iDuk

According to the Ministry of Education (MEC), considering the top 10% of Brazilian schools with the highest scores in the ENEM - the most important national exam of our country - 18% are public and 82% are private. Furthermore, among the 10% schools with the lowest scores, all are public.

iDuk aims to reduce this gap by providing low-income students with opportunities to study in the best schools in Brazil and all over the globe. Through an intuitive web and mobile platform, we intend to be the bridge that will connect brilliant minds from vulnerable environments to the centers of knowledge that can help them succeed.

We plan to create an online environment that shorts the distance between a scholarship and a qualified student for this place. Our platform will be a showcase of opportunities. iDuk will bring quality education access for anyone, regardless of their bank account numbers.

This is Sarah, she is 18 and she has studied in a Brazilian public school for her entire life. She complains that there are many academic and extracurricular activities she wasn’t able to participate because they were restricted to private schools students. 

She graduated from high school in 2017, but because of the poor quality of her school, she had to spend a whole year studying by herself in order to be approved at a university. Her school didn’t give any academic base for her to compete with wealthy students.

And she isn’t the only one. This is a comparison between the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) science scores of students from a high social-economic level, who usually pay for their education, and underprivileged students, who normally attend public schools, in Brazil and in the United States. 

So, unfortunately, we sustain a system where the rich study for free in the best colleges and the less money a student has, the fewer chances of achieving a high-quality education he will have. 

We are serving public schools students who are eager to succeed in an educational system that suffocates the passion for learning. iDuk aims to boost their efforts.

That’s why last year we did ethnographic research in Escola Municipal Miguel Gustavo, a public school located in a low-income marginalized neighborhood (Vila da Penha-RJ), where we discovered which were the most serious problems there. At the first day at school, Felipe - our COO - was going to teach math to the kids.  The class had more than 40 students, but just 3 attended the course. The reason: a shooting had happened in the Vila da Penha community 30 minutes before. Because of it, many parents had come to school and back home with their kids to keep them safe. 

So, it is reasonable to conclude that iDuk will not only improve access to quality education but also provide students with the chance to leave dangerous areas and then come back with preparation and knowledge to be agents of change there.

Idealized upon the United Nations fourth SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) of obtaining a quality education and the tenth SDG of reduced inequalities, iDuk is a platform that is going to connect students with educational opportunities from the four corners of the world.

Today, we provide students with a clean web interface where they can create an account with their basic academic information and start applying to Brazilian high schools and Latin American summer programs. We’re not only allowing young people to achieve great educational opportunities; we are providing them with the chance to have experiences that can spark a period of personal growth and a new understanding of themselves or others. Our goal is to take people from vulnerable areas and direct them towards better schools and events like the Brazilian Leadership Bootcamp, where they can become agents of change and no longer question their potential to realize dreams.

On the other side, some organizations and schools are looking for talented applicants. By having their scholarship offers promoted on iDuk, these institutions are going to receive back the required number of most qualified students to fill out their places. iDuk has a selection team that evaluates each application as a whole according to the client’s conditions. However, we have already started working on an artificial intelligence solution through machine learning to facilitate and accelerate the selection process so that we can deliver successful profiles to the schools faster.

Besides, we will use our database to develop a ranking of schools that award more opportunities to create a record of the most socially impactful institutions in the world.

Built with React, NodeJS, MongoDB, Express, and Redux, our component-based scalable code is what allows iDuk to be adapted according to the needs of our users. We can easily add features and make our platform the best solution for our clients based on their experience.

With the purpose to become the greatest showcase of educational opportunities in the planet, iDuk is a scalable platform created by youth who had their lives changed by education and who want other human beings to have the chance to experience such transformation.

Visit iduk.me

If you are a student:

Click on “find an opportunity” > create an account > access a list of scholarship opportunities in high school and summer programs > apply without limitation > good luck!

If you want to publish opportunities:

Click on “publish opportunity” > fill out the application form with information about your program > wait for the iDuk team to contact you!

Today, the dynamism provided by technology isn’t properly used in the process of granting scholarships. For example, representatives of Brazilian private schools need to visit the public ones to inform students that they have scholarship opportunities available. Also, if someone wants to find a scholarship, they need to arrange a meeting with the school’s social assistant who, in turn, takes months to choose the people to be benefited.

So, by shortening the path between prospective students and educational programs, iDuk aims to revolutionize education access in Brazil and consequently all over the globe. Our platform saves precious time by allowing students to find life-changing opportunities united in one place and by providing schools with selected students that fit with their program’s requirements.

"Educa Mais Brasil" and "Quero Bolsa" are our main competitors in Brazil. However, they don't have an international projection, don't offer 100% scholarships, nor a user-friendly and dynamic platform.

Additionally, these platforms charge students an enrollment fee for each opportunity. iDuk isn't going to charge a cent from students. We will offer different plans for schools to choose from.

Created with the Omni stack: NodeJS + React, iDuk has a powerful JavaScript functional structure that forms a scalable code, capable of being rewritten from zero without the need of creating a new project.

We use React to componentize the code and give the platform the beauty of a clean, intuitive and flexible design. NodeJS was chosen because of its event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient. This structure enables us to use an API rest with the flexibility to develop different front-end applications – mobile and web – upon one backend code.

Besides, iDuk is hosted on the biggest and most secure server in the world: the Amazon Web Services (AWS), which gives us the tranquility and structure to focus on business and expansion of our users' database.

Therefore, our platform was idealized to have the most scalable code possible. The technology running behind iDuk gives us the confidence to work with people from all over the world without worrying about processing power and superuser flow.

Our project idea has received approval from Colégio Michel, the private school where our CEO Maurício graduated.  We created a Google Forms Application and the link was posted on Michel’s website. Four prospective students were invited to fill it out. Then, we manually reviewed the Application results and selected the best student that fit the school’s values.

Besides, we have formed a solid Advisory Board of people that make a huge impact on education in Latin America, including Diego Benavides, co-founder and CEO of the Latin American Leadership Academy, Matheus Tomoto, a Harvard researcher, Carol Brant, pedagogical designer at Geekie Software, and Roberta Piozzi, coordinator of social projects at Ismart Institute. 

In February of this year, iDuk was selected among 100 other projects as one of 10 finalists for the Impact Challenge: a social entrepreneurship competition organized by the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation in partnership with the United Nations that happened at New York University, proving that our solution addresses an important issue cared by the UN.

Furthermore, we have developed a clean and intuitive design (please refer to https://bit.ly/2IpZdpv) and started programming our platform. We plan to launch iDuk in July with five schools from two Brazilian states - Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina.

Nowadays, our Project served 4 students that received scholarships to study at Colegio Michel. 

In one year, we expect to reach 10,000 people and became the primary tool regarding looking for educational opportunities. 

Five years from now, by getting to the international market and expanding our range of opportunities - from high school and summer programs to undergrad and graduate studies - through our web and mobile platforms, iDuk aims to impact more than 1,000,000 people around the world.

Next year we will be working with at least 20 organizations from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Santa Catarina and more than 10,000 students from all over the globe. By creating an iDuk ambassadors’ program we intend to give people the chance to be part of the iDuk transformation. Ambassadors will receive certificates, special opportunities and events access in exchange for the divulgation of the iDuk platform in their schools, colleges, and organizations. We will also develop an iOS and Android mobile app to make even easier for people to access iDuk.

Five years from now we will be the reference in Brazil and expand our platform to all over Latin America from Colombia to Paraguay, Mexico, Argentina, and Costa Rica. Besides, we intend to get into the US market as our CEO and COO will be studying in American universities. Also, we will have implanted artificial intelligence through machine learning to optimize Application reviews and best opportunities selection.

iDuk is a pilot project and represents a new concept in education. For this reason, the first step is to convince representatives of private educational organizations that our project is reliable and can be valuable and profitable for them. Later, by converting potential leads in real clients, it will be possible to spread our business throughout Brazil, establishing a solid business in our country.

For the next five years, the obstacles will be to understand other countries legislations and adapt the iDuk concept of Application to their realities. 

To overcome suspicion, iDuk will need visibility. We have to be known by students, teachers and schools. We have to be reference when talking about educational opportunities. Validation through customer acquisition, partnerships and international competitions can be the best way to give credibility to our business.

5 people: a front-end developer, a fullstack developer, a designer, a technology mentor and a marketing director.

Because of a good education, our CEO Mauricio got an internship as a programmer, was elected as the student council president of a school with 5,200 students and was one of 30 participants selected to participate in one of the biggest leadership programs in our country - the Brazilian Leadership Bootcamp (BLB). As the only developer in his group, he created a mockup of an application using React Native in just two days. All these experiences helped shape his purpose: he want to use technology to improve access to quality education in Brazil and all over the globe.

He met Felipe at BLB.  Felipe studies in a public institution and has faced many challenges to success in a discouraging environment. However, Felipe is extremely determined and managed to take advantage of opportunities along the way. For example, Felipe became a medalist in the scientific Olympiads like OBMEP (mathematics) and OBI (computing). Therefore, he is eager to help students with similar backgrounds achieve their goals.

iDuk currently has partnerships with these organizations:

Ismart – This company has been working 20 years with the same public and goals that iDuk reaches. According to its database, Ismart has already received more than 120,000 registrations. So, networking of opportunities has been a type of deal. We share its opportunities on our platform and they do the same.

Universidade do Intercâmbio – Created by Matheus Tomoto, a Harvard research that represents Brazil at Youth Assembly, these organizations are opening doors to offer opportunities abroad, contributing to expand the iDuk market. Besides, Matheus, which has already worked at MIT, is giving a valuable mentorship and helping us to develop growth strategies for our platform.

Latin America Leadership Academy (LALA) – Makes sense that one of the partners in the academy in which the project has been created. We maintain solid contact with LALA, and this organization, apart from offer opportunities, disclose iDuk for her many partners, promoting the visibility of the platform.

Geekie Software Development - technology support with the process of implanting artificial intelligence on our project.

iDuk works with a B2B business model.

We help people achieve educational opportunities that may change their lives without charging them a cent.

Therefore, iDuk revenue comes from organizations who post their opportunities on our platform. We make money by selling our service of filtering candidates and by providing the space for educational institutions to show their work, social awareness and qualities.

There are many alternatives to improve interaction and revenue resources like using gamification to reward institutions with the best opportunities, students that achieve more opportunities and people with an outstanding Application.

As we are bootstrapping iDuk with our resources and expertise, there aren't many expenses. It was cheap to get it off the ground.  

So, iDuk's path to financial sustainability is through selling our service of students selection, bs providing the space to promote organizations on our showcase of opportunities.

iDuk works with three different plans - silver, gold, and diamond: https://bit.ly/2GmupVs

So, mentorship and networking opportunities with educational and tech-entrepreneurs are the most invaluable resources we would receive from the Solve. Besides, we intend to develop a program of iDuk ambassadors with monthly rewards to help spread our platform throughout Brazil and encourage students with the potential to self-promote and change their communities. We want to learn strategies to develop an efficient ambassadors program, which will be essential for our business development. Also, we would love to receive support regarding technology performance of our app as we will need to expand its server to run globally without any trouble. Finally, the visibility of this opportunity will promote iDuk in the USA, which is our second target market after Brazil, making it reach out to international students.

We will look for ways to expand our project on a global scale. iDuk was designed to be used in Brazilian reality. However, we imagine our platform working globally as the greatest social network of students and academic opportunities on the planet.

Goodwall, Khan Academy (KA) and Google for Education. Goodwall is the main platform that offers educational opportunities on a global scale. Even so, its public target is focused on Americans. Partnering with us would be an opportunity to expand for a potential market: Brazil. According to a 2017 school census, promoted by the Ministry of Education, our country has 48.5 million students enrolled in the basic educational system, 3730% greater than the 1.3 million Goodwall users. Another advantage would be developing students exchange programs that could create a marketing network. Certainly would be an attractive partnership for both parts.

Khan Academy is a platform that teaches many different subjects that address elementary school, high school, and college. This tool reaches 18 million learners a month in 190 countries around the world. A possible deal would be encouraging iDuk users to complement their study schedule with Khan Academy, creating online classes and establishing learning goals for them on the platform. Through a system of games and bonus, we could reward students based on their punctuation on KA tasks. Promoting their visibility and making easy the bureaucracy to get a scholarship can be ways to help them. On the other hand, Khan Academy could disclose iDuk on their home page, promoting visibility for our project.

Besides, this tool reaches 18 million learners a month in 190 countries around the world. With this in mind, they could provide a detailed database, helping us recognize where the source of the problem is.

We will use data to facilitate the process of reaching out to schools that need our service.