Vonvon Box

The issue addressed by Vonvon Box is the lack of interest in reading among children. In Côte d’Ivoire, the lack of reading habit among students leads to a significant decline in their spelling and grammar skills. From their young age, a large part of Ivorian children do not read for pleasure. For many of them, the first interaction with a book occurs at school. This reality leads them to associate reading with a laborious task. As they grow up, failing to have cultivated this habit, they abandon reading. This also represents a major obstacle to their academic development.

Indeed, 59.3% of Ivorian students, at the end of primary cycle do not have basic reading skills according to the Program for the Analysis of Education Systems of the Confederation of Ministers of National Education of the Francophone Space (CONFEMEN). This study, published in 2019, adds that in Côte d’Ivoire students' performances in language are “weak compared to the international level” at the beginning of primary schooling.

This problem affects a significant proportion of the Ivorian population which is predominantly young. Indeed, more than 11 million individuals, representing 38.2% of the total population, are under 15 years old, according to the data from the latest official census.

Our solution aims to make reading more fun and engaging for children by combining traditional books with new generation of speakers. A friendly voice from the speaker guides the young reader throughout short stories read in duet. The voice reads some parts of the dialogues, while the child reads the other parts contained in the book. Each story, in addition to being funny, has comprehension objectives, learning new words, linguistic rules (grammar, spelling), values, and life lessons.

These objectives, subtly integrated into the story, are evaluated at the end of each story thanks to a quiz. In the first version of the Vonvon Box, all content is stored on a memory card and the correct answers are given at the end of the questions. In the second version of the solution, artificial intelligence will allow this evaluation and also correct the pronunciation of words by children with kindness.

Vonvon Box offers an immersive reading experience for children thanks to the interaction with the speaker's voice and the adapted layout of the book. In addition to the text where the parts that the child must read are highlighted, it contains captivating illustrations, all inspired by the daily life of Ivorian children like the stories.

American psychologists Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley revealed in a study, titled "The early Catastrophe", published in 2003, how language and verbal interaction in the early years of life influence the long-term academic success of children. This is why we have some content of the Vonvon Box for children who cannot yet read. It consists of short nursery rhymes specially designed to teach them sounds and words, as well as to evaluate their learning thanks to parts with omitted words that they will have to add.

Our primary goal is to target Ivorian schoolchildren whose age ranges between 5 and 12 years old. According to figures from the Ministry of National Education in 2022, they represent a total of 4,252,503 pupils. Among them, 81% attend public schools, 18% private schools, and 1% community schools. 

Unfortunately, in the vast majority of public schools, whether in urban or rural areas, there is a lack of libraries. Therefore, most of the 4 million Ivorian students do not have access to libraries, which is particularly disadvantageous for children from disadvantaged families who cannot afford to offer books at home.

Our solution, Vonvon Box, aims to fill this gap. We offer a version of the Vonvon Box adapted to schools, equipped with larger speakers and printable book pages. This will allow teachers to organize interactive reading sessions with children, both in primary school and kindergarten.

By providing access to quality books and promoting an interactive reading experience, we hope not only to improve children's reading skills but also to cultivate their love for reading. Ultimately, our goal is to contribute to equal opportunities in education for all Ivorian children, regardless of their socio-economic background.

Beyond the fact that the majority of our team has been creating content for children for at least a decade, we all come from Ivorian public primary schools. With one exception, all team members have children and live their realities daily. 

Moreover, thanks to our latest creation, a book and a speaker of nursery rhymes in Ivorian languages, we have expanded our circle of parents and especially primary school teachers. These teachers have shared with us their need for local playful content. The majority of the nursery rhymes taught in schools are Western songs.

In April 2023, we launched a solution that allows children to learn Ivorian lullabies using a kit consisting of a book and a small speaker. We managed to sell about 800 of these kits to parents and teachers. Following their feedback, we developed a similar new solution, this time to instill a love of reading in children. For its first version, this solution also includes a kit with a book and a speaker. To date, part of the content, especially the texts of the book, is ready. We still have to record the audio versions and market this product within the next three months.

We are seeking technical support to integrate artificial intelligence into the beta version of our project. Our challenge is to develop an AI solution that can operate without Internet and enable most of the options of the device. This requirement is due to two main reasons: firstly, our product is intended for young children, including babies; secondly, we want our product to be accessible to populations living in areas where internet access is limited. In addition, we would like to benefit from the advice of professionals in design and marketing to optimize the effectiveness of our project.

What sets our solution apart is its interactive nature. While existing story boxes offer passive listening, our solution is based on the active participation of the child. Indeed, the child reads parts of the story themselves and answers quiz questions. In the beta version, interactivity will be further enhanced thanks to artificial intelligence which, for example, will correct the child's pronunciation and offer words of congratulations when they succeed.

Our solution aims to make reading more accessible for children, to enhance their reading skills, and to foster their love for books.  

Thanks to the Vonvon Box, they will have access to a mini-library at a very affordable cost.  

Another advantage of our solution is its screen-free nature, which is a contribution to the fight against children's excessive exposure to television and screens in general. These being often seen as one of the most detrimental factors to learning, concentration, and interest in reading among children, negatively impacting their academic performance. Indeed, excessive screen use can lead to a decrease in attention, sleep disturbances, and a reduction in study time.

Our impact goals for our solution are:

- Facilitate access to reading for children: We aspire to make reading more accessible for all children, regardless of their socio-economic background. We believe that every child deserves to discover the richness of books and benefit from the numerous advantages that reading can offer.

- Develop children's reading skills: To help children improve their reading level. This includes not only the ability to decipher words and understand the text, but also to develop more advanced reading skills. By improving these skills, we hope to help children succeed not only in school, but also in their future life.

- Foster a love of reading in children: We wish to cultivate a lasting love of reading in children. Reading should not be perceived only as a school task, but also as a fun activity. By cultivating a love of reading, we hope to encourage children to become avid readers, which can open doors to continuous learning and intellectual curiosity throughout their lives.

  We plan to evaluate the impact of our solution in a rigorous and progressive manner. This will allow us to adapt our product to the real needs of children and optimize its effectiveness.

  The first phase involves the prototype. We will invite families and schools to participate in a follow-up program that will allow us to observe the evolution of about fifty children using our product, both at home and in class. We will closely follow their academic journey and level of expression, based on their school grades as well as feedback from their teachers and parents. These data will help us refine and calibrate the beta version of our product.

  The second phase will involve a larger-scale study. We will expand our sample to two hundred children to get a more comprehensive view of the impact of our solution. The data collected during this phase will help us to gradually improve our solution and optimize its impact.

The technology present in the beta version of our speaker is primarily related to artificial intelligence (AI), particularly through these applications:  

- Voice recognition and speech synthesis: Voice recognition will allow the device to understand the child's speech, identify the words spoken, as well as the intonation and rhythm of the speech. Speech synthesis will be used to provide the child with feedback on their pronunciation and correct their responses to quizzes.  

- Natural language processing: To understand the meaning of the child's speech.  

- Conversational artificial intelligence: To create simple and structured conversations with the child, for example, to guide him in using the solution.

Full-time staff: 6

Part-time staff: 2

Two years

Currently, our team includes two full-time female members. However, we are committed to promoting gender equality by prioritizing female freelancers and part-time workers for our projects. 

In addition, we encourage our teams to engage in personal projects. In fact, two of our members have already had the opportunity to participate in overseas programs thanks to their personal projects, which has served as a source of inspiration for others. 

Finally, we have a strict policy against any form of discrimination. This is a key element of our internal regulations, which is presented to each new employee when signing their employment contract.

Our business model is based on a B2C and B2B approach. 

Initially, with the prototype, we will focus on a B2C approach. We sell our box, which includes a book and a speaker, directly to parents and schools. They then offer it to children to stimulate their love of reading. 

With the beta version, parents and schools will purchase new volumes of books, specially adapted to the speaker's content. Instead of buying a new memory card like the one in the prototype, they will be able to access the audio versions by connecting the new speaker to the Internet to add the new stories. 

As for the B2B approach, we plan to collaborate, starting from the beta version, with publishing houses whose content will be adapted to our solution. The revenues generated will be shared between us and these publishing houses. In addition, we plan to have boxes sponsored by companies and organizations in order to offer our product to disadvantaged children.

We plan to use the prototype not only as a means to test our solution, but also as a source of revenue that will allow us to finance part of the development of the beta version. The commercial success of the prototype will also play a crucial role in convincing financial partners, publishing houses, and sponsors. These sponsors will be able to pre-purchase the boxes that will then be offered. 

 The most significant part of our budget for the beta version will be devoted to research and development. This will allow us to find the artificial intelligence suitable for our project so that it can operate, for the most part of its functionalities, without the Internet. Once we have found the appropriate formula, we will be able to amortize this investment over the course of sales. 

 In addition, this technology could be integrated into other projects that we have, such as those aimed at teaching local languages.