Meet Our Founders
We are Grace, Ginevra, and Ela – three passionate high school friends, founders of Girls Growing Education, a 501C3 non profit organization registered in Virginia, USA, who strongly believe in the power of education to empower young minds.
OUR STORY
During Covid we learned how fragile education can be, even in a country like the US where we suddenly found ourselves isolated at home with very little support. We relied on Khan Academy to stay on track with our curriculum, and we were ahead of peers when the pandemic was over. We also realized that this fragmented schooling ecosystem was business as usual in parts of the developing world, where children with dreams just like ours, were at a loss for lack of an equitable and accessible education.
We decided to bring Khan Academy (or any online educational platforms of choice) to any student in need regardless of internet access/connectivity. We created an EdTech device, where the entire Khan Academy platform was downloaded and accessible locally through any a phone, laptop, computer, iPad, etc. without the need of an internet connection. We then brought it to Ethiopia for a pilot and ran a summer camp in Addis Ababa for 45 students to test how the students learned. The results were outstanding, and we were able to confirm the concept and evolve to the next level.
We worked hard during that year and were able to register Girls Growing Education as a nonprofit organization and work with the students at a distance to make sure they were successful in their asynchronous learning.
We returned to Addis the following summer and organized another camp with additional students and held an Educational Summit, where we were able to connect and interact with international organizations such as UNICEF, The World Bank, IMF, USAID, and local nonprofits working in education (Imagine 1 Day/ Lululemon and Ayzon Foundation). We also hired a small team on the ground in Addis to assist with immediate needs. We’ve had many more challenges piloting in a country that is much more complex than anywhere in the developed world. Regardless, we are making progress every day with our local team and the organizations that have partnered with us to secure movement forward at scale.
Our dream is to use our experience to expand to other countries in Africa (and ultimately wherever needed), allowing for more students to access our device and truly democratize education. We are about youth to youth (Y2Y) and are looking to be a small part of the solution that can help close the gap in even the most rural areas and refugee camps, ensuring that the basic human right of an education is truly equitable, affordable and accessible to all.
OUR MISSION
Girls Growing Education [a 501c3 nonprofit/ girlsgrowingeducation.org] is an EdTech initiative focused on empowering students in the developing world through access to online world class educational content via an offline Edtech device. At GGE, we believe education is a fundamental human right. The UN first articulated the right to education in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 28 stipulates that everyone has the right to education which shall be directed to the full development of the human being. We recognize bridging the digital divide in as the pathway for safeguarding educational freedoms and the fundamental rights afforded to all.
Having been raised in a household with Ethiopian parents, I was privy to their firsthand experiences and the challenges they confronted during their own upbringing. Amidst the various hardships they endured, it was their accounts of the obstacles they faced in accessing quality education and their unwavering hunger for knowledge that deeply impacted me. These narratives evoked a lasting sense of sorrow within me, a feeling that has never fully diminished.
Fortunately, my parents were able to relocate to the United States, where they found new opportunities and opened doors both personally and professionally. However, I am acutely aware that millions of others in Ethiopia and beyond still lack access to the good education that has the power to transform lives.
Driven by a passion to make a difference, I am dedicated to utilizing the EduTech device to make excellent education accessible to students in Ethiopia in ways that I once thought impossible. By harnessing the power of technology, I believe we can bridge the gap and provide world-class educational opportunities to all, regardless of their circumstances, and help them indeed grow wings to fly to great heights.
Born in Milan to an Italian father and American mother, I was taught from a young age what it is to live between cultures, value all cultures, and have a fundamental connectivity and empathy for the greater global community.
I vividly recall the moment when my passion for social development was forged. I was sitting on a park bench in Istanbul when I saw a large family of Syrian refugees. There was one girl with whom I locked eyes and shared a moment of deep connection. I was looking at a reflection of myself and I knew she felt the same. We were two human beings that just happened to be female, happened to be the same age, happened to have our hair in similar braids, and just happened to have such different paths ahead that we could feel the insurmountable chasm growing between us… even though we were standing only meters apart.
The value proposition of proven, high-level modules of learning combined with this EduTech device is powerful and far-ranging. From underserved children in Ethiopia to the promise I made a Syrian girl years ago… this is more than investing in young minds. It’s about helping humanity bridge the abyss and getting back on the very path that manifests what it is to be human.
Born into an Indian family that values education as a transformative force, I grew up listening to stories of my ancestors’ struggles and triumphs, instilling in me a profound appreciation for the power of knowledge. These stories served as a catalyst for my mission to bring education to those who need it the most.
Rooted in my Indian heritage, my family has always believed in the adage that education is the key to unlocking a brighter future. I witnessed the transformative effects of education firsthand through my family’s work to help children from humble beginnings break free from the cycle of poverty through access to quality education.
Inspired by the resilience and determination displayed by my family, I am embarking on a personal journey to bridge the education gap for underprivileged children, particularly in rural areas of Ethiopia. I firmly believe that every child deserves an equal opportunity to learn, grow, and realize their full potential.
Meet Our Board
Samuele Rosa works as Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund. He has carried out his career entirely in international organizations. He worked at the European Commission and the European Monetary Institute, involved in the preparatory work related to the establishment of the European single currency, then moving to the European Central Bank until the launch of the Euro. Since 2001 he has been working at the International Monetary Fund, currently working for developing countries for Fund financial programs in countries implementing adjustment policies to restore the condition for economic stability and growth.
Fikre Zewdie has a MA degree in Development Studies and Political Science from London School of Economics and has over 25 years of work experience in international NGOs including Action Aid, Oxfam GB and Digital Opportunity Trust Canada. He has led and managed multi-faceted large-scale country programs in Ethiopia, Pakistan and Southern African countries.
Fikre has also served as member of the Executive Board for Poverty Action Network Ethiopia (PANE), Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations (CRDA) and Debo Micro Finance Institution.
Fikre currently lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Fikre has also served as member of the Executive Board for Poverty Action Network Ethiopia (PANE), Consortium of Christian Relief and Development Associations (CRDA) and Debo Micro Finance Institution.
Fikre currently lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Nina, is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in the eCommerce industry. Her career journey began at DuPont, a global science and innovation company, where she held various technical and business leadership roles. She was instrumental in driving the adoption of new business models leveraging emerging e-business technology. Following her tenure at DuPont, Nina ventured into entrepreneurship and successfully bootstrapped an information security and CX startup, Phena Partners, LLC. She then moved on to InQuira (startup acquired by Oracle) where she led Sales Strategy for the company’s CX portfolio. Before joining Walmart as Head of Product, Omni Care, Nina served as Senior Director, Global Customer Experience Product at eBay. At Walmart, Nina has been instrumental in driving digital transformation for Customer Care & Engagement across the ecosystem. Her deep passion for creating solutions that foster strong customer and employee engagement has been a driving force in her career. She brings a wealth of cross-industry experience, having successfully managed large-scale organizations, developed world-class global teams, led significant business transformations, and fueled innovation.