MindoBee

Extremely Theorized classroom and Exam focused curriculum that lack requisite skills for the learner.

In a Researched Paper Published at the Brookings Institutions,Justin W. Van Fleet who doubles as a researcher on education with focus on developing 
countries and also who serves as the Chief of Staff to UN Special Envoy for Global Education,  titled: “Africa’s Education Crisis: In 
School but not Learning”, unveils the 
challenges of going to school in Africa without acquiring the needed skills and knowledge. 

He notes that in countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zambia, over half of in-school students are not learning basic skills by the end of primary school….Under the current model, half of sub-Saharan Africa’s total primary school population – 61 million children – will reach adolescence without the basic skills needed to lead successful and productive lives” (http://www.brookings.edu)

 The UNESCO Institute of Statistics(UIS) In recommending ways of accelerating Progress in African Education proposes looking beyond business as usual, expanding the content of education beyond reading, writing and mathematics to embed the learning needed for healthy and prosperous societies. 

Some scholars and researchers in UIS have aligned with the need to revisit a functional knowledge based and employment 
oriented education to meet up with African needs. 

In The African Report 2022, Oby Ezekwesili,  A Former Minister of Education in Nigeria Speaks on findings on African Education. She notes that access alone has not guaranteed that children are learning in schools. She opines that  It is time for us to turn our attention to the quality of education as much as we do on enrollment. She notes that by the age of 10, a child in school should be able to posses  foundational skills necessary for further learning and the development of advanced skills. And without these basic skills, many African children are unprepared for the learning that comes next and thus are not guaranteed the ability to meaningfully learn in secondary or any further education. Additionally, they are not guaranteed an opportunity for productive employment which would result in upward social mobility for individuals, communities, countries and the Continent and the Continent at Large.

I was a Lifeskills Volunteer Teacher in a World Bank Education Project For Lagos State Public Schools in Nigeria Called "Eko Project'. It was a project aimed at improving learning outcomes in young learners from low income homes and public schools. I coached over 80,000 children in over 80 Schools within 5 Years and it was an eye opener.

99% of these schools were operating an extremely Theorized classroom and learning pattern completely devoid of experiences, Skills, practicals or involvement of the child. The children were in class only to pass exams. No experiences, no Lifeskills coaching, no Hands-On skills, No preparations for life after school and no future readiness.  There was no provision for these in the curriculum. 

MindoBee is an affordable and accessible digital educational platform that creates contents and tools that engages children in low income homes and schools with practical learning experiences and also empowers them with skill acquisition opportunities at the foundational level.

We provide young Learners with the practical side of what they learn in class and provide them the opportunity to do or apply them. This provides them the opportunity to experience learning, get involved, think through the learning, create solutions and gain foundational skills that prepare them for life.

MindoBee operates a hybrid model to ensure maximum impact and inclusion; contents are online but application can be done offline. We also provide offline access to these contents for homes and schools in locations with no Internet access. And there are a many schools and homes in this category.

We operate an affordable and accessible model. We have open source contents for free access by children in families and schools and they are served through MindoBee TV on our webpage.

MindoBee Grow is an. Educational Unified Curriculum Skill Acquisition program for Young Learners in partnership with primary and secondary schools. Students in this program enjoy 10 to 12 hands on projects in their schools in about 10 to 15 hours every year. These projects are done in their classrooms and school environments.

MindoBee Offlline Access is for children to keep experiencing learning in their families and homes even without Internet access. It is subscription based and subscription costs $2 in a whole year.

MindoBee Clusters are focused on a holistic learning experience that engages and empowers out of school children with Literacy skills, Numeracy Skills and Lifeskills.

We also have MindoBee Courses, Skills-Based Learning Products, Programs and Tools for children on sales at MindoBee Knowledge Store. Products cost $0 to $3. 

Our facilitators are Qualified Members of MindoBee Team, Certified Educators, Experts in different fields, Talented children who share their skills through MindoBee Reward for skills program for children.

Our Content Areas cover all areas of learning at the foundational level.

MindoBee targets African young learners and children between ages 0 to 18 especially those from low income homes and in low income schools. Most of these children are in schools and homes where practical learning experiences are non existent. Foundatioal Skills are not considered important because either they are costly to acquire or the curriculum cuts them off.

When learning is not experienced, application cannot take place and what is learnt cannot be retained.

MindoBee is engaging children with experiential learning and foundational skills that will empower them with positive independence, form the basis for life after school, make them future ready and prepare them with employability skills at the ideal time. 

The present Curriculum is raising a certificate oriented children who write exams and forget what they are taught. With MindoBee they teach themselves, apply their learning and make it theirs. 

Over time no one has paid attention to institutionalizing an impact cycle knowledge sharing among children. Some children possess a degree of knowledge that many others do not have. Children listen to themselves and easily engage among themselves. MindoBee has tapped into this available resource to further use available resources for learning impact and also incentivize innovation and knowledge in children. We provide the platform for this knowledge sharing among children and schools.

We believe that Education that is balanced and empowering for the child infuses practical experiences and skills into the curriculum. We are using Quality Education(SDG 4) as a powerful tool to achieve Zero Poverty(SDG 1) even from the early years level.

For 5 Years I visited over 80 Public and Low income  Schools in Lagos State, 10 Public Schools in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria and learnt first hand the negative effects of an extremely Theorized classroom on a child. It impoverished their minds and robbed them of critical thinking and problem solving skills. I was also the Ambassador of the program and had(still have) access to educators and administrators in these schools. 

To gain an inroad into other low income private and public schools in Nigeria, we opened up a community for School owners and Educators and presently we have over 3000 of them and counting.

I have maintained a close contact and partnership with the school community in Lagos and Nigeria in general.

My Cofounder Chinaza Odo is 21 Years old and grew up in a Lagos slum with 70% of out of school children.  Once she finished with secondary education, she began a private literacy project of empowering out of school children with Literacy and Numeracy Skills. Reward for skills program and MindoBee Clusters are her ideas because she encountered children with different talent skills that could benefit others. 

Our Advisory Board Lead is Tayo Popoola - A Ph.D holder in Education, UK with grounded experiences of K-12 Education in UK and Africa. Tayo enjoys great connections, experiences and network in UK and in Nigeria.

Presently we have about 8 schools with about 1200 students signed on to Grow since we deployed it few months ago. We have about 100 children in the Offline Access Content Database.

We have an official partnership proposal with The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Council and Federal Ministry of Education for adoption of MindoBee Contents in The Primary and Secondary School Curriculums.

MindoBee Team is made up of individuals with different personalities and backgrounds that mix to form one well equipped team for educational impact.

We have about 8 Schools enrolled on Grow and  102 children on Offline Access. Our free content views across platforms runs in about 100,000. 

We haven't raised any seed funding but working on traction and positioning for seed round.

We are looking to build a solid business model and a strong impact system.

MIT Solve has a strong impact and evidence based approach to supporting solutions and organizations for scaling. We need this for MindoBee.

Due to the unique and disruptive impact and solution we bring to African Educational sector, we need a strong proof of impact based on evidence, sustainable business model and opportunity for scaling. MIT Solve holds these opportunities for us.

We need technical, market, financial and team building support from MIT Solve. 

Solutions that have sought to balance learning and address lack of skills in schools and homes for children in Africa are costly, segmented and unstructured 

MindoBee makes skill acquisition and practical experiences accessible, affordable, structured and easy to institutionalize. We bring everything the child needs to have a balanced learning experience on one platform. 

We are using partnerships and collaboration as a tool to support schools and homes to adapt to learning that empowers. The schools bring in theory which has its place and we offer the experiences which solidify the knowledge.

Schools and Parents are opening up to MindoBee as a partner for moulding and nurturing future ready empowered children.

Again some of the segmented solutions are fully online or fully offline. The former alienates children in low income homes and schools, the latter have no bearing on what the future demands of work and life holds for the child.

We bring the balance: Contents online but you have a choice to participate offline and apply your knowledge offline.

Our impact Cycle Education for children is unique. We provide an access for children to share their knowledge and skills with other children.

We have had almost all the schools and children using our products benefiting from the knowledge shared so far by children on the program.

Most of the Schools in Africa teach, recite and write exams and that's where the learning ends. It is a one way process that alienates the child and rarely equips the child with retained skills to thrive as they grow. MindoBee engages the child to think, do and apply with most applications of knowledge happening instantly.

In the long term, We are preparing children with a skill and productive based mindset that thrives above poverty in every contexts.

Some feedback from our product users show some short term impacts. Children say they experienced or show engagement, critical thinking, team work, leadership, problem solving, innovativeness, practical building or creation of new objects, design of different tools.

MindoBee Impact Goals Are

Goal 1: To nurture future ready children.

Action: Provide 21st Century Skills and Basic IT Skills that provide the platform for advanced skills.

Targets: 100 to 200 Schools, 10,000 Children per year

Indicators: Termly Feedback from Teachers(Termly Feedback form) and After project  feedback from students(after project interview and practice by students)

Goal 2: To raise children with positive independence that enables them live above poverty as adults.

Action: provide experiential Literacy, Numeracy and leadership skills, activities and hands on tasks that enable children innovate, produce, calculate or solve problems at the foundation level.

Targets: 100 to 200 Schools, 10,000 Children per year

Indicators: Termly Feedback from Teachers(Termly Feedback form) and After project feedback from students(Practice and after project interview)

Goal 3: To empower children with foundational skills that makes them employable after college. 

Action: Provide Team Based Tasks, innovative Tasks and access to real life work scenarios such as volunteering projects

Targets: 100 to 200 Schools, 10,000 Children per year

Indicators: Termly Feedback from Teachers(Termly Feedback form) and After project feedback from students(Practice, Project Task Points)

Goal 4: To raise children as entrepreneurs from the foundational level.

Action: Provide real life Entrepreneurship contexts, problem solving,, solution creation, value creation and impact mindset

Targets: 100 to 200 Schools, 10,000 Children per year

Indicators: Termly Feedback from Teachers(Termly Feedback form) and After project feedback from students(Task and Value Creation Project Points)

Our Webpage provides the platform for all the solutions we provide to schools and children. So once a school or a parent visit the page, they have access to all the resources they need.

To promote affordable and accessible offline access we linked in some Google tools like YouTube and Drive.

27 Staff Presently and Counting. This is the breakdown

3 Full Time Staff

3 Part Time Staff

5 Project based staff

16 Facilitators(Experts, Certified Educators, Children with transferable skills)

1 Year and 6 months in Concept. Level 

8 Months as a business solution.

The Two Founders of MindoBee are women. The Management Team is made up of 3 women and two men.

We create a workplace that gives everyone room to have their uniqueness and personal space and freedom.

Inclusion drives our choice of Facilitators in the adult and children category, we draw knowledge from children from low income backgrounds and also those from average and rich income backgrounds. Physically challenged adults and children with skills to offer are full welcomed.

Our work environment brims with creativity from all sources.

We provide 

Practical Learning experiences of Subjects and General knowledge for children 

Skill Acquisition and Expression opportunities for children 

We create

Contents, Tools, Programs and Collaborations aligned with practical learning and skills for children

Our Products

Video Contents, Skill Acquisition Tools, Curriculum Support Packages for Schools, Skill-based Courses and Tools for children

Our Customers access these contents through Our Webpages, Offline Platforms

Key Customers and Users

Direct Users: Children Ages 0 to 18

Indirect Users and Customers; Parents, Families, Schools, Child Focused Organizations

Beneficiaries: Children

Revenue Model:

A Mixed Model: Subscription, Freemium, One off Purchases

Our Revenue Models include Subscription, Freemium and One off Sales.

We hope to secure grants and seed funding but overtime of developing the solution, we have used founders funds and funds generated by MindoBee to keep up.

Our MindoBee Grow and Offline Access are the major sources of income presently ensuring we have an average of $100 per school or average of $1 per student in a year. Range can go between $100 to $300 in a year

We look to increase the number of schools and families or children served to at least 100 Schools and 10,000  yearly.