Yotribe

Most of the schools work on a fixed curriculum, without considering the strengths and passions of the individual students. Further, the middle and high school students are unable to learn real world skills for the job roles of the 21st century. 

Yotribe is a gamified learning community for teenagers from around the world, led by the students themselves. Members join ‘clubs’ based on their interests and interact with like-minded folks from around the world. They also participate in cohort based programs, offered by experts and practitioners. The programs revolve around themes such as Artificial Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking, Performing Arts, etc. The community is absolutely free, while students pay a fee for expert programs. Yotribers carve out their own learning paths, not only developing 21st century life and career skills, but also realising their potential. 

Majority of the learning models worldwide follow a factory-style system where all students are taught the same curriculum, irrespective of their passions and capabilities.This one-size-fits-all approach results in inadequate guidance and support provided to individual students.

Additionally, an outdated curriculum is followed that excludes imparting knowledge of 21st century skills such as collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, etc.

We seek to bring about a change in this mass education model by making learning more liberal and personalised. Our learning approach revolves around being experiential,  playful and immersive.

Yotribe is a gamified and safe learning space for 13 to 20 year olds around the world where they are empowered to explore and develop their passions. There are no charges for joining the community, students only have to pay for participating in live cohort-based programs that are delivered by world-class experts. Apart from the paid programs, students can engage in club activities, challenges and live projects (free of charge). All the events and activities hosted on the community platform revolve around themes such as  Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking, Sustainability, Creative Writing, etc.

The programs and events are designed on the basis of the PEPS approach of learning-

P- Personalised

E- Experiential

P-  Playful

S- Social

Through active participation in the community and engaging with peers from around the world students get to develop skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving.

Yotribe is an open platform created for middle-school and high-school students from all socio-economic backgrounds.

We conducted online and in-person cohort-based programs with over 4000 students in India. These programs were organised in collaboration with Non-Profit Organisations such as Teach for India and Lend-a-Hand India; and Government schools across the country.

Through these programs we interacted with educators, parents, students and experts in the alternative education space to understand the essentials of engaging and valuable learning experiences. 

Going forward, as more members join the community and engage in various activities on the platform, students/community members and their parents shall be encouraged to provide online feedback about their experience in the Yotribe community, which will aid us in understanding their requirements and modifying the user experience.

The solution addresses the challenge of Enabling access to quality learning experiences in low-connectivity settings—including imaginative play, collaborative projects, and hands-on experiments. 

The programs are delivered through PEPS Learning Approach i.e. Playful, Experiential, Personalised and Social. 

Students have a wide range of cohort-based programs, clubs, challenges and live projects(with existing companies) to choose from. They connect with like-minded peers around the world and gain hands-on experience through live projects.

In our pilot cohort-based program ”Entrepreneurship”, students collaborated and successfully established mini-companies. These experiences contributed in developing an entrepreneurial mindset along with refining their creativity and imaginative skills.

Through our online and in-person programs, we were able to engage thousands of students in the age group of 12 to 20 years. Hundreds of them have become part of the online community. Through the constant feedback from the students as well as their parents, we have been able to create a product that is now market-ready.

Yotribe’s solution is innovative in the following three ways:

1. A global community of learners is created where students can develop and explore their passions together.

2. PEPS Approach : Yotribe gives students a chance to choose what they learn. They are not restricted by a pre-defined curriculum which results in personalised and self-paced learning. Through cohort-based programs and Open Challenges, students are provided with opportunities to gain hands-on experience and collaborate with like-minded peers.

3. Live Programs : Our live cohort-based programs are delivered by world-class facilitators and experts from around the world. These programs are designed to provide learning experiences to students in a playful and engaging way.

Currently, we serve around 300 students in our community. 

In the next one year, we plan to engage 25,000 students. 

Based on feedback and market analysis, we aim to serve 320,000 students in the next five years.

Through constant interaction with students we are able to identify noticeable changes in behaviour and approach towards learning. 

In the future, we aim to conduct periodic online psychometric tests to understand the growth and development of community members.

Full time staff : 9

Our team consists of 9 members (including 3 co-founders) from diverse backgrounds. 

Our co-founders specialise in Marketing, Technology and Education space, whereas other key team members are in the role of Operations, Finance, Communications and Partnerships.

Our co-founders, Anshumaan Bansal, has prior experience working on a grass-root level with children from secondary schools in India (belonging to low-income families). Through live programs, he has been able to mentor children to establish their own startups  in arenas such as Sustainability, Mental Health, Digital Media, etc.

Our Co-founder, Ashish Dubey, is in charge of the Technology division. He has over 20 years of experience in technology and entrepreneurship as he has successfully established a million dollars IT Solutions company in Canada.

Our co-founder, Priyam Jain, has extensive experience in delivering education solutions to young adults in India.

All our team members have been through the struggle of finding their passion and making informed decisions about career paths. Through our collective thoughts and experiences we are determined about guiding the next generation to explore and develop their passions.

Our team comprises of members from diverse backgrounds and cultures and at the moment has majority of women members.

We have taken the Parity Pledge of committing to interview and consider at least one qualified woman for every open role, VP and higher, including the C-Suite and the Board.

As a solver team, we shall be able to gain access to partners who can provide us assistance with human capital, financial methodologies and public relations. MIT being the centre of innovation itself, will be able to provide us with extensive insights on our learning models.

We are excited to work with an organisation that shares our goals of developing the ability and passion to work creatively and effectively for the betterment of humankind.

Human Capital: We need help in sourcing talent who can join our dynamic team. We are looking for specialists in Marketing and Technical Members.

Financial : We require mentoring w.r.t. Pitching to investors and pre-requisites for the same.

Public Relations: We need a strong marketing and promotions strategy to be able to access students worldwide.

We would like to partner with

1. Educators : Under whose guidance we can create a more impactful community

2. School Leaders : With the help of whom we can take our programs to various schools-both public and private.

Yotribe qualifies for this award because at the very core, the mission of the organisation is to provide students a platform that enables them to explore as many career paths as they desire. The design of our programs revolve around experiential and collaborative learning. As we intend to scale globally and impact as many student lives as we can, students from anywhere around the world coming from any socio-economic background can access the community platform of Yotribe for free of charge.