Category: Project Summary
-
Reflecting on the Wrap-up of the Kayamandi Project
As we wrapped up our August project in Kayamandi, near Stellenbosch South Africa, we had a closing celebration with our hosts and teachers. There we recognized the teachers’ accomplishments and were treated with a wonderful performance from the school choir. And we heard this thank you message from Ms. Incosi Kakulu of the Makupula High…
-
Generating Excitement with Tinkercad in South Africa
Sarah O’Rourke, Senior Product Marketing Manager for the Consumer and 3D Printing at Autodesk, was one of our recent volunteers for the Stellenbosch, South Africa August 2015 project. She is wonderful with kids, brought suitcases worth of 3D printed pieces and circuit training boards for the teachers and kids to experiment with, and even donated…
-
Advancing Teaching and Learning at Diepsloot township in Johannesburg
On Sun Jul 26, 13 VMware trekkers said our good-byes to one another and to the students and teachers at LEAP Science and Maths School in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, South Africa. This was my first project after joining Team4Tech in April 2015, and it was life-changing.
-
Learning to Develop and Expand Businesses in Brazil
After spending two weeks working with entrepreneurs in Brazil, I met 6 amazing people who each had an interesting story that inspired me. They covered a range of businesses from the most traditional (retail), to digital (fitness app developer), to the more unique (camping tent remodeling). Each had a story and dream that they believed…
-
Enterprising Small Business Entrepreneurs in Brazil
A hug? Are you kidding me, a small business owner just gave me a hug. After spending two days with him covering business model canvasses, marketing fundamentals, innovation design and financial sustainability, he gave me a hug. He and I became friends, I became a coach, and he became an inspiration. He so appreciated the…
-
Extending Design Thinking to Education in Vietnam
Stanford University’s d.school is considered one of the most innovative educational institutions out there, with its core philosophy of Design Thinking. As an undergraduate from Stanford’s Product Design program, I spent four years studying Design Thinking in the context of product design for both developed and developing markets. So, what does this Silicon-Valley-born methodology have to do…
-
Reflections from Box’s Sameera Salari
Box is a company that prides itself on the connectedness and productivity that good technology can bring to the day-to-day lives of our users. Along with other volunteers from companies like Visa and Facebook, three Boxers were able to deliver on this vision to some of Vietnam’s most underserved citizens. Liz Tacy, Lauren Ziskie and…
-
Empowering and Teaching Women to Overcome Cultural Oppression in India
Eleven Intuit volunteers came from five countries – the United States, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom and India – arriving at all hours of the day and night in the hardscrabble city of Ghaziabad in rural India. And they shared a common goal: To help 60 women overcome cultural oppression by teaching them the skills…
-
Introducing Box Technology in South Africa
Far removed from the shipping container in the Langa Township outside of Cape Town, Team4Tech alumni, Nic Hansen and Nathan Lui, continue to support the work they started back in July. Overlooking a sea of hundreds of their Box coworkers in Los Altos, CA and live streaming to the smaller office in San Francisco, Nic…
-
Building a Better Infrastructure For The Tanzania Schools
It wasn’t too long ago that I received an email from Noel Durrant (our project team leader). We got on the phone later that week to discuss the details of the trip and while this was exactly the travel experience that I’ve been longing for, there were still uncertainties of safety, financial expenses, and “Is…
