Building alternative educational bridges

• Problem:  In Latin America, people who exhibit some kind of disability (physical, geographic, cultural), but are otherwise talented, encounter significant barriers to contribute to society and the economy. Our countries cannot afford to miss out on all this talent.

• Solution:  Mankind has proven that, for every barrier, a bridge can be constructed.  HaIT (pronounced "height"), the Alternative Institute of Technology, is building an alternative educational bridge:  a low-cost, self-sustaining training program that will:

  • Screen individuals with a disability who are highly talented/motivated

  • Teach them digital tech & soft skills demanded by society

  • Bridge barriers to well remunerated jobs

• Impact:  Selected participants will only invest their time (no financial cost to them) and will get a high-quality, carefully curated, hands-on program focused on digital and soft skills required by the nascent Industry 4.0. Participants are expected to increase their income by 3~5x.  

• In Latin America, people with a disability (physical, geographic, cultural), encounter barriers to education and jobs. Initially, we are focusing on Mexico, since we are planning to start our pilot there.

• Roughly 6% in Mexico (12.5% in Lat Am) of the population (~7.1M people in Mexico, ~81.5M in Lat Am) has some kind of disability. In Mexico, only 40% of disabled people older than 15 contribute to the economy (vs 70% of people with no disability). At an estimated USD $10,118 GDP/capita, the total loss is in Mexico is USD $29.2B (e.g. greater than the GDP of Iceland). This loss does not include caregivers or those who stay at home for other reasons and also therefore do not contribute. 

• Contributing factors:

  • Inequitable access to education and employment due to lack of infrastructure (in turn, lack of budget) and discrimination (25% of people with disabilities report discrimination)

  • Most educators are not trained to handle students with special needs

  • Little relevant data or formal research aimed at solving the problem

  • Inadequate utilization of online training and remote-access tools

  • Partly, the erred logic that, if Latin American countries are “poor”, then “scarce” resources ought to be invested where most will benefit

• Two of our co-founders have relevant experience with "Mobility Disabilities" and "Single Mothers" in underprivileged communities, these two groups will be our initial focus:

  • Jesús, web-master, has a life-long mobility disability. He belongs to a group of talented people with disabilities. They could all benefit from this program first and foremost by feeling that they belong. They greatly appreciate opportunities to become more active members of society. Further, acquiring demanded tech and soft skills will afford them opportunities to demonstrate they can earn a good salary in a region that often neglects them---especially if they can work from home!

  • Gerardo, psychologist/consultant, has done volunteer work with single mothers in underprivileged communities for 10+ years. He knows well their needs and capabilities, as well as the challenges they face daily at home and in their communities. The program would help them develop skills despite their limited resources (time, financial). Further, this group could develop a sense of community. Without state and industry support, they feel isolated, and may respond by bonding and supporting classmates under similar circumstances. Our soft-skills training could contribute to that. And they too could work from home, so no need to leave their children behind.

• The solution:  A part-time, two-year training & placement program that does three things:

  • Identify individuals with a disability (physical, geographic, socioeconomic or cultural) who are highly talented and motivated

  • Bridge barriers to essential tech & soft skills training by setting up participants with a remote connection at home and high-quality instructors from industry or academia 

  • Bridge barriers to well remunerated jobs by connecting their highly demanded, newly acquired skills with Industry 4.0 jobs

• Also, such a program needs to build the educational capacity of the community by NOT becoming a financial burden:  it needs to be economically self-sufficient by meeting the following criteria: 

  • Employers should not hire graduates as if doing “charity”; therefore, participants should be trained to the standards that employers would normally set for other candidates found through regular recruiting means

  • The program will survive by taking a portion of the income from participants' projects during training and then a portion from the first few months' earnings after graduation. The exact number and/or proportion of payments will depend both, on the availability of projects during training and participants’ availability to participate in these projects. 

  • Participation in the program will be free for participants. We will provide all necessary materials and equipment to enable their remote participation in spite of the barriers in question.

  • We are partnering with organizations that allow us to minimize operating costs:  e.g. in-person classes would be held at schools after-hours; training would be done by experts at potential employers; use of open-source software; (some) computers could be donated. 

• Specifically, we have identified an opportunity in the nascent Industry 4.0 in Mexico:  

  • Industry, academia and government in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, have set an ambitious goal to become the leading jurisdiction in the Americas in the digital economy by 2025. New technologies (digital manufacturing, IoT, robotics, etc.) will need highly skilled specialists.

  • One of our co-founders consults for two companies that would like to help train a pilot cohort of ~5 participants.

  • We will select the students and equip them at home with the right computer and internet connection. We are carefully designing screening tests.

  • The pilot includes 11 training courses, and a supervised course of real, paid projects. Most of the program is asynchronous and online so participants may advance at their own pace, but all are expected to graduate within two years. 

The following 4 are innovations in MX/Lat Am given the populations in question:

1. Connecting potential to education:  Remote education is not new, but it is out of the question for millions of people in Latin America, either because they don't have an internet connection, or it's not reliable, or they don't have the right equipment at home.  In particular, marginalized sectors believe it is out of the question for them. We will find the right talent, and equip and link them to the right educators.

2. Connecting trained talent to job opportunities:  Finding regular job opportunities for marginalized folks with mobility or transportation issues is hard enough. Remote work would be ideal, but they are seldom aware or considered, especially because they are unlikely to have the right skills. We will deliver skilled talent and connect them to the right Industry 4.0 jobs.

3. The program pays for itself:  Educators and participants only have to "invest" their time. Once participants start doing projects, they will start paying back. This is successfully done in the US, but not in Lat Am, to our knowledge, because trust and other building blocks are not there.

4. Putting the above 3 together:  But the most impactful innovation is bringing all of this together. By selecting the right participants and employers-instructors, bringing in the right resources from government or NGOs, and our "personal investment" until it starts paying for itself, we believe there is a win-win-win situation in the making.

We were prepared to start with a pilot group of 5 participants. Due to the current pandemic lockdown protocol, we are preparing to start fully online. Our plan was to have an initial screening session of 8 hours on campus, in order to allow our staff to interact with participants and start developing a close mentoring relationship. We are now moving this initial session to online.

In 2020, we are planning to start 2 cohorts. Current one of 5 participants and a second one of 10 participants. A year from now (1H 2021), we will be serving 20 participants. 

By the end of 2021, we will have started 4 cohorts and we will have our first graduates from the program. 

By the end of 2024 (year 5), we will have started 12 cohorts, we will have 70 active participants and will have graduated 55 participants, for a total of 125 participants supported. We will not only support active participants, but our model includes follow-up, support and upgrade seminars for our graduates.  We will start 2025 with at least 125 participants and already executing on the first large, branch expansion for our program.

Goals for next year (2021)

• Participants: By the end of 2021, we will have started 4 cohorts and we will have our first graduates from the program. 

• Financial: Start operating with profit, after recovering the investment on initial equipment and overhead.

• Alliances: Demonstrate the viability of our program and establish alliances with large corporations to support our growth.  

Goals for 5 years (2024)

• Participants: By the end of 2024, we will have started 12 cohorts and we will have 55 graduates from the program and 70 active participants. 

• Financial: Continue operating with profits. Open our first company-owned campus and headquarters to increase our capabilities and support. 

• Expansion: Have successful operations in at least 5 countries in Latin America. Open branch offices outside of our continent to serve more employers.

1. Finding more employers -- While we believe that this model can deliver great value to employers, we also realize that we will encounter cultural resistance, due to discriminatory mindsets or simple lack of experience or trust. Also, the concept of Industry 4.0 is still nascent, so employers fully immersed in this area are scarce, and high-skilled jobs in non-Industry 4.0 companies may not abound. 

2. Finding the right student candidates -- Similarly, we are convinced that there is great potential talent out there waiting to be discovered, but these individuals are not likely to search for the kinds of training and jobs that we describe, so we will have to reach for them.

3. Funding for remote connectivity for more participants -- As we expand access to more participants, providing them with (the right) computers and a reliable internet connection will be key.

4. Trust & Credibility -- People in Lat Am are unfortunately used to frequently running into situations where someone else may be trying to take advantage of them. This is particularly true of opportunities that sound too good to be true (e.g. “Someone’s offering me training for free, for two years, and then a much better-pay job??? I don’t think so”).  Add to that the fact that we are a new organization by four individuals little known outside our social and professional circles and the sense of caution of everyone we want to work with will be geometrically heightened.

1. Finding more employers -- Enabling our graduates to work from home will connect them to better-paid work locally. As more companies in the rest of Mexico, Lat Am and even the rest of the world start demanding highly skilled digital workers, our graduates could also become “local, global workers”, so we want to reach out to potential employers well beyond our borders. Our training could include English too, as needed.

2. Finding the right student candidates -- We will exhaust our current networks. Also, NGOs, government institutions or schools could point us in the direction of high-potential dropouts.  And, as the program grows, word of mouth should help.

3. Funding for remote connectivity for more participants -- Obtaining initial equipment is not a problem. As the program proves itself, we hope to convince others to fund more equipment for new participants.  After the first few graduates, the program should self-fund equipment and other resources.

4. Trust & Credibility -- Not an issue right away, as we are currently using our personal and professional connections to recruit prospective students and employers. But, as we grow and exhaust our direct connections, being associated with MIT and Monterrey Tech through this challenge will help tremendously. And, our graduates and employers should become our best ambassadors. Also, as Nuevo León’s Industry 4.0 program grows, we hope to be publicly recognized as a key partner.

As we are in the Prototype phase, we were about to start our first pilot with our first class when COVID-19 hit.  We had already secured the space; one high school was willing to fund a few spots; and we had one employer willing to also do the training. We just have to confirm the candidates and hopefully within a few weeks we will start fully online.

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Four co-founders (part-time). Three volunteer coaches (instructors).

As co-founders, we integrate a well-balanced team of individuals highly motivated to improve education in Lat Am, especially for excluded populations. 

Esteban. VP of Sustainability in Silicon Valley, entrepreneur and global operations/supply chain executive of 20+ years. He is close to market needs, future trends of technology and opportunities in the prime client market of Silicon Valley. Both his technical and managerial expertise will be an asset to manage the organization and to provide keynote lectures to our participants. 

Francisco. Professor, consultant and entrepreneur. Formerly worked in industry in managerial positions for 20+ years. Has lots of experience designing training programs for technical participants, both in-classroom and online. Works as an evangelist for the digital transformation initiative of Nuevo Leon state in Mexico (Industry 4.0), where he is in close contact with the digital ecosystem of the region. Francisco will run the operation locally.

Jesús, web-master and lecturer, has a life-long mobility disability. He belongs to a group of talented people with disabilities. He understands the needs of people with disabilities, but also understands how disabilities can be bridged. He is an example of motivation and self-improvement for a lot of people in Mexico. 

Gerardo, psychologist/consultant and professor, has done volunteer work with single mothers and other underprivileged communities for 10+ years. He knows well their needs and capabilities, as well as the challenges they face daily at home and in their communities. He is also a gifted lecturer and developer of professional soft-skills.

• Preparatoria 3, Nuevo León:  Support institution. This institution has offered classroom space and scholarships for our participants. 

• OYAMAT.org:  Customer. Is willing to buy services from our institution, regarding 3D designs for printing with CNCs and 3D printers. 

• iLooZH.com:  Customer. This organization is willing to buy services from our institution, regarding 2D and 3D designs for advertising, animation and Virtual Reality.

We have started the process of fund-raising and obtaining grants/donations, though we are aware that, for a prospective donor/investor, it would be difficult to fund a project that is not already showing results. 

Therefore, our co-founders are going to invest some seed capital in order to start with a small-pilot cohort (they will need at least 1 computer and reliable Internet at home, per participant). Having said that, given the current pandemic limitations, the first cohort may prioritize participants who already have Internet access and a computer that just needs minor upgrading. 

In order for the program to be sustainable, each computer would need to have sales over $200USD per month ($50USD/week). From these sales, 10% would be given as an aid to our participants during the program, 20% as support to our instructors (who would need to supervise and fix the work of our participants) and the rest would be for the institute. 

A chart of the P&L during the first 5 years of operation, without considering major investment, is presented in Figure 1. An initial seed capital of $20KUSD is considered. 

Fig. 1 - Financial performance over first 5 years

A more detailed General P&L Report is shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2 - Detailed P&L over 5 years. Other than for computers, amounts are in USD thousands

1. Structure -- Answering these questions alone is allowing us to think critically through a number of items and confirm our initial intuition about them; it is also allowing us to apply some creativity to envision and devise approaches to aspects of the operation we had not yet given much thought to.

2. Credibility -- As mentioned earlier, we will encounter natural distrust among local individuals and organizations as we try to grow, so being associated with Monterrey Tech through this challenge will help a great deal. And, as we look to expand our geographic reach to international clients, being associated with MIT will be key.

3. Funding for additional equipment and connectivity -- We are scheduled to start with a small cohort for the first class (five), and we are likely to continue with a small cohort for each subsequent class (a new class every 6 months).  Winning this challenge would provide additional funding to allow us to add a few more students than originally considered.

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1. Clients -- As mentioned above, in addition to local clients, being remote will allow our graduates to do work for clients anywhere in the world.  In particular, since Silicon Valley companies lack a constant stream of digital experts (not just software engineers, but CAD designers, and many others), nothing would stop our graduates from being able to do work for these companies. Therefore, finding 1~2 of them that would be willing to become our SV partners from the beginning, would be fantastic.

2. Instructors -- Monterrey Tech and MIT (as TPrize challenge partners), could help us design the right training material. Or could help us adapt material they already have.

3. Sources of students with great potential -- SEP (Mexico’s Education Secretariat) and other institutions could point us to dropouts and/or other high-potential students whose circumstances (disability or in addition to) led them not to pursue further schooling.

4. Pursuit (pursuit.org) or similar -- Pursuit is a nonprofit in New York City that happens to have very similar objectives and programs.  More importantly, they are very successful, so it would be great to be mentored by them, or at least get advice every now and then.