EmBED (Education made Beautiful, Engaging & Delightful)

"Only about half of sub-Saharan Africa’s 128 million school-aged children currently attending school are likely to acquire the basic skills needed for them to live healthy and productive lives"...The Africa Learning Barometer.

Africa, plagued by a grossly inadequate educational system, has the highest rates of educational exclusion in the world; over 1/5 of children between 6 and 11 years and 1/3 between 12 and 14 years are out of school. Almost 60% of children in sub-Saharan Africa between 15 and 17 years are not in school. Girls are more likely to stay out of school than boys. Nine million girls between 6 and 11 years in Africa will never go to school at all, compared to six million boys.

These problems are exacerbated by continued poverty and socioeconomic inequalities, especially in rural areas in Africa. These areas have poor/nonexistent infrastructure & little or no provisions for other critical social services, making rural schoolchildren the most disadvantaged socioeconomically when it comes to access to quality education. Getting to school is a difficult challenge for a child here & illness of a pupil or a family member may force the pupil to drop out of school entirely.

EmBED addresses 5 problems in Africa’s educational system:

• Out of school: the stats are frightening; UNICEF estimates that 97.5 million children of primary and early secondary school age in sub-Saharan Africa, are out-of-school; with 13.2 million of them in Nigeria.

• Low literacy and numeracy skills: Despite several decades of focusing on improving access to quality education for ALL children, learning outcomes remain disappointingly low, with fewer than half of the world’s school-aged children learning to read on grade level or gaining basic numeracy skills (according to the World Bank). More affected are marginalized children (living in conflict-affected states) and children with disabilities; who are less likely to go to school and have accessible learning resources.

• Unequal opportunity: Rural poverty, uneducated parents and high cost of quality education has a significant negative impact on the quality of education for rural-area children.

• Demoralised, demotivated, under equipped, inadequately trained, under qualified and insufficient teaching staff: less qualified teachers and not enough teachers for the number of children enrolled in schools results in poor outcomes.

• Deficient Infrastructure: Ramshackle equipment and a poor curriculum drastically affect learning outcomes.

EmBED is Africa's first learn-to-earn education metaverse . Our Mission is to provide world-class accessible, affordable, engaging and delightful education to all children in Africa

EmBED harnesses the rich African culture of folktales and adventure to create an animated learning platform using games and cartoons. Gamification drives fun and learner engagement, generating data insights that help improve educational outcomes.

Features include

• Every learning represents an adventurous journey (or Ije - the Journey) through a topic. 

• As a learner travels through the topics, their roadmap (the Scroll) clearly outlines their learning objectives.

• At the start of each learning journey, the learner receives instructions from the Scroll Keeper, the protector of the Scroll.

• The learner’s understanding is periodically tested at Encounters, in-topic assessments to reinforce assimilation through challenges. Learners win assets & points.

• An amazing array of animated guides and virtual tutors (from the different tribes across Africa) help the learners along on their journeys and provide feedback on learning. 

EmBED uses 4 core technologies:

1. Artificial Intelligence

• Smart content: digitized text with automated testing; providing immediate feedback on learner's progress

• Learning insights: understand how each child learns and craft an individualized learning experience for him

• Virtual tutors: interactive digital teachers proffer guidance and assistance on the learning journeys

• Data analytics: aggregate learning insights and identify gaps in learning content and proffer recommendations 

2. Web-based Blended Reality

An immersive and interactive learning experience that empowers learners to explore and learn at their own pace. Features include:

• Game-based experiences that foster collaborative learning

• Accessible content for special needs students

• Creatively define your learning identity using user-customizable avatars 

3. 2D/3D Animation

Bring lessons to life using animations and blended reality; explaining complex concepts in an easy to comprehend manner. This has a 3-fold impact:

• Make learning fun, boost attentiveness and foster longer retention of information

• Enhance the innate creativity in learners, boosting their imagination and thinking skills

• Improves their Pronunciation and Communication Skills, as children have a habit of imitating what they hear and see

4. Blockchain

• In-App Game Assets: accumulate in-game tokens and assets as learner progresses through learning adventres

• Digital Identity: unique digital identity across the EmBED Universe

• Immutable Records: own your academic records; store digital immutable copies of learning records, downloadable when needed

• Learn-to-Earn Game: convert digital assets to crypto

We are further researching cheaper and more cost effective means of using IoT to deliver a comprehensive learning experience to children in rural and urban Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa is plagued by a grossly inadequate educational system, with the highest rates of educational exclusion in the world. The numbers are overwhelming; over one-fifth of children between the ages of 6 and 11 and one-third between the ages of 12 and 14 are out of school. Almost 60% of children in sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of 15 and 17 are not in school. Girls are much more likely to stay out of school than boys. Nine million girls between the ages of about 6 and 11 in Africa will never go to school at all, compared to six million boys.

These problems are further exacerbated by continued poverty and socioeconomic inequalities, especially in rural areas in Africa. These areas  are often characterized by poor or nonexistent infrastructure and little or no provisions for other critical social services. Thanks to the prevalence of rural poverty, rural schoolchildren are the most disadvantaged from a socioeconomic perspective when it comes to access to a quality education. Getting to school is a more difficult challenge for a child here and illness of a pupil or a family member may force the pupil to drop out of school entirely.

It is every child’s right to quality education, as enshrined in the UN SGG #4: Quality Education for All. Since more than 85 percent of a child’s brain is already developed by age 6, a comprehensive education to set Africa on the path to leapfrog and scale needs to increase the engagement/learning outcomes for the girl-child and in-school/out-of-school children, encompass high-quality early childhood education (ECE) as well as ten years of basic education that breeds competence in literacy, numeracy and science.

Technology, when applied appropriately, can instigate breakthrough progress in advancing child literacy around the globe. Recognizing that many of the barriers to early learning skills development in low resource contexts can be mitigated through use of individualized learning technology, our mission is to use technology to create borderless classrooms, ensuring wholesome academic experiences for the African child and breaking down barriers to Learning and Comprehension. 

Our project, EmBED (Education made Beautiful, Engaging & Delightful), provides world-class education to connected and disconnected children in rural & urban Africa. EmBED harnesses the rich African culture of folktales and adventure to create an animated learning platform (experience) using games and cartoons. Gamification drives engagement amongst learners, making learning fun and generating data insights that help improve educational outcomes.

EmBED’s borderless classrooms will enable education to happen anywhere and everywhere (from rural areas without Internet access, to poor homes to urban areas), providing accessible, affordable and engaging education  regardless of social background and family economic status.

Presently, EmBED is in 2 parts:

• EmBED Cradle: pre-primary / early childhood education (ECE) portion focused on building a solid foundation for children in literacy (reading), numeracy (Math), thinking skills (critical thinking & problem solving), social & emotional learning and creativity. Target group is children between ages 2 and 5.

   Highlights include the AlphaCandies, a customized English alphabet series to make learning the alphabets easy and fun; and the Numbventures - an adventure in Math and numbers.

• EmBED Genius: focused on the 9-year Universal Basic Education (Primary 1 to Junior Secondary 3), and covers STEM, English, History and social science. Target group is children between ages 6 and 14.

EmBED will  increase equitable educational access in Africa by making education:

• Accessible: any child can access it, whether offline or online, & thus have an amazing education experience

• Affordable: pocket-friendly so that the rich, the middle income & the poor can afford it

• Engaging and Delightful for every African child: promote engagement and a desire to learn through gamification and animation.

• Inclusive / Reach: make education very inclusive for every African child through border-less classrooms, bringing world-class education to the disconnected child, regardless of location. This will help raise the standard of education across the board, enhancing the national plan to bring education to all children within the UBE range.

• Increased Comprehension and Completion rates: by utilizing games and animation, 2 things which are guaranteed to hold the attention of children over a long period of time, we will simplify learning concepts, making them easy for each child to grasp and understand; and also ensuring that their attention is glued to the platform

• Create Opportunities for Tomorrow: by making them tech- savvy digital natives

• Simplify Mathematics and other subjects: and make learning easy and fun.

• Enhance their Creativity: apply knowledge acquired and create your interests

• Develop Problem Solving Abilities: by exploring various ways to solve problems

On the side of the technical team, we had an initial focus on developers as the primary milestone is to build the core of the platform. So in our present team, 45% is comprised mainly of developers (7), 20% are animators and illustrators (2 - because the core need for the animators and illustrators is in the content creation phase of the project, after the platform has been built and we are generating the content to put up on it), 10% are UI/UX designers (2) and 25% are management (3).

• Chiduziem Ukaegbu (Head, Animation, Illustration and Creative team) A graduate of Computer Science with a Masters in Animation, he is responsible for the creation and design of characters for the gamified platform

• Olorunfemi Omotayo: Founder, Teachers Academy Africa, Google Certified Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator, EdTech Consultant, Organizer @TedxAbayi, Public Speaker and #SDG4 advocate. He is leading the content creation for the platform

• Mrs Victoria Chimebere: Retired principal with 34 years of service. Primary EmBED education consultant, with a focus on curriculum development and behavioural analysis

• Mrs Edith Alozie: Certified teacher with 34 years of teaching. Retired in 2011 as a  duty principal special class. Helping define the EmBED educational philosophy

• Kayode Kaleijaiye: (Front-end/WebGL Lead) a graduate of Computer Engineering, he is a focused, dedicated and consummate developer; passionate about building amazing user experiences using front-end technologies, with a particular focus on Reactjs and WebGL/Three.js

Our goal is to build a global solution with a local application in the education space. Solve is powered by one of the foremost educational institutions in the world, which immediately means access to a network of some of the most brilliant people on earth. This network we would like to leverage for our work across the technology, business, impact and financial angles.

EmBED harnesses the rich African culture of folktales and adventure to create an animated learning platform (experience) using games and cartoons.

• Every learning represents an adventurous journey (or Ije - The Journey) through a topic. 

• As a learner travels through the topics, their roadmap (the Scroll) clearly outlines their objectives, ensuring clarity on what is to be learned.

• At the start of each learning journey, the learner receives instructions from the Scroll Keeper, the protector of the Scroll.

• The learner’s understanding of what has been learned are periodically tested at Encounters, in-topic assessments designed to reinforce the learner's understanding through challenges. Learners win game assets & points to aid on their journey.

• An amazing array of animated guides and virtual tutors help the learners along on their journeys and provide feedback on learning. These include

  • Onye Nkuzi (The Teacher): Learn with the amazing guides, mentors, companions and teachers from the different tribes across Africa

  • The Lightbearer: points of enlightenment along the learning journey to highlight crucial/important points.

  • Guardians: Travel with the Guardians, your companions and protectors on your learning journey.

EmBED has very compelling features (current and in development), which give it a Competitive Edge

• Accessibility Features for people living with disabilities. 

• Localization (upcoming feature) to make the content available in core Nigerian and African dialects, with French, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa being the priority

• Every learning is a game adventure. Gamification improves motivation and engagement via immediate feedback, increasing the students’ drive to try challenges

• Use of animated videos and cartoons for lectures, ensuring stickiness i.e. children are attracted to spend longer time in their learning journeys.

• Social learning; children can also connect with and learn alongside their friends, promoting competitive collaboration

"Education is the most powerful weapon with which we can change the world" Nelson Mandela

Africa has an estimated 400 million children (projected to 1billion in 25 - 50 years by the UN). UN SDG #4: Quality Education for All enshrines every child’s right to quality education. At EmBED, we believe we can change Africa through Education.

EmBED's impact is in 3 categories:

SOCIAL

• Job creation: create jobs for programmers, animators, illustrators & business developers, to content creators like teachers/retired education professionals (curriculum development and scheme of work design) and voice over artists.

The goal is 200 direct jobs and over 1000 content creators creating and selling on the platform

BUSINESS

• Enables Parents to provide their children a unique self-learning experience that complements their growth

• Empowers Children to learn in ways that interest them; and in the process fall in love with learning

• Provides Teachers with tools that simplify the teaching process and create customized/unique learning for each child

• Generate comprehensive data for School Administrators to aid in evaluation and measurement of children’s learning

• Aid Government to track statistics for children within their domain

EDUCATIONAL

• Reach: bring world-class education to the disconnected child, regardless of location

• Increased Comprehension and Completion rates: by utilizing games and animation, EmBED will hold the children's attention & simplify learning concepts, making them easy for each child to grasp and understand

Data insights gathered from the children’s learning patterns and grades will help the state to make better decisions with regards to education.

Job Creation: We will be able to track the statistics of every creator on the platform

We will also provide tracking and measuring tools/algorithms to enable us monitor usage patterns, measure impact on the children's learning, review the work of creators amongst others

To ensure equitable spread of EmBED, we intend to partner with organizations that can sponsor the provision of the learning devices to displaced children in IDP camps, children living with disabilities and children in rural areas

• Engage with international development agencies and NGOs like UNICEF, Mastercard Foundation

• Engage with local development agencies like Northeast Development Commission and Niger Delta Development Commission etc

• Engage with corporate sector for CSR sponsorships (banks, multinationals, telcos etc)

INPUTS

Provide world-class education to children in rural and urban Africa, using technology (AI, animations and gamification) to create engaging learning content and borderless classrooms

• Assumptions:

  • Parents are willing to pay for the online subscription or buy the digital devices for their children to use and learn

OUTPUTS

Students can learn from the comfort of their homes using the EmBED digital devices or online on the EmBED website

• Assumptions:

  • Children commit the time to use the platform to learn

  • Internet is available and steady to ensure a smooth learning experience for the kids

OUTCOMES

• Improves their thinking through active learning

• Create Opportunities for Tomorrow by making them tech-savvy digital natives

• Enhance their Creativity by applying knowledge acquired while learning

• Develop Problem Solving Abilities: by exploring various ways to solve problems

• Assumptions

  • Learning content is comprehensive and complies with the objectives of the UBE curriculum

  • Government policies do not pose an obstacle

IMPACTS

• Simplify Mathematics and other subjects and make learning easy and fun.

• Increase the rate of literacy in rural and urban Africa

• Parents can provide their children a unique self-learning experience that complements and enhances their growth

• Children discover how to learn in ways that interest them; and in the process fall in love with learning

• Make world-class education accessible and affordable to every child and family

The EmBED platform uses 3 core technologies to improve the quality of affordable education:

Artificial Intelligence: provides the following features:

• Smart content: digitized text with automated testing; providing immediate feedback on learner's progress

• Learning insights: understand how each child learns and craft an individualized learning experience for him

• Virtual tutors: interactive digital teachers proffer guidance and assistance on the learning journeys

• Data analytics: aggregate learning insights, identify gaps in learning content and proffer recommendations

Web-based Blended Reality: Built on top of a 3D game engine to deliver an immersive and interactive learning experience that empowers learners to explore and learn at their own pace. Features include:

• Game-based experiences that foster collaborative learning

• Accessible content for special needs students

• Creatively define learning identity using user-customizable avatars

2D/3D Animation: Bring lessons to life using animations and blended reality; explaining complex concepts in an easy to comprehend manner. This has a 3-fold impact:

• Make learning fun, boost attentiveness and foster longer retention of information

• Enhance the innate creativity in learners, boosting their imagination and thinking skills

• Improves their Pronunciation and Communication Skills, as children have a habit of imitating what they hear and see

Our team is comprised of a mix of males and females, with the management split 50/50 (male CEO and female COO). The technical and content development teams are also a split between male and female; and our goal is to always reserve 40-50% of the slots for females across all levels.

EmBED has 3 primary revenue sources from our B2C (Business-to-Consumer) and B2B (Business-to-Business) business models:

• SUBSCRIPTIONS: Parents subscribe for their kids as a homeschooling option or an addition to normal school work. Schools can also on-board their students to leverage the cutting-edge gamification features as a supplement to their standard curriculum

• TABLET SALES: Parents can buy one of our customized tablets preloaded with the mobile app and all the content from Primary 1 to JSS 3. These devices come with an annual plan preloaded and Content can be refreshed online as long as the annual plan is active

• SD CARD SALES: A cheaper option to the tablet; these 64GB cards come pre-loaded with the same content on the tablet with 1 exception: parent will install the EmBED app from the device before they can have access to the learning content. These can be connected to an existing mobile phone or tablet

To hit the 2022 - 2025 usage and revenue projections for subscriptions and sales of tablets and SD Card, we will employ several strategies including: 

• direct sales to parents; 

• sales to state governments for children in government owned public schools; 

• distribution to disconnected kids (eg kids in IDP camps in Northern Nigeria etc) and kids in rural areas through grants and philanthropic sponsorship.

In addition to these, we are also actively involved in raising a seed round, as well as applying for several grants focused on education

We have raised a total of $55,000.00 (Fifty Five Thousand Dollars) pre-seed as convertible notes from 2 investors and family and friends

• $30,000.00 (received April 2021)

• $15,000.00 (received January 26, 2021)

• $10,000.00 (family and friends, received in tranches between October and December 2021)