Join the over 800 funders that have contributed in the last few weeks. By only selecting a $15 perk you give a child their very first opportunity to get an education.

Hey tweeps! I just donated to @Simba_Edu, breaking cycle of poverty thru education > http://t.co/KCQZVXhd64 via @indiegogo - please do same!

— Farai Gundan (@FaraiToday) April 24, 2015

Congratulations @Simba_Edu trending on @Indiegogo. Love your spirit and enthusiasm. pic.twitter.com/Gb4e7boYIt

— Tsitsi Masiyiwa (@T_Masiyiwa) April 19, 2015

I believe in long term investment in leaders and it all begins with education. Help Simba make it happen! @indiegogo http://t.co/fI4B9og0sk

— Clemantine (@Clemantine1) April 28, 2015

Help make it happen for Simba, Breaks The Poverty Cycle Through Education! on @indiegogo http://t.co/noGVj8lRGE

— Cari Guittard (@CorpDiplomat) April 26, 2015

Each day, a mother in Diepsloot slum in Johannesburg will drop off her child at a neighbor's home on her way to work. The neighbor looks after many other children in the community. She has no education and leaves them to play with no mental or physical stimulation. Both women are unaware of the sheer importance of early childhood education. Around the globe, more than 100 million children under the age of 6, living in slums, do not have access to a proper education. 

Simba has set out to change this. 

Addressing this problem takes more than a mobile application or a classroom.

It takes Education, uniquely designed for the generation of uneducated mothers to be a part of.

It takes Entrepreneurship,to create opportunities and break the poverty cycle.

It takes Empowerment, to shift the mindset of how education is viewed and create hope in the community.

It takes Simba Education

What is Simba Education?

Simba Education is a social venture whose purpose is to provide access to quality early childhood education for children living in urban slums in Sub-Saharan Africa. We do so by training the next generation of teachers and by empowering local communities through mobile technology. The program is designed to use materials in a slum environment. It uses story telling, song and dance to create academic play whilst fostering the socio-emotional, physical and cognitive development that that children living in urban slums need with urgency, to change the course of the first 1,000 days of the child’s life.We have developed a sustainable business model that significantly reduces the price of delivering educationand makes it affordable to parents.

The 3E of Life

Education through our innovative learning platform

By combining the power of technology with human observation Simba is taking a holistic approach to the massive open online courses industry. We are doing this by capturing the intuition of experienced preschool teachers and building it onto an interactive, dynamic and highly personalized platform. The platform is unique because it is designed to adapt curriculums to the bottom of the pyramid.

Entrepreneurship through our community of Edupreneurs

By giving people living in urban slums the right tools and resources, we empower them to become Edupreneurs. 

Empowerment through Simba Bites

Our vision is to put an experienced preschool teacher in the pocket of every parent, caregiver or teacher. In cooperation with Econet Wireless, Simba Bites is a free service that empowers people and educates them on how they can make an impact in the life of children between ages 0 to 6.

6 reasons why we believe that Simba is the solution to face the challenge of the 21^st century:

1.  Our ability to understand the progress of every child enrolled with the Simba system as well as the constant adaptation of educational material assures quality early childhood education.

2.  Through our partnership with Econet Wireless Telecom and our simple to use platform we assure easy access to our Simba System and early childhood educational material.

3.  Our hybrid model, where we combine human observation and mobile technology, provides a holistic educational experience that can be delivered anywhere at anytime.

4.  On our trip to Johannesburg we had a chance to immerse ourselves in the challenge. We held focus groups and used design thinking to adapt our solution to the local communities we want to reach. We also received validation from some of our first potential customers that want to use the Simba System to educate children between the ages 0 and 6 living in urban slums.

5.  Since the start of team Simba we have been contacting and securing strategic partnerships in the areas we want to operate. They have sponsored us to go to Johannesburg and provided the necessary support to further develop our venture.

6.  Simba has become more than a venture, it became a movement. In the last month alone we reached over 300,000 people with our Indiegogo campaign and Simba Challenge. On our trip to Johannesburg we held an empowerment event for 300 young girls as they are the next generation of mothers.

Imagine if any parent could have a pre-school teacher in their pocket. The Simba System will allow currently unemployed women throughout Sub-Saharan Africa to provide early childhood education to the children living in their community. By bringing education as close to the children as possible, while securing a low-cost model, Simba can begin their journey to educate children in urban slums. 

The Simba System

The most valuable asset in any education system is the experience and expertise of teachers. As we sat in the classroom of a privileged preschools in Johannesburg we observed how teachers create activities and track the progress of their students using their intuition.  Our vision was to ensure that our solution gives children in the slum the same quality of education. Through our learning management system, our product will combine teacher’s intuition and technology, creating a disruptive platform that allows the curriculum to adapt to the specific needs of the child, creating an individualized learning experience. The system tracks their level of engagement and their progress and most importantly, their level of development throughout the Simba curriculum.

To truly understand how best to tackle this problem, team Simba in partnership with the Higher Life Foundation, one of the biggest African philanthropic organizations focused on education, embarked on a 34-hour journey from San Francisco to Johannesburg, to immerse ourselves in this challenge. Simba means empowerment in Shona, we want to ensure that every child has an opportunity to receive the education and development they need no matter what circumstances they are born into. 

Since our return to San Francisco, we have adapted our idea to fit the current lifestyles present in Urban Slums to ensure that we will be able to provide education to this vulnerable population of children. 

Partnerships

The Team

Team Simba challenges you to join us and to change the lives of children around the globe. Simba began with four students, a big idea, hard work, and one common goal, but with YOU, we can be so much bigger than that. 

#GetInvolvedWithSimba