Wow, it is hard to believe that a year has flown by since Lila Ibrahim and I co-founded Team4Tech in September 2012. It has been such a whirlwind – filled with all the challenges of establishing a new start-up organization, but also the joys of finding like-minded supporters across the tech sector. We have been thrilled to meet executives at companies like VMware, Intuit and Facebook who share our belief that immersing tech professionals in the challenges related to improving education in communities worldwide that face limited access to resources can result in better educational outcomes, better tech solutions, and better leaders.
We have witnessed these results first-hand on our pilot project in Kenya last May, where we took 9 volunteers from Intel and VMware and deployed an adaptive learning software program to improve literacy and numeracy for 1000 preschoolers through second graders. And we are getting excited to see the benefits again as we prepare for our next project in Tanzania in November with Intel, Intuit and Facebook, and then our third project in Vietnam in February 2014 with VMware.
I’ve been particularly reflective these past few weeks on the lessons I’ve learned in my first year at a start-up organization. The one that sounds so obvious but was the most difficult to embrace is to just start! I worried at the outset that our idea needed more bells and whistles, and that we needed to launch with sophisticated engagement platforms and a fully developed theory of change. Now I realize that it’s all about getting started with just the basics, learning from your customers through rapid prototyping, and executing well on an ever-growing vision.
So let me conclude with a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us along the way, who has shared with us their ideas for making Team4Tech even better, and who has partnered with us in the journey. It was amazing to be joined by so many of you at our official launch event on September 26th at the Computer History Museum. We are starting our second year with fabulous momentum and can’t wait to see what happens next!
Team4Tech on first project in Kenya
Kenyan Team Reunites at Team4Tech Launch
See all the photos from the Team4Tech launch on our Facebook page!