{"id":7400,"date":"2016-08-01T18:40:34","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T15:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/?p=7400"},"modified":"2016-08-01T18:40:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T15:40:34","slug":"new-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/2016\/08\/01\/new-beginnings\/","title":{"rendered":"New Beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Moses-Toni.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7401 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Moses-Toni-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"Moses Mutuku & Toni Maraviglia\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Moses-Toni-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Moses-Toni-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Moses-Toni-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Moses-Toni.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dear Loyal Enezans,<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve had an amazing run with Eneza as our CEO. We started as three people \u2013 Kago, Chris, and me \u2013 three people who barely knew each other. We have now grown our team to over 25 full-time staff with over 65 contracted personnel across 3 countries in Africa. We\u2019re at a great place. And I\u2019m confident that passing the torch on to our new CEO is going to be a super positive and important step for us on our mission to make 50 Million students across Africa smarter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7402 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"2012-09-17 13.58.40\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2012-09-17-13.58.40-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a>Back in 2011 we were called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagoideas.com\/videos\/286\">M-Prep<\/a>. We were just an idea for kids to study on low-cost mobile phones and for teachers to get good data about their students. Yes, we were focusing on an important and difficult to reach demographic \u2013 rural Africa. I was so passionate about the idea that I dropped out of business school at Haas and moved back to Kenya full-time to get started.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I cannot tell you how proud of how far our company has come in the past 5 years. We\u2019ve raised over $1.3M in capital in a difficult vertical (education) and a difficult market (Africa). We\u2019ve garnered a host of supporters from around the continent: Safaricom, Unilever, Equity Group Foundation, NGOs like LitWorld and Xavier Project, teacher organizations like the Kenyan Primary School Head teachers Association (KEPSHA), international companies like Shule Direct and Wings for Life Ghana. We\u2019ve been awarded prestigious fellowships such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.echoinggreen.org\/fellows\/toni-maraviglia\">Echoing Green<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/stealth.unreasonableinstitute.org\/profile\/tmaraviglia\/\">Unreasonable Institute<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/girleffectaccelerator.com\/portfolio\/the-g-project\">Girl Effect Accelerator<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.chicagoideas.com\/speaker_showcase\/bhsi-fellow-update-toni-maraviglia\/\">Bluhm Helfand Social Innovation (BHSI)<\/a> and won numerous awards such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.educationcompetition.org\/past-participants\/by-year\">PennGSE Education Business Plan competition<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/pivoteast.com\/tag\/eneza\/\">Pivot East<\/a>\u2019s Mobile Society category. We\u2019ve gotten international press in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3041821\/most-innovative-companies-2015\/the-worlds-top-10-most-innovative-companies-of-2015-in-africa\">Fast Company<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/04\/25\/how-social-entrepreneurship-is-making-a-difference-in-the-world\/\">TechCrunch<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-34699190\">BBC<\/a> while getting overwhelmed by national press in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NGpnI5NFhQ0\">Daily Nation<\/a>, KTN, and the Standard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve executed relentlessly, reaching nearly a million unique users in 3 countries with an offline product and very little marketing. We\u2019ve grown our revenues over 800% since 2013, (thanks in big part to the amazing leadership of our Chief BD, Millicent Mwendwa).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What I\u2019m most proud of, however, is that we\u2019ve built an all-local team (except for me) in a startup ecosystem where foreigners are usually the people in charge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what\u2019s happening with me? Well, I\u2019ll still be on Eneza\u2019s board and helping with business development in whatever capacity I can. What this means is that I\u2019m still around for you; I\u2019ll be helping to set the vision of the company, coaching the new CEO as he grows into his role, and being a voice of the company, especially as I transition back to living in the U.S. full-time. After living in Kenya for over 6 of the past 8 years, I have decided that it\u2019s time for me to settle back in the States and to allow other leaders in our company to shine. Eneza is a huge part of my identity, and I intend to stay involved with the company for as long as it exists. Our board has been more than supportive of my transition, as we\u2019ve been strategizing our best way forward as a company for quite some time. I recognized over a year ago that our company is simply ready for the next phase of growth and for a leader who can take us there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have no doubt that that leader is my incredibly fearless, humble, and visionary co-founder, Kago Kagichiri.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s been a long process, and Kago will be taking over as CEO formally today!\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-04-22-12.52.46.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7404 size-medium alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-04-22-12.52.46-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kago Kagichiri & Toni Maraviglia\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>There is no one I would trust more with taking the reins and leading the company than him. For those of you who don\u2019t know him as well as I do or the team does, I\u2019d like to give a brief introduction and list the reasons why I\u2019m so happy for him to take over:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Kago is the most intelligent entrepreneur I\u2019ve ever met.<\/strong> He sees answers to problems I don\u2019t see. He was the magic behind the first Eneza MVP and behind most of our pivots and iterations. Kago started his first business at 19 and has started several other successful businesses since then. He knows how to grow revenues and build things. He\u2019s an expert on mobile development and has been doing it for a very long time. He has helped our company navigate ways to make money and grow our reach. He keeps things simple and yet thinks deeply about every consequence of the decisions we make as a team. Eneza would have never existed without him. I\u2019ve known that from the beginning.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>He knows the internal workings of technology and sees ways of using technology before the market\u2019s even ready.<\/strong> Kago knows how to anticipate what users want. He also understands technological infrastructure and how to manage a tech team way better than I can. He\u2019s taught our new CTO (who used to be our VP Engineering) Moses how he thinks about growing our technology and scaling our infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>He knows how to execute.<\/strong> This guy does not talk a big game. Kago executes and does the work needed to grow a business. He does not shy away from the hard work of building a great product or even creating a great team culture. He asks tough questions, pushes people to think beyond their comfort zones, and doesn\u2019t put up with mediocrity. He knows how to focus on getting real results and consistently pushes himself and our team to reach real outcomes \u2013 no vanity metrics allowed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>He\u2019s humble and probably the most honest guy I\u2019ve ever met.<\/strong> I still don\u2019t think he will admit to himself that he was a Forbes 30 under 30 or that he deserves any accolades. But Kago deserves every recognition he\u2019s ever gotten. He also knows his weaknesses and strengths more than nearly anyone I\u2019ve ever met. Our team consistently goes to him for support and guidance because he\u2019s patient, kind and thoughtful.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>He loves Eneza and our mission passionately.<\/strong> I cannot stress this enough. When I started to transition out of my role and hand over my responsibilities, Kago stepped into his position as a leader with intensity. Get him talking about our students \u2013 Peninah, Imelda, Abdi, anyone \u2013 he won\u2019t be able to stop. He loves the work he does and has loved it since he built our first MVP.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the past 5 years Kago has been one of my best friends and biggest supporters. He\u2019s helped me through tough times of getting mugged, losing friends, and dealing with stress. He\u2019s helped me so much even as I transition out of this role. Our team is incredibly fortunate (and also ridiculously stoked) to have him as a leader. We have some big things in store for Eneza. I can\u2019t wait for this next phase of growth. Stay tuned!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So much love to the Eneza Team and our supporters,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Toni<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-06-17-13.00.40.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7403 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-06-17-13.00.40-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Toni Maraviglia\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-06-17-13.00.40-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-06-17-13.00.40-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2014-06-17-13.00.40.jpg 612w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Loyal Enezans, I\u2019ve had an amazing run with Eneza as our CEO. We started as three people \u2013 Kago, Chris, and me \u2013 three people who barely knew each … <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/2016\/08\/01\/new-beginnings\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[209,394,550],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enezaeducation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}