Enlight Edtech: Refugee-Built Tool for Student Hope

From Refugee Camp to EdTech Founder: The Story of Enlight

Dieumerci Christel’s entrepreneurial journey began unexpectedly, while growing up in a refugee camp in Tanzania, with the simple sale of a single stick of gum.

During the early 2000s, a particular brand of gum, named after the then-candidate Barack Obama, became highly sought after by children within the camp. Recognizing this growing demand, Christel began trading the gum amongst his peers, quickly generating a small income.

Although selling gum provided Christel with valuable lessons in resourcefulness and opportune timing, it was the allocation of his earnings that proved to be the more significant entrepreneurial experience. He invested his money in going to the cinema, where he was exposed to a world beyond the camp.

He was particularly captivated by depictions of American schools, with their computer labs and enthusiastic students. These images, and the prospect of accessing a computer, fueled his determination to improve his circumstances through education.

The Power of Visualizing Opportunity

“When you are attending school in a refugee camp, the future often seems limited,” he explained. “Movies provided me with a window to envision possibilities beyond my immediate reality.”

Now, Christel is the creator of Enlight, a web-based platform designed to assist educators in identifying and nurturing the intrinsic motivations of their students on a large scale. The platform aims to replicate the experience Christel had – discovering a compelling reason to pursue education, expressed in a way that aligns with individual interests.

While Christel was inspired by the potential of American education and computer access, Enlight recognizes that other students may be motivated by different aspirations, such as the connection between artistic talent and the benefits of English class.

Enlight: Data-Driven Student Motivation

Enlight’s objective of motivating students based on their individual interests is rooted in a strong philosophical approach. However, the company, currently participating in the TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield, believes that achieving this goal relies on providing teachers with more comprehensive data about their students.

To gather this data, Enlight invites students to complete a profile, answering questions about their primary interests and preferred learning styles. They are also prompted to respond to open-ended questions, such as “If you could address any issue in your community or the world, what would it be and why?”

This information is then aggregated, allowing teachers to identify common themes within their classes regarding learning preferences and hobbies.

The platform also enables teachers to conduct polls to gauge student sentiment. By integrating real-time feedback and student interests into a single platform, Christel believes teachers can gain a more complete understanding of their classes.

A key question remains: how will teachers utilize these insights?

Finding the “Why” Behind Learning

Christel envisions Enlight helping “everyone discover their purpose.”

“How can an educator recognize a student’s passion for writing and then foster that potential, encouraging them to continue pursuing it?” he asked.

For Enlight to be truly effective, it must move beyond simply posing this question.

Currently, Enlight is collaborating with a charter school to assist teachers in developing curricula informed by student passion data.

“Our goal is to become a recommendation engine for teachers, enabling them to make quicker, more informed decisions that emotionally engage students in the classroom,” Christel stated. He compared Enlight’s data profiles for teachers to the analytics provided by TikTok to content creators, revealing audience demographics and origins.

The basic Enlight product is presently available to teachers and students at no cost, but the startup is exploring a premium tier that could offer district-level views of student interests or more detailed analytics.

Addressing Teacher Fatigue and Competition

A significant challenge for Enlight will be overcoming the existing workload and fatigue experienced by teachers and students. Introducing another platform, even with good intentions, could add to their burdens.

“Instead of individually learning about each student, teachers can gain an overview to tailor their instruction,” Christel explained. “We identify commonalities among students and provide teachers with the data to effectively address the needs of the entire class.” Enlight is also developing a “student of the week” feature to encourage teachers to learn more about their students without requiring individual meetings.

Enlight may also face competition from established players like ClassDojo, a communication app for parents and teachers that recently achieved profitability.

“I believe they are missing a crucial element: the student’s perspective,” he said. “Decisions are often made *for* students, and student feedback is overlooked.” Enlight aims to differentiate itself by actively involving students in communication channels, aligning decision-making with their expressed needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miCPE-iPed0

Student involvement is paramount, but it presents its own complexities. Initially, Enlight encountered a challenge when students struggled to identify their passions or interests on the platform. However, Christel believes that Enlight can evolve into a central hub where students showcase their learning experiences both inside and outside of school, providing communities, schools, and employers with a better understanding of future generations.

Currently, the focus is on testing and refining the platform. To date, Enlight has raised $365,000 in funding from investors including Techstars, Untapped Capital, Headstream, and Teach for America. Approximately 200 teachers are currently using Enlight, with nearly 500 more on the waiting list.

Christel noted that an initial challenge during testing involved students reporting they had no interests or passions to list on their profiles.

“[But] teachers then pointed out that this itself was valuable data, providing an opportunity to initiate conversations with students who hadn’t even considered these questions before.”