#6. What is your business / operations / sustainability model?

We will be generating revenue through grants that seek to make sustainability education more widespread, and in addition to this, we will be relying on corporate sponsorships, as well as subscription fees for the app that will be paid by the Kazakh government. By design, the team is looking to secure multiple sources of revenue stream to make the app more affordable for institutions.  To minimize the subscription cost, Save Tuba will secure corporate sponsors who are trying to create an image of being green, which will yield both financial support and good will for the venture.

To increase the probability for sponsorships, the app will be personalized to its region. Creating a targeted app will make the app more compelling for school administrators and school-aged children will find it engaging and relatable to complete the tasks. But most importantly, we can tap into local businesses who would be willing to invest into our project so that the tasks inside the app also have a connection to the local business.  Thus, increasing the probability for sponsorships. 

To encourage continued interest with the app, there will be special weekly or seasonal in app events which will have tasks that give certain sponsored companies exposure. Additionally, there will be a store for the Save Tuba character “Tuba” where students can buy shirts and hats in exchange for coins they collect by completing levels. Some of the merchandise will be “sponsored” and available during the special events or can be exchanged using coins.

The revenue will allow the team to provide salaries for a CEO, who will be responsible for recruiting sponsors and managing our relationship with the Ministry of Education.  Additionally as the venture grows (at 40 schools and then at 60 schools), two Managers will be hired to offload some of the support provided by the CEO.  The Managers will serve as trainers and support for the teachers on how to use the app.  We will also be paying a teacher at every school – a Save Tuba Ambassador, a stipend to serve as the first point of contact for their fellow teachers using the app at each school.  Their role includes clarifying information within the app for the students, troubleshooting basic tech issues, and assisting teachers with the small group and large group Action Tasks. Incentivizing a few teachers in each school to become the apps ambassador in their respective institution will help create a foothold for our project and will help us train new teachers quickly and efficiently. Finally, we have expenses allocated towards a programmer, who is going to be updating the app, as well as server and marketing costs.

The subscription costs are not final, since at this stage of our venture we are not sure how many schools we are going to be reaching out to. Once we develop a clearer idea, we are going to have to revise our business model.

#7. What is your scale-up strategy? Explain with clear financial and social value projections.

As shown in our Income Statement (pictured above), the scale-up strategy includes a growth timetable of 10 schools in year #1, 20 in year #2, 40 in year #3, 60 in year #4, and 80 in year #5. To support the growth, a Manager will be added to the staff at the year #3 (when we reach 40 schools) and again in year #4 (when we reach 60 schools).  As shown, the steady growth of subscription fees ($200/school) will be used to invest back into the venture.  Another critical staffing design is the paid Teacher Ambassador at each school. Naming a teacher from each building to serve as a liaison will pay dividends beyond the financial cost of the stipend.  The venture will be able to capitalize on the trust that fellow teachers have with their Teacher Ambassadors.

#8. What is your implementation plan? What is your “go to market” strategy? Please provide a specific timeline.

As of Summer 2021, Save Tuba has begun communications with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ties from within the ministry have had a chance to look at a running version of the fifth level, and have requested to view the full curriculum, which is a meeting that will be set up in the near future. In other words, having now established connections with the Ministry, they will offer more detailed feedback on how we can modify the app to cater their interests. Once we produce our final version of the app, we will implement it into middle-school curricula under the supervision and guidance of the Ministry. 

In the meantime, we will finalize coding for all levels during the Spring 2022 semester. The beta version of the app will be used to conduct focus groups with teachers and students during the Summer 2022. The focus groups will help the team collect user input that can be factored in the updated version provided to the Ministry for implementation. These processes were active over the Spring 2021 semester during our “alpha version” stage, and we hope to recommence them once we have all six levels of the app running and ready for user feedback. The final version of the app will be based on the feedback that we receive from these focus groups (in addition to the Ministry’s input from the beta version that will be ready to implement in 10 schools in January 2023).

#9. What does success look like for all the stakeholders? What are your metrics of success? How will you measure impact?

If our venture succeeds, in three years, we will have raised awareness about the various environmental issues that Kazakhstan is facing, helped students become more knowledgeable about what they can do to save their environment, changed the sustainability paradigm in Kazakhstan to a large capacity, and have set a precedent that will encourage other schools across Kazakhstan to incorporate sustainability education into their curricula. 

We will be using a variety of different metrics to gauge the success of our venture, such as keeping track of the number of schools and students that use the app, and discerning any change in sustainable behavior among the students in the schools we’re targeting in the short term, as well as following a potential change in sustainable behavior among the general Kazakh population in the long term.

Living an Impact-Focused Life

What’s your Why?

I believe I was put on this earth to…help others.  For me, helping others can be the work that I do on a daily basis to improve our public K-12 educational system.  At a more granular level, helping others can be seen in my efforts to to assist individuals that I encounter  during my “regular” day.  I find myself stepping in to help with things like translating for someone having difficulty communicating in English, stop to help the person on the side of the road with a flat tire, or helping an elderly person at the grocery store carry their groceries to their care.  I instinctively step forward to help.

My purpose is to…serve.

I believe (my core values)…Assist, Collaborate, and Serve. Central to my philosophy is the importance of building a culture of excellence with others to deliver high-quality service to the thousands of children and families served.

The one thing I must do before I die is…?  I do not have a pending list of things that I must do before I die.  I try to live my life to the fullest, everyday.  I work towards making everyday better than the day before for the people that I serve and my loved ones.

My advocates and supporters all believe that I…am a hard worker and a role model for others.  They believe that I am a man of his word.

The evil I want to eradicate in this world are…the roadblocks often put in front of children of color that makes their journey in life more challenging than their white counterparts.

I want to work in order to…help children and their families experience a positive, supportive, and nurturing learning experience.

Walk the Talk – Your How

If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?

I always…treat others with respect, volunteer to serve, and look for ways to grow/develop myself, and hold myself to higher standard.

I never…not follow-through, disrespect others, or drop the ball (on purpose).

My work style is…to be positive/constructive, punctual, inclusive, honest, and direct.

I try to treat people…as I would like to be treated, or better!

I approach problems by…brainstorming all possible solutions alone or with others.

Victories are time to…pause, reflect, and celebrate with the team who helped with the accomplishment.

If someone attacks my point of view I…first listen, then ask for understanding why they have a different perspective, reflect to see if I can truly see their perspective – if I determine that it could be fruitful debate, will offer my thoughts.  If not, simply stay silent and thank them for their opinion.

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will…ask for permission to share and share my opinion and respectfully share my opposing views.  I always speak the truth, even if not the popular thing to do.

 Your Credibility – Your Whats

You have spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Global / Lehigh Valley Social Impact Fellowship, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How. You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.

Articulating and learning from G/LVSIF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.

Draw Your Life

What’s Your True North?

Create the story of your life. How do you want to contribute to the world through your talents, passions, and unique strengths? Think about your values, the roles you play, what gives you a sense of purpose, and ultimately, what you have to offer by being your best, authentic self. Draw a picture of your life as you envision it. Be remarkable. Be yourself.

by: Diana Shaipi, Rubiat Faisal, Yamil Sanchez

Develop the “system stack” for your project.

For each of the systems principles discussed and described in the article “Relevance of Systems Thinking”, give one compelling example of how your project system describes or encapsulates that principle.

1. Tenet 1 – Interdependence: The Save Tuba venture is interconnected in various ways.  Two specific examples are the relationships between the Lehigh and Almaty University teams and the potential long-term relationship with the Ministry of Education.  With both examples, there is a “mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationship” between the groups.  As the Lehigh team works with the AlmatyU team, progress in the app development by the Lehigh team is in part as a result of input and support from the Almaty team.  Progress with the venture is a cyclical loop that leads to learning and growth of both teams.  The Save Tuba and Ministry of Education’s relationship is also an example of how the success of one is interdependent on the other.  As the team moves forward with finalizing a fully functional app, the Ministry is more apt to help move the venture forward to scale.  Access to all public schools is interdependent on the Save Tuba team delivering a tool that the Ministry can confidently promote across Kazakhstan.
2. Tenet 2 – Holism: The Save Tuba app is composed of six independent, yet related concepts.  Students, with teacher guidance, can easily navigate through each level.  However, the full benefit of the app is the sum of the learnings acquired from experiencing and traveling through all six levels.  By design, each level will take students through independent, small group, and whole group learning experiences.  The sum of those parts within each of the six levels weave the most benefit compared to knowledge from the individual parts.  Additionally, the comprehensive learning from the 6 levels (concepts), will provide the user with the most holistic learning experience.
3. Tenet 3 – Multifinality: As part of our venture, we collaborated with AlmatyU students to conduct virtual focus groups with students and teachers.  As is good practice with a focus group, a standard set of questions were designed and used to facilitate a consistent conversation across the various focus groups held.  The end result, however, was different from each group.  The planning and planned inputs were the same but the information shared by participants and the level of engagement was different from the various groups.  Another example of Multifinality that the Save Tuba venture will experience will be the final outcome with the desired behavior change of the participants after completing the full game app experience.  The gamified experience is tailored to educate students with principles of sustainable behavior.  The desired outcome is for students (and their immediate network) to adopt more sustainable practices in their daily lives.  The reality, however, will be a spectrum of behaviors that span the gamut of actual behavior change (from no change to environmental/sustainable advocates!).
4. Tenet 4 – Equifinality: Save Tuba’s end goal is to make an impact on Kazakhstan’s recycling rate.  Our end goal is to see the rate move from 11.5% to 40%.  To help accomplish that goal, the gamified app helps teach students sustainability concepts that are reinforced with engaging, action oriented tasks.  All lessons lead students (and their network) to put what they learn into practice which helps improve environmental conditions in their immediate communities.  To reach as many students/households as possible, the Save Tuba team is partnering with various organizations in hopes of having as much access to students/teachers/schools as possible.  The various modes (working with Almaty Management University AND cultivating a partnership with both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Ecology) is our attempt to create multiple channels that help us reach our desired end goal.  The various means to access students/teachers/schools will converge our efforts to create impact at the national scale.
5. Tent 5 – Differentiation: Multiple groups in the Save Tuba play a unique role in the progression of the project.  Our partners at AlmaU helps the venture by facilitating and organizing focus groups with teachers and students.  They help translate questions asked to the teachers and students and acts as an important contact point to Kazakhstan.  In our Lehigh team, Yamil coordinates and co-conducts all the focus groups along with handling all the administrative responsibilities . Our design team creates all the graphics and creates the scripts for the app.  The coding team codes all the content into the app and comes up with new ideas on how to make the app more interactive and user friendly.  
6. Tent 6 – Regulation: Feedback from the users is a key way of regulating the app. Our team conducted several focus groups with teachers and students and with their inputs, our team added new improvements.  The Ministry of Education showed interest in implementing the app to the curriculum which will also ensure the caters to both the governmental and user needs. 
7. Tenet 7 – Abstraction: The Save Tuba venture will add a new mode of education that will open doors to more possibilities.  The app will have many real life activities relating to recycling and sustainability that will teach the school aged students how pollution works and how we can contribute in preventing it from happening.  Good habit building will in turn result in an increase in recycling rate which is the main goal of our venture.
8. Tenet 8 – Leverage Points: The increasing number of young phone users is one of the key leverage Save Tuba has.  Save Tuba has partnered with AlmaU who is helping us conduct focus groups in Kazakhstan and translating scripts.  The Education Ministry has shown interest in incorporating the app into the curriculum which will help us reach a broader audience.  Nazarbayev foundation and UNICEF have also shown interest in working with our venture.  The Nazarbayev foundation will help us reach to rural places and UNICEF will help us get contents that we can incorporate into our app.