Growing up with a unique childhood, Phil Michaels realized that children are capable of achieving anything, regardless of socioeconomic status, as long as they believe they can. Providing an education in the most imperative years of brain development is crucial for a child to overcome obstacles and lead a fulfilled life. With this philosophy, Tembo Education was born.
Phil Michaels, Co-Founder & CEO of Tembo Education, believes that education is the most powerful weapon to change the world. Tembo teaches 0-6 year old children by sending one activity per day, to parents, via text message. The parents then educate their children with the activity. For educating their children, the parents are rewarded with incentives. In developing nations, those incentives are free minutes and texts for their mobile phone. In developed nations, those incentives are Amazon gift cards.
Tembo’s first paid customers in the U.S. funded the organization to serve 96 families for a year, and even create a bilingual Spanish/English curriculum. Continuing its evolution, Phil is in Dubai as we speak, expanding internationally at the request of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Ruler of Dubai, he’s asked Tembo to come educate 80,000 Syrian refugee children in Jordan as part of his Global Initiatives.
Lover of skydiving, meditating and reading, Phil holds a MBA+MS from the University of Tampa and sits on the Leadership Board at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, but remains passionate about learning something new each day. Through experience, he has so much to offer, including his most valuable piece of advice for aspiring social entrepreneurs: read as many self-improvement books as possible, because your business is only as competent as you are.