Semi-finalist
Re-engaging Learners

UcloudNet

Team Leader
Karim Rifai
Solution Overview & Team Lead Details
Our Organization
Uaiki
What is the name of your solution?
UcloudNet
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
A low-cost, portable learning management system that combines hardware and software to provide simultaneous high speed access for hundreds of users to
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?

The main problem that we are trying to solve with the UcloudNet System is the lack of access to digital tools and connectivity that affects most underdeveloped nations and schools around the world. This problem is especially abundant in Peru, our home country, where 6 out of 10 Peruvians do not have access to a reliable source of internet. This translates to almost 20 million Peruvians disconnected from the digital age.

In terms of internet service, 60.6% of households in Lima, the capital city of Peru, have reliable internet, compared to 8.2% of households in rural peru. This shows how rural, remote communities are mainly affected by this problem. If we look at the rate of internet access in rural schools in Peru, the problem becomes more evident, where only 8.8% of schools have any sort of internet connection and just 7.6% of these schools have an internet cabin or booth in the location/community of the school. 

This problem repeats around the world, where only just over half of households (55%) have an internet connection, according to UNESCO. In the developed world, 87% are connected compared with 47% in developing nations, and just 19% in the least developed countries. This is  due to different reasons, such as poor infrastructure, elevated prices and poor management of resources by local governments.

A big factor that has made this problem even worse is the COVID 19 pandemic. In most underdeveloped countries, thousands of students have lost valuable in person class hours that they will not be able to make up. Just in Peru, according to figures from the National Household Survey (ENAHO) of the INEI, the percentage of students who continued to take classes in 2020 through any modality fell five percentage points compared to the attendance levels of 2019, going from 92% to 87%. This means that more than 400,000 students flatly stopped taking classes last year as a result of the pandemic.

Access problems have caused adolescents with lower incomes and rural areas of Peru to opt for other activities, reducing the time devoted to their education. This is evidenced, for example, in the notable increase in the number of workers between the ages of 14 and 18 in rural areas of the country, since the start of the state of emergency in 2020. The average number of adolescent workers in rural areas increased from 388 thousand in the first quarter of 2020, to 485 thousand in the first quarter of 2021.

What is your solution?

The UcloudNet System is a low-cost, portable system that combines hardware and software to allow hundreds or even thousands of users to connect simultaneously and at high speed to a universe of digital tools, applications and educational content. Users are able to browse a library with more than 100,000 units of quality learning content, as well as have unlimited access to the Ministry of Education learning portal call “Aprendo en Casa'' and “Peru Educa'' as well as Wikipedia, thousands of books, educational videos, movies and digital apps all without assessing any fees for data consumption.

Uaiki delivers a local cloud solution that provides access to the digital world and all its tools. Through UcloudNet, all students and educators within a community are able to continue their study plans as they have everything needed from the national curriculum in “Aprendo en Casa”. They will also be able to find new topics to learn from and interact with educational apps to further increase their knowledge. Adults in the community can also benefit from access to apps such as “Uventas'' where they will be able to trade goods and services.

UcloudNet is a modular technology kit (varies storage capacity, users and coverage area) that is not dependent on having a live internet connection. Thus, it is possible to use the system no matter how remote the location. Once connected to any energy source, conventional or renewable, the UcloudNet Kit creates a wireless signal cloud of up to 1,000 meters in diameter using either sectorial or omnidirectional antennas that allows up to 1,000 users to connect simultaneously. It is important to note the system is extensible through the addition of storage capacity. The system needs only occasional internet access to keep the system updated, fix any issues, collect user and system data. 

Ucloudnet is especially useful in remote and disadvantaged communities. It guarantees autonomy because it is not dependent on a telecommunications company for ongoing operation. It is modular, versatile, and portable, and it is compatible with any cell phone that has been produced after 2008. Finally, the system protects users from unwanted and inappropriate content such as pornography and violence while ensuring a friendly and intuitive experience.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Our target population are the thousands of disadvantaged and remote communities that lack both internet connectivity and access to quality educational resources. Most of these communities suffer from extreme poverty, low education rates, and childhood malnutrition. The Peruvian government struggles to meet the needs of these communities due to their small size and remote locations. This situation is compounded by the fact that these communities do not produce significant tax revenue for the state and are therefore, easily overlooked and underserved. Additional factors include inefficient use of resources and corruption. The private sector will not serve these communities as they have no monetary incentive to do so. The situation in these communities has been the most affected by the pandemic and the restrictions that the government imposed. The vast majority of people in rural Peru depend on daily wages to survive. Few were able to work during the extended lockdown.

The Uaiki system will provide access to quality digital resources for these forgotten communities and schools. They will be able to access educational as well as controlled entertainment content without consuming any data, meaning that there is very little cost associated with accessing the platform. Our system also helps to increase commerce within small communities and help entrepreneurs, as users can sell products and services on our Uventas app. Users will also be able to read news from our Unoticias app, learn about medicine from our Telesalud app and subscribe themselves in courses ranging from entrepreneurship to local languages (quechua). Children within these communities will have the opportunity to learn about the world, its history and hopefully with this information they will be able to have bigger dreams than before.

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

Uaiki is made up of diverse and committed employees. We are all Peruvian. We have first hand experience with the problem faced by remote communities. We are incredibly well positioned to help these communities and deliver our solution. I am Karim Rifai, the founder and CEO of Uaiki. I completed my studies in economics with a specialization in development economies. I have over 8 years of experience. Our team includes Esteban Lorted de Mola, a business major and leader of the commercial team, Derek Ricketts, an economist in charge of alliances and donations. We also have a full team of peruvian programmers and engineers in charge of developing and improving our software.

We are based in Lima, Peru in very close proximity to hundreds, even thousands of rural communities and schools that lack access to the quality learning resources and the internet.  Most of rural Peru is extremely poor so that even when the internet is accessible, it is beyond the means of the majority. Many on our team come from humble backgrounds. This is particularly true of our programming team who managed to educate themselves and progress in their careers due in large measure to the opportunities provided by the internet.
Peru is an extremely diverse country, with a total of 84 out of 103 ecosystems and 28 out of 32 climates on the planet. This means that Peru is a great starting point for our journey, since we can implement it in many different places within the country and be sure that our solution will work in most places around the world. The good thing is that we have already installed our system in the Amazon, the Andes and the desert coast of Peru and it works perfectly.

We have already implemented our system in a number of remote schools and communities in Peru. We have spent many days and weeks living in these communities, helping to rebuild schools while equipping them with UcoudNet. We have experienced what they live in their day to day lives in order to fully understand their needs and struggles. We are now confident enough after all these experiences to say that we know how they feel and how our system could help them change their lives. 

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
  • Enable personalized learning and individualized instruction for learners who are most at risk for disengagement and school drop-out
Where our solution team is headquartered or located:
Lima, Peru
Our solution's stage of development:
  • Growth
How many people does your solution currently serve?
We currently have 30 different programs benefiting the public and private sector in Peru and Guatemala. A number of empowerment and development programs use our connectivity technology located in schools and community learning centers, village health centers, libraries and other key centers in order to benefit as many people as possible from all ages. Today, Uaiki’s UcloudNet system connects more than 10,000 registered users and a further 20,000+ unregistered users at sites where connectivity and access to quality education, culture and telemedicine are simply inaccessible.
Why are you applying to Solve?

We are applying to Solve in order to get our solution out there for people to notice its potential and the impact it can have in millions of remote schools and communities around the world. We hope to find partners and reach as many people as possible.

We are facing a few important barriers, some of them more complicated than others. First of all is the technical barrier. Given the complicated geography of Peru, it can be a challenge to install in some locations, especially in the jungle. We already have a team of experts that have acquired a lot of knowledge and experience in this field, but we welcome any institution or individual to help us improve technique.

We also face a financial challenge. Given that the schools we are trying to help are in the most remote areas of Peru, it can be hard for them to find any help. We have made many donations to disadvantaged schools, but given the amount of these kinds of communities in Peru and in the world, it can be quite complicated to help as many people as we can without any financial help. We are currently working with the private sector to reach more schools. We are also working with the government and have made a few programs with the ministry of education, but the level of bureaucracy makes it really complicated for us to keep growing and reach all the regions of peru.

Peru needs this technology and our help. The country has more than 90,000 populated centers (towns), most of them are located in rural areas with no access to internet, some of them even without any access to mobile internet due to their geographical location, such as the Amazon and the high Andes.

In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
  • Business model (e.g. product-market fit, strategy & development)
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Karim Rifai Burneo
More About Your Solution
Your Team
Your Business Model & Funding
Solution Team:
Karim Rifai
Karim Rifai
CEO and Founder
Derek Ricketts
Derek Ricketts
Economist