What is the name of your organization?
NogalesPlus (N+)
What is the name of your solution?
N+ Open Innovation Challenges
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Open innovation challenges accelerating EdTech ventures to deliver innovative and evidence-based learning solutions in Latin America.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Bogotá, Colombia
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
COL
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
While Colombia has made progress in expanding access to education, significant quality gaps remain, particularly for rural and low-income populations. Challenges include underdeveloped literacy and numeracy skills, limited access to social-emotional learning, and a significant gap: 70% of 10-year-olds in Colombia cannot understand what they read (World Bank, 2022), while the country lags 67 points behind the OECD average in PISA reading scores, and 89 points in mathematics.
Students in secondary and higher education often lack proficiency in English as a Second Language (ESL) and foundational digital skills. According to the English Proficiency Index (EF EPI, 2024), most Latin American countries rank at a medium or low level. Additionally, over 70% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean lacks basic digital skills (OECD, 2023).
Although early-stage EdTech ventures have the potential to address these challenges, they often face persistent barriers to growth. Insights from 50+ education stakeholders in Colombia (Nogales+, 2024) reveal recurring obstacles: limited access to early adopters, institutional mistrust, difficulty in understanding user needs deeply, and limited use of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) tools to generate evidence. We also found a lack of ecosystem support to scale Edtech ventures with a focus on social impact.
What is your solution?
Nogales+ is a pioneering accelerator supporting early-stage EdTech ventures to address systemic educational gaps in Colombia and Latin America. We launch open innovation challenges to identify high potential solutions and provide tailored support through:
-- Product Market Fit Development: A specialized fellowship in product development and go-to-market strategies.
-- Impact Strengthening: Helping startups refine their theory of change and build robust MEL frameworks.
-- Testbed Connections: Opportunities to co-create with real educational communities and iterate based on feedback.
-- Increased Visibility: Connecting startups with a wide network of educators, experts, investors, and policymakers.
Our goal is to help Edtech ventures refine, validate and scale relevant solutions for underserved learners -who also benefit from improved tools and services.
In our first Nogales+ Challenge (2024), focused on Social-Emotional Learning, 28 ventures applied. Three winners are currently in the Nogales+ program (www.nogalesplus.com), indirectly reaching over 60,000 students and 8,000 schools across Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S.
In 2025, we are focusing on innovative solutions that bridge ESL proficiency as well as digital and technological skills, for primary, secondary and higher education. With our partners —United Way Colombia, Transcend Network, Impactus Ventures, and Wikit— we will further our mission of closing educational gaps.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Nogales+ serves two primary groups: early-stage EdTech ventures and educational communities across Latin America. Many EdTech startups struggle to navigate the complexity of implementing solutions in schools, while educational institutions often lack the tools or frameworks to integrate innovation effectively. Nogales plays a critical role as an ecosystem builder –bridging this gap to ensure educational innovation is relevant, effective, and sustainable.
Through our open innovation challenges and acceleration program, we help EdTechs understand educational institution needs, improve product-market fit, and strengthen evidence-based decision-making. At the same time, we engage schools, teachers, and students in identifying real challenges and co–creating tailored solutions.
In 2025, we will prioritize AI-powered tools that foster English as a Second Language (ESL) proficiency and digital skill development. These innovations will play a vital role in preparing young Latin Americans for an increasingly digital and global economy.
By strengthening the connections, quality, and adoption of EdTech solutions, and advancing AI-driven innovation, Nogales+ ensures that children and young people—particularly in public, rural, and low-income communities—receive the best, most relevant educational innovations that truly support their learning, development, and economic mobility.
