Total Revenue Generated 2020: $88 000 US Dollars