Generation Start-up: How Major2Enable is wanting to transformation the lives of children with disability

Essential2Enable, a start-up providing assistive technologies in education to persons of determination, is definitely seeking investors to expand in the Middle East via its regional basic in Abu Dhabi.

The EdTech company, which were only available in Brazil, is looking to raise up to $1.5 million to finance its regional growth and aims to close a package by mid-2021, Jose Rubinger, co-founder of Key2Enable, says.

"We will choose the complete Mideast, hire people and conduct various pilots in universities and rehabilitation centres," Mr Rubinger says. "We are able to build an empire below because academic institutions in these countries must agree to students with disability and you want to present them with a couple of our assistive tools."

Assistive technology on education is any kind of hardware, software or system of processes that helps students with a disability to activate more effectively with the curriculum and their learning environment.

Over one billion persons - about 15 % of the global population - live with some sort of disability which number is increasing, in line with the World Health Organisation.

Major2Enable, which started procedures in Brazil in 2015 before opening a base in the US in 2018, attempt to create a more inclusive educational experience for students with a variety of physical and intellectual disabilities.

The business developed Key-X, a nine-button multi-functional smart keyboard that helps persons of perseverance to use computers, tablets and smartphones for learning, communicating and gaming as part of its complete education platform.

The idea is to give children and adults with various disabilities - ranging from cerebral palsy, serious autism, Down syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s - greater autonomy and an inclusive learning experience through eye blinks and slight body gestures.

The business targets schools, rehabilitation centres and the households of individuals with determination to supply the learners, teachers and caregivers the digital tools for accessible education.

In Brazil, where it creates more than 90 % of its sales, Key2Enable's products are in 500 colleges and used by a lot more than 8,000 persons, Mr Rubinger says.

With ambitions to extend beyond its market, the Key2Enable team came to the UAE capital in 2018 when Krypto Labs, an Abu Dhabi innovation hub, presented the company with a business owner Hero award at the EdTech Innovation Start-up competition. In 2019, it earned the training category in the Specialized Olympics Problem in Abu Dhabi, which sought ground breaking solutions that could increase the quality of existence for folks of determination. It had been also among 10 clubs to be accepted in to the first routine of the Ma'an Community Incubator programme, that was established by the Section of Community Production in the capital.

The company create a base in Abu Dhabi's technology start-up space Hub71, attracted by access to the large Middle East market of more than 400 million potential users and by the UAE's countrywide policy to empower persons of determination.

It developed an educational programme and keyboard found in Arabic and started to approach institutions found in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman to show its technologies with workshops and pilot programmes.

However, the Covid-19 outbreak in early on 2020 posed an extra challenge to pupils with disabilities and challenging the company's plans as colleges switched to online learning.

The WHO says persons with disabilities have been disproportionately affected through the pandemic and needed appropriate action by schools and other educational facilities to make sure continued education for students with disabilities who could be required to study from your home for longer periods.

In response to the pandemic, Key2Enable developed an on the web platform that children may use with the aid of their parents and caregivers in the home.

"We saw this simply because opportunity to build a different system because there's a large need on the market to aid persons with disabilities who will be residing at home and father and mother don’t discover how to cope," Mr Rubinger says.

Now, the business aims to resume its pilot programmes in February since it continues discussions with schools such as Al Noor and Aldar Academies and government bodies including the Ministry of Community Expansion and the Zayed Higher Organisation for folks of Determination.

Mr Rubinger, an electric engineer, says he's driven through the use of his understanding of technology to improve the lives of folks with disabilities.

"If I can transform the life of one person in a university, then others will follow. You can't really see this change rather than prefer it for your son or daughter," he says.

Founders of the business, which is found in the seed stage of funding, have got invested $1.5m available since 2013 when they began to build the primary prototypes. They attracted shareholders like the US-founded Singularity University with $100,000 and Krypto Labs with $220,000, he says.

Now, it really is in talks with investors such as for example Global Ventures, a venture capital organization that backs growth-level and tech-targeted businesses in emerging markets, he says.

Key2Enable aims to close a financing cope with an investor by June, after finalising projects on Europe and beginning pilot programmes in the UAE.

"We've 8,000 users on Brazil and if we deliver the know-how we got on Brazil to the spot, we can dual the quantity of users in 2 yrs," he says.

The start-up is hiring 10 people to create a team centered on the center East and most of them will begin in February, he says.

"We are able to be the Uber of assistive products," Mr Rubinger says.