b1gplay

Over 50% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is below 18 years of age. These children, especially girls, suffer from multi-dimensional deprivations. The figure below portrays the devastating statistic in Uganda where 90% of children who enroll in primary school never finish secondary school. Worse yet, the average adolescent girl in Uganda has only completed four years of formal schooling.

The system is broken. In the absence of effective public investment programmes to support, value, and provide opportunities to vast numbers of unskilled, unemployed and unemployable adolescents, the youngest continent on the planet risks failing to gain full benefits from the demographic transition and emerge from socio-economic quicksand.

With a strong focus on adolescent girls and young women from under-resourced communities, b1gplay shatters inter-generational poverty traps by (i) celebrating talent to dissolve social, cultural and economic barriers, and (ii) transcending traditional recruitment processes to promote universal visibility and access.

Problem: School completion rates in Africa are dismal. Statistics for girls are markedly worse.

Every year 1,600,000 Ugandan children enroll in primary school. 600,000 "survive" to primary 7. An even smaller number successfully transitions to secondary school, and 150,000-200,000 complete secondary education. Girls are especially at risk. Strikingly, in Kampala less than 3 out of 10 girls complete secondary education. 

Adolescent girls lacking educational opportunities, training or employment face increased risks of negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes. In a study published by UNICEF in 2018, 8 out of 10 girls and young women living in Kampala’s urban slums felt heightened sadness for every day over a period of 2 weeks in the past year, that halted their routine activities. Of these girls, 12 percent contemplated or acted upon this suicidal ideation. Amongst urban adolescent refugee girls, these numbers are likely even higher, often as a consequence of conflict-related trauma prior to their displacement.

A window of opportunity: Girls and young women in under-resourced settings like Uganda are in fact, highly resourceful. They possess grit, commitment and strong determination. What they lack is access to showcase their talent, and the ability to engage beyond their immediate environment.

Solution: b1gplay is a social network and a safe space aimed at encouraging girls and young women to chase their dreams of becoming the best athlete they can be, whilst staying on course to complete higher education.

Using personalized athletic portfolios (see picture below), crafted by users who define their individual metrics, upload visuals, and contribute personalized ratings, this platform will democratize talent identification by providing an interactive, globally accessible tool to facilitate dialogue between various customer segments (e.g. athletes, recruiters, coaches, institutions). 

Our unique value proposition is grounded on three core principles:

1. Facilitate talent identification and measurement;

2. Connect and unite the athletic community; and

3. Leave no athlete behind.

This service is free for all athletes. Revenue generation is grounded on a subscription model targeting recruiters, institutions and brands. Athlete engagement is accessible to amateurs and professionals alike, and as user volume increases exponentially, the portal will enable predictive analytics to precisely match recruiters' needs.  

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) face notable risks that render them vulnerable, socioeconomically, and otherwise. Their needs are multi-faceted and creative solutions are necessary to avoid perpetuating existing vulnerabilities.

b1gplay is such a solution. This novel platform lies at the nexus between technology and social impact. Users of the platform become a part of a community and social revolution, with opportunities to be linked to learning institutions based on their athletic potential. As new entrants into the diaspora, this new linkage has wide-reaching effects as they become able to provide remittances back home.

b1gplay democratizes talent identification and recruitment processes through talent identification camps hosted in refugee communities, urban slums, and within pre-existing youth clubs that are prevalent in LMIC communities. Most importantly, the b1gplay platform provides universal access and visibility to girls and young women from under-resourced communities. 

In the absence of a fully functional platform, b1gplay has already made positive impacts on the lives of young athletes across continents. Through manual cross-posting of individual b1gplay profiles on existing social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, five b1gplay ambassadors have already received scholarship offers to complete high-school or university.

Pervasive gender discrimination and harmful social norms prevent the girl child to reach her full potential. Sadly, in Uganda, the average adolescent girl completes only 4 years of formal education.

b1gplay leverages global and local efforts to support marginalized girls and young women to attain quality learning opportunities by bridging the gap between innate athleticism and access.

b1gplay provides an interactive platform founded upon healthy community interactions to link users to educational opportunities based on athletic potential. Digital learning remains a core component for all users. 

b1gplay is one of a kind and unites various customer segments into one ecosystem. Traditional recruitment mechanisms are dominated by sports governing associations like the NCAA, or NAIA. Their talent pool is limited. 

The existing market is grounded on: (i) “traditional” recruitment characterized by US based high school student-athletes; (ii) profit-driven enterprises; and (iii) social impact groups. Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) focuses on universal placement alone, with limited interactions post-matriculation. Development groups like Giants of Africa or GrassRootSoccer, prioritize social impact through community engagement with little focus on the individual and future growth potential. Profit-driven enterprises such as SportsRecruits, Sport Unleash, Sports Thread, Gloria, or Kinduct, host profiles through tools harnessed on either user metrics or community engagement, but not both.

b1gplay is a social movement grounded upon a user’s development potential. Centered on a digital platform, b1gplay is designed to facilitate communal engagement in support of individual development and broader social impact.

b1gplay democratizes talent identification and uses communities to rate athletes' potential, not performance, a subtle distinction, but an important one. Western metrics measure performance building on years of grooming not traditionally availed to the under-resourced athlete who displays incredible prowess, despite a lack of exposure. To elaborate, the game of basketball in Africa and many other under-exposed areas is far more fluid and unstructured, thereby requiring a different approach that is more malleable with adaptable assessment criteria that more effectively identifies talent.

b1gplay is unique. We tap potential and create the link to access.

b1gplay is a digital platform built as a web-based software application with a view to transform a social network into a global movement for talent identification and cross-continental recognition and promotion. It links young, under-exposed talented youth to coaches, recruiters and educational institutions, as well as global brands by leveraging innate athleticism. With exponential user growth, the platform will utilize crowd-generated rankings and individual metrics to measure an athlete's potential. Fueled by amplified social engagement, our solution will yield unique opportunities to integrate AI and generate machine learning models to predict an athlete's rank and prospects for the relevant customer. Think, Claire, the girl athlete from Gulu, Uganda, our first b1gplay ambassador, meets Facebook, Instagram, TripAdvisor, AirBnB and LinkedIn all rolled into one.

The platform will be built initially as a website (web app), accessible via an internet browser and compatible with desktop and mobile devices. The media component of the website will also be based on the prevalence of mobile phones and their ability to record videos (and photos), which will then be uploaded to the website. Future plans include the development of a mobile application (iOS/Android) to further promote and facilitate universal uptake. b1gplay is grounded on an innovative application of existing technologies, which have been widely accepted and used by other social networking and marketplace websites.

Background: Deeply rooted gender biases and discrimination have been shown to prevent the girl child to grow to her full potential. In Uganda, gender biases at school, compounded with harmful social norms have resulted in only 6 out of 100 girls who enroll in primary school reaching upper secondary education. Most alarmingly, on average, adolescent girls in Uganda complete only 4 years of formal education. 

Seizing the moment: The population of children on the African continent is projected to double in the blink of an eye. Dilapidated social services are being rebuilt, while national systems to deliver basic services continue to be strengthened to keep up with the growing population demand.

Changing lives: b1gplay stands for opportunities and valuing innate athletic ability to overcome socio-economic barriers to success. The vision goes far beyond individual development of basketball players, swimmers, or footballers. Capitalizing on innate athletic ability and the provision of universal visibility and access, b1gplay sets in motion a domino effect to provide greater access to educational opportunities. 

Key linkages: Users create individual profiles. Fans contribute to talent identification. Recruiters access a global menu of talent and via predictive analytics identify their “all-stars.”

Re-shaping social engagement: b1gplay aspires to foster a more empowered, educated workforce with a view to re-balance women's socio-economic engagement, protection and inclusion. More athletes translate into more graduates, and more lawyers, doctors and teachers to help re-build, strengthen and revive wounded national systems weighing down on young women's hopes and aspirations. 

Building nations: Recruited girl-athletes become socio-economically empowered. Their lives, their immediate families’ lives and their communities are re-shaped, as demonstrated by the picture below displaying the growth and relevance of remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries.

Success story: Claire is b1gplay’s first global ambassador. Identified at a basketball camp in Northern Uganda as a teenager, she was noticed for her agility, and within a few years she received a basketball scholarship to attend university in the US. Thereafter, Claire played professionally in Europe and was recently accepted for a Master’s degree in Biotechnology.

Using manual techniques, we have activated 388 girl athletes worldwide of 800 overall users (see map below). Of these, nearly 200 profiles have been generated and nearly half are young women. 

By utilizing existing social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, we featured just over forty profiles, and are thrilled to announce that five b1gplay ambassadors have already received scholarship offers to complete high-school or university. Let us pause for a minute, and reflect on what our 12 percent success rate means for the one and a half million Ugandan children who cyclically drop out of school before completing secondary education. Lacking financial means or solid social support networks to stay in the system, b1gplay will bridge a portion of these young girl athletes to external opportunities.

As we continue developing, and prepare to launch the b1gplay platform, we anticipate exponential growth in numbers. Our five-year projections for impact are captured in the figure below.

Following our current trajectory, one year after going to market with no less than 50,000 profiled users, we anticipate 5,000 scholarship offers with 3000 targeted at the girl athlete. Driven by platform enhancements, sports diversification and a bold move to identify talent beyond the world of sports, to integrate arts and music, as an example, we project over 10,000,000 actively engaged users and no less than 700,000 direct young women beneficiaries by 2024.

Within one year, b1gplay aims to move beyond its current manual manipulations to successfully link athletes to opportunities. We aim to complete development of a minimum viable product, transition quickly to beta testing, and ultimately launch a fully functioning platform that will fuel b1gplay’s social movement. Our magic is comprised of a uniquely interactive community of players, coaches and recruiters, fans, and the media, with all parts, equally accountable for promoting and democratizing talent identification.

During year one, critical systems will be instituted. While the digital technology is being built, a vital focus will include initiatives that maintain a safe social space for young women, with online learning and social protection assurances for those transitioning to their new opportunities. Equally important will be nurturing of the marketing segment to foster continued uptake of users.

The b1gplay five-year goal is ambitious and revolutionary. We begin with basketball recruitment because it is what we know best. Rapidly, this democratization of talent will transfer to other sports and quickly spread to arts and music with a bold objective to link talented musicians to placements like The Juilliard School. By 2025, the b1gplay logo will be a synonym for talent and opportunity for millions of ambitious young women, many of whom will become drivers of change in their respective communities.

Financial. Lack of financial resources has impeded our ability to move through planned sprints to finalize our digital platform. To date, b1gplay has completed only a subset of consecutive sprint packages that are aimed at yielding a robust product. Completing additional sprints in Year 1 will yield an active platform that will support development of a novel marketplace grounded on social empowerment. These sprints include fulfillment of a comprehensive marketing strategy to enhance community participation. Staffing the marketing segment of b1gplay with a strategist who will lead a full team aimed at increasing user engagement will require additional financial inputs. As we proceed beyond year 1, our financial projections propose that in the face of linear revenue growth across three different types of marketplace subscription models, there will be greater balance between required seed funds and self-generated financial inputs.

Technical. From a technical perspective, b1gplay must move beyond our initial standing with a lean development team. In order to meet the key milestones for machine learning and AI inputs that will enhance our solution’s capabilities, several fully-fledged engineers, are needed. Identifying and then employing the right skill sets are essential to our success.

Legal and cultural. The placement of student athletes, especially young women in brand new environments requires strong regulatory oversight to ensure that critical protection frameworks are in place. This is an immediate need and cannot be under-emphasized as an urgent priority and a potential barrier. Refining these measures over time will be essential.

Some barriers for b1gplay, mentioned above, can be overcome with diligent research and attention to the various customers and their needs to predict what is essential for growth. Other barriers, however, like the current COVID-19 pandemic, are grossly unpredictable. The impact of limited inter-continental travel must be met creatively as our digital platform matures and adapts to our post-COVID existence. Ultimately, all barriers will be met by welcoming curated experts and cultivating this community to support alignment to the prioritized growth areas. It is the spirt of partnership and magic of collaboration that will allow us to overcome both anticipated and unpredictable barriers.

On marketing, we will aggressively seek an employee base that is understanding of our transformative mission in order to position b1gplay as a vibrant space. We aim to bring together traditionally fragmented customer segments into a heterogeneous marketplace through emphatic efforts to increase our user base of athletes by leveraging strategic global hot spots, based on our existing networks while developing partnerships beyond the world of sports. These include protection and social assistance services that will support users in a non-traditional digital manner. Such an approach will fuel user engagement, while quantifying and documenting value addition to recruiting institutions and customers at large. The latter focus on client satisfaction is expected to yield sustained growth in both our customer base of recruiting institutions and revenue streams.

N.B. b1gplay is envisaged as a hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit. The company is yet to be registered.

In 2018, b1gplay recruited 3 part-time developers on a boot-strap, self-financed budget. The need for advanced technical skill became evident and continued self-funding added one part-time software engineer and one part-time software developer to more aggressively push our solution forward. In early 2020 b1gplay signed a partnership agreement with Symph (https://www.symph.co/) and our sprints plan developed. Presently, we have a composite team of 4 core staff with pro-bono part-time engagements by the founder and co-founder, and contract additions with our business strategy lead and software engineer.

Passion.

We are fueled by passion. Our core team, composed of a dynamic group of engaged individuals, has accumulated over half a century of work experience within the international development sector. Our professional experience has allowed us to witness firsthand the injustice of privilege by virtue of where one is born. We share a common vision that potential and talent should have a greater role in the formula for success and achievement. 

Jessica, a medical doctor in public health is a technical strategist, has led HIV prevention for adolescent girls in Uganda and has advised ministries of health, globally. Diego, a PhD economist is a professional basketball player and contributes regularly to the discourse on global social policy (What Work's for Africa's Poorest Children). Dave is a serial entrepreneur and Albert is Philippines’ first Google Developer Expert. Collectively, we aspire to impact millions and alter socio-economic dynamics in vulnerable populations by utilizing technology as a vehicle for inclusive growth.

Most importantly, our advisors Isabel, Raya and Aryiel epitomize the growth potential we aspire to unlock. b1gplay's conviction to harness and promote child participation is a key value nested within our ethos to work for children, with children.

Partnerships and strategic engagement play a central role in b1gplay's mission to unite customer segments, in an otherwise fragmented marketplace. In this regard, we continue to seek like-minded partners to foster our vision and provide girls and young women with a global stage to promote innate talent, on a foundation of equity, with a view to support future generations of girls to grow to their full potential.  

The picture above provides a snapshot of existing partnerships that include an array of academies that promote youth development through athletics, as well as national federations such as FUBA (Federation of Uganda Basketball Association). We value a healthy mix of heterogeneous partners. b1gplay brings together North America and Africa based organizations, with vastly different institutional architectures and a broad spectrum of operational approaches, that yields a truly global perspective in the interpretation of the problem we aspire to solve. 

At this juncture, we wish to highlight, in particular, our partnership with the Peace Champs Initiative. Following the war in South Sudan, Uganda became home to over one million South Sudanese refugees. Over time, b1gplay has supported the Peace Champs Initiative to organize the "Play4Peace" tournament, a momentous occasion where South Sudanese young adolescents come together, and play together, in the name of peace. 

Our business model is anchored on a premise that young athletes, especially girls in developing markets are not easily identifiable to schools and recruiters who lack insights into these talented clients. b1gplay unites customer segments that co-exist in a fragmented market. The recruitment industry remains fractured, ignoring asymmetries in information from these under-explored markets. In Africa numerous skilled athletes are left behind.  No digital platform enables user athletes, media, fans and agents to engage as one community to foster promotion for broader exposure of student-athletes.

b1gplay’s value proposition is harnessed upon a virtual marketplace that links talented users to global sports recruitment. By optimizing ratings that are user-centric and community driven, profile creation with static and video uploads will be visible to coaches and recruiters. With the exponential growth of users, predictive analytics will enable identification of premiere talent, of greatest value to the corporate customer segment.

Academic institutions in the USA deliver 3.5bn USD in athletic scholarships annually with average investments near $300,000 USD on recruitment, alone. Exceptions such as the University of Kentucky are reported to invest close to 50,000 USD monthly.  Successful recruitment of a top player yields substantial financial gains with some players generating over six million US dollars annually.

b1gplay is an unprecedented investment opportunity. Recruiting institutions access a global talent pool. Simultaneously, young women are provided with an interactive tool in a safe space, complete with digital-learning possibilities and ultimately a stage, and a conduit toward educational opportunities capitalizing on innate athletic ability.

Solve's 2020 Global Challenge provides an excellent opportunity to unlock the potential of b1gplay's revenue stream, which is contingent on the development of a functioning platform. Full platform development will take between four to six months. We will continuously test and validate our primary assumptions that our business model optimizes engagement with all customer segments. Initial seed investment for platform development will be supplemented within six months of active operation by revenues from subscription models, without ever charging the primary user, the student athlete.

Mindful of the interconnection between fixed and variable costs, b1gplay will record net profits by twelve months. Fixed costs are primarily associated with platform development and management. Variable costs are expected to vary in lieu of sales and marketing operations aimed at deepening the customer base (i.e. recruiting institutions and brands), as well as targeted events to promote our user base (i.e. athletes) through camps, tournaments, or exhibition games.  

The figure above provides a conservative financial projection factoring in 100,000 USD seed funding in the face of linear revenue growth across three different types of marketplace subscription models: Individual, institutional, and brand sponsorship. This broad spectrum of services was carefully crafted to cater for a wide variety of customers, including agents, coaches and recruiters working in isolation or on behalf of established institutions. We anticipate visible interest from high flying brands committed to support and pioneer talent identification efforts on the basis of corporate strategies to grow market appropriation and penetration, as well as corporate responsibility.

Financial barrier. Selection as a “solver” with an award of 10,000 USD would enable b1gplay to complete its final sprint and lay the foundation for our prototype MVP, an interactive platform hosting girl athletes, with profiles and metrics that have been previously maintained on simple spreadsheets. Hiring a full-time software developer will ensure we enter beta testing by the close of 2020. Once the MVP is live, our business model will need revisiting to ensure the right priorities are in place. b1gplay will require a marketing strategist to build a marketing team mandated to boost community engagement and nurture a viable customer base. Simultaneously, a social protection strategy will be crafted with related staff embedded in this nascent organization to leverage exposure and support young female athletes along the continuum of recruitment to placement while fostering cultural integration and development of new opportunities for exposure of untapped athletic talent. This transformative model requires broadminded financing that acknowledges the spark that will yield a glowing flame of potential not just for featured athletes but for all talented individuals who only require a bridge of exposure to opportunity. 

While b1gplay has developed numerous partners to date, they are largely representative of the supply side of our prototype. Engagement with partners from our proposed customer segment, including individuals, institutions or brands would allow us to craft more meaningful solutions that are not only viable but sustainable in a changing ecosystem. At this stage in our development, we would be most appreciative of an element core to the Solve community. Tapping into your breadth of advisors will validate our vision and enrich our product. 

As a solution at prototype phase, access to funding has been a challenge for us at b1gplay. Our mission and motivation are founded upon a desire to positively transform communities. Access to capital whose basis is anchored upon social impact is our desire. As such, pitching our idea to Solve members such as the Nike Foundation to assess partnership potential would be exhilarating. Girl Effect, for instance, the initiative developed by the Nike Foundation represents a natural fit for b1gplay. Together, through our proposed platform, we aspire to change deeply rooted social dynamics and harmful gender norms by creating a movement to empower the girl athlete to access opportunities for learning and growth. Through the Solve network, an introduction to Maria Eitel would be a great leap forward in identifying like-minded individuals, organizations and potential partners to see our vision through.

Isolation and limited access to quality education represent key challenges affecting the lives of young refugees, especially girls. Such hindrances are the root cause at the heart of inter-generational poverty transmission. 

Through the provision of universal access and exposure, b1gplay is uniquely positioned to utilize technology as a catalyst for socio-economic inclusion and growth. In this spirit, and in the name of social justice, "The Andan Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion" would serve as critical seed funding to launch The b1gplay Refugee Initiative aimed at promoting talent identification amongst refugee communities.

Based in Kampala, Uganda, b1gplay is fully aware of the devastating impact of war and persecution on children and young adolescents. In recent years, Uganda has become host to the largest number of refugees on the African continent. In just a few months since launching, b1gplay actively engaged support for refugee communities by sponsoring the Play4Peace tournament organized by the South Sudanese basketball fraternity living Uganda. Play4Peace is a unique event during which South Sudanese refugees and residents of Uganda come together, and play basketball in the name of peace in South Sudan - see picture from the 6th edition of the Play4Peace tournament below. 

The b1gplay Refugee Initiative will enable us to foster strategic regional and global partnerships with a wide array of organizations, including national and international entities such as UNHCR and grass-root organizations to promote talent identification and access to education opportunities amongst vulnerable refugee children and young adolescents.

The fulfillment of the post-2015 SDG agenda is highly contingent upon our collective efforts and ability to achieve universal school enrollment, gender equality and women empowerment. Notably, however, sustained high enrollment rates and gender parity in education continue to be eroded by high drop-out rates, especially affecting the girl child. 

Girls and young women in under-resourced settings like Uganda are extremely resourceful. They possess grit, commitment and determination. What they lack is a platform to showcase their talent, and an ability to engage beyond their immediate environment.

b1gplay provides an interactive, globally accessible tool to facilitate dialogue between various customer segments, focused on the girl-athlete as the primary user. Athletes create personalized portfolios within a safe space that universally democratizes talent identification and opportunity creation while availing those waiting in the wings with curated digital learning content.  

This exciting journey begins with Claire, the first b1gplay ambassador. Claire grew up in Gulu, northern Uganda. After stumbling upon basketball in her teenage years, she obtained a basketball scholarship to enroll in university in California, USA. Claire has become Uganda's first and only foreign-based professional basketball player, and was recently accepted to pursue a Master’s degree in biotechnology. Claire proudly represents her country and supports her family in Gulu. We will use the Innovation for Women Prize to complete our sprint for b1gplay’s full platform development in order to generate future girl athletes, like Claire. 

Over 50% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is below 18 years of age. The majority of these children, especially girls, experience multi-dimensional deprivations. In countries like Uganda, 90% of children enroll in primary school and drop out before completing secondary education. 

In the absence of effective public investment programmes that support, and provide opportunities to many unskilled, unemployed and unemployable adolescents, the youngest continent on the planet risks failing to emerge from socio-economic quicksand. 

b1gplay is a solution that shatters inter-generational poverty traps by exposing athletic abilities and talent to dissolve social, cultural and economic barriers, while transcending traditional recruitment processes to promote universal visibility and access in efforts to bridge access to quality learning opportunities. b1gplay provides a safe social support network to encourage girls and young women to chase their dreams of becoming the best athlete they can be while staying on course to complete higher education with a view to transform their lives, their families, and entire communities.

Success story: Claire is b1gplay’s first global ambassador. Identified at a basketball camp in Northern Uganda as a teenager, she was noticed for her agility, and within a few years she received a basketball scholarship to attend university in the US. Thereafter, Claire played professionally in Europe and was recently accepted for a Master’s degree in Biotechnology.

We will use the GM Prize on Learning for Girls and Women to complete our sprint for b1gplay’s full platform development in order to generate future girl athletes, like Claire. 

b1gplay is a solution that shatters inter-generational poverty traps by exposing athletic abilities and talent to dissolve social, cultural and economic barriers, while transcending traditional recruitment processes. b1gplay also provides a safe social support network to encourage girls and young women to chase their dreams of becoming the best athlete they can be while staying on course to complete higher education with a view to transform their lives, their families, and entire communities.

Okoro Ifunanya completed secondary school. At 20 she opted out of higher education to pursue a professional basketball career in Nigeria. Her b1gplay profile sparked interest by many coaches and materialized into an offer at junior college in the USA. The COVID-19 pandemic and the global shutdown may have placed Ifunanya's basketball scholarship on hold, but nothing stands in the way of b1gplay from continuing to create life-changing opportunities for girls and young women. 

We will use the Gulbenkian Award to complete our sprint for b1gplay’s full platform development in order to generate future girl athletes, like Ifunanya.

Our goal is ambitious and revolutionary. We begin with basketball recruitment because it is what we know best. Rapidly, this democratization of talent will transfer to other sports and quickly spread to arts and music with a bold objective to link talented musicians to placements like The Juilliard School. By 2025, the b1gplay logo will be synonymous with opportunity for millions of ambitious young women, many of whom will become drivers of change in their respective communities.

At the nexus between technology, athlete recruitment, community empowerment, marketing and social impact lies the transformative b1gplay platform.

The power of this product is evident with great success already generated by manual engagements that have placed amateur athletes. Automation with completed development of our minimum viable product is the first step in a journey that will eventually utilize machine learning and predictive analytics to match athletic performance with various customer segments’ needs. As an example, user individual metrics such as wingspan, vertical leap, speed or acceleration in the setting of untapped talent represent a novel frontier of exploration to identify future all-stars based on emerging and predictive algorithms, ultimately testing and disrupting traditional recruitment processes while creating opportunities and maximizing social impact.

From a recruitment angle, this strategically designed platform harnesses data-driven talent identification on unbiased, democratic assessments of an athlete's potential, not performance. This subtle, yet very important distinction is especially relevant on the basis that Western metrics to measure performance are not applicable to under-exposed athletes who do not grow up being taught to perform vis-a-vis predetermined assessment indices. The game of basketball, for instance, in Africa and many other under-exposed areas is far more fluid and unstructured, thereby requiring more malleable, adaptable assessment criteria to effectively predict success.    

To elaborate further, traditional recruitment approaches would automatically disregard "under-performing" athletes with limited experience or exposure to organized sports like basketball, football or swimming irrespective of innate athletic ability. By focusing on each athlete's potential, and going beyond performance, b1gplay yields an unprecedented degree of sophistication in the calibration of carefully selected individual characteristics to identify and promote raw talent.

By leveraging on b1gplay's key principles of objectivity and inclusivity, the effective application and positioning of AI as a catalyst for talent identification holds immense potential to yield sharp increases in the number of potential users and community members, thereby amplifying the number of girls and young women that emerge as student athletes and are able to access better education opportunities, while further enhancing b1gplay's potential for social impact.

The AI for Humanity Prize is a natural fit. This additional funding would catapult b1gplay to move beyond a minimal viable product, by increasing the foundational elements for early growth. Focus would shift toward maintenance of a complete software development team to learn and rapidly propel from beta testing of the platform to full functionality while simultaneously developing the strategic arm of engagement to craft the right balance between marketing and research and development.

Passion.

We are fueled by passion. Our core team, composed of a dynamic group of engaged individuals, has accumulated over half a century of work experience within the international development sector. Our professional experience has allowed us to witness firsthand the injustice of privilege by virtue of where one is born. We share a common vision that potential and talent should have a greater role in the formula for success and achievement. 

Jessica, a medical doctor in public health is a technical strategist, has led HIV prevention for adolescent girls in Uganda and has advised ministries of health, globally. Diego, a PhD economist is a professional basketball player and contributes regularly to the discourse on global social policy (What Work's for Africa's Poorest Children). Dave is a serial entrepreneur and Albert is Philippines’ first Google Developer Expert. Collectively, we aspire to impact millions and alter socio-economic dynamics in vulnerable populations by utilizing technology as a vehicle for inclusive growth.

Most importantly, our advisors Isabel, Raya and Aryiel epitomize the growth potential we aspire to unlock. b1gplay's conviction to harness and promote child participation is a key value nested within our ethos to work for children, with children.

Background: Deeply rooted gender biases and discrimination have been shown to prevent the girl child to grow to her full potential. In Uganda, gender biases at school, compounded with harmful social norms have resulted in only 6 out of 100 girls who enroll in primary school reaching upper secondary education. Most alarmingly, on average, adolescent girls in Uganda complete only 4 years of formal education. 

Seizing the moment: The population of children on the African continent is projected to double in the blink of an eye. Dilapidated social services are being rebuilt, while national systems to deliver basic services continue to be strengthened to keep up with the growing population demand.

Changing lives: b1gplay stands for opportunities and valuing innate athletic ability to overcome socio-economic barriers to success. The vision goes far beyond individual development of basketball players, swimmers, or footballers. Capitalizing on innate athletic ability and the provision of universal visibility and access, b1gplay sets in motion a domino effect to provide greater access to educational opportunities. 

Key linkages: Users create individual profiles. Fans contribute to talent identification. Recruiters access a global menu of talent and via predictive analytics identify their “all-stars.”

Re-shaping social engagement: b1gplay aspires to foster a more empowered, educated workforce with a view to re-balance women's socio-economic engagement, protection and inclusion. More athletes translate into more graduates, and more lawyers, doctors and teachers to help re-build, strengthen and revive wounded national systems weighing down on young women's hopes and aspirations. 

Building nations: Recruited girl-athletes become socio-economically empowered. Their lives, their immediate families’ lives and their communities are re-shaped, as demonstrated by the picture below displaying the growth and relevance of remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries.

Success story: Claire is b1gplay’s first global ambassador. Identified at a basketball camp in Northern Uganda as a teenager, she was noticed for her agility, and within a few years she received a basketball scholarship to attend university in the US. Thereafter, Claire played professionally in Europe and was recently accepted for a Master’s degree in Biotechnology.

Selection as a “solver” with an award of 10,000 USD would enable b1gplay to complete its final sprint and lay the foundation for our prototype MVP, an interactive platform hosting girl athletes, with profiles and metrics that have been previously maintained on simple spreadsheets. Hiring a full-time software developer will ensure we enter beta testing by the close of 2020. Once the MVP is live, our business model will need revisiting to ensure the right priorities are in place. b1gplay will require a marketing strategist to build a marketing team mandated to boost community engagement and nurture a viable customer base. Simultaneously, a social protection strategy will be crafted with related staff embedded in this nascent organization to leverage exposure and support young female athletes along the continuum of recruitment to placement while fostering cultural integration and development of new opportunities for exposure of untapped athletic talent. This transformative model requires broadminded financing that acknowledges the spark that will yield a glowing flame of potential not just for featured athletes but for all talented individuals who only require a bridge of exposure to opportunity.