On June 24, 2016, the GIST Tech-I Pitch Competition Finals took place at Stanford University. Among the contenders were twenty-nine entrepreneurs from around the globe who each had an innovative scientific or technological idea or startup to present. The winner of the startup category, taking home $15,000, is Vietnam's Huang Dao for his Monkey Junior app, which teaches children how to read through fun and interactive games.
Monkey Junior is a graduate of the Hanoi Founder Institute.
Monkey Junior at a Glance
Hoang's app is geared toward young children age 6 and under. Through its interactive approach, it teaches children how to read through proven teaching methods. Monkey Junior's learning program is backed up by sophisticated research and the expertise of professionals in the pedagogical field. Hoang partnered with early education experts to develop a program that visualizes the entire learning process to children through videos and pictures. Right now it is the highest ranked literacy app on multiple online app stores like Google Play, and has been downloaded worldwide. The prize money will go to further develop Huang's revolutionary app to improve literacy in young children around the world. Developed in 2014, Monkey Junior already has over 200,000 users in 100 countries.
Monkey Junior stands out in the sea of its competitors by teaching children language the way they naturally acquire language. Unlike the other apps that have children click on words to hear what sounds they make, Monkey Junior takes a different approach through visuals. Hoang's website explains this unique process clearly:
"There are ten words in each phonics sound. Each word is illustrated by a video and an image, being sounded out in three different ways: with each phoneme being pronounced slowly, blended slowly into the whole word and spoken normally."
Therefore, Monkey Junior shares some similarities to Rosetta Stone in associating images and physical interaction with the spoken word but gears it toward young children in the formative process of language acquisition. Monkey Junior also limits each lesson to the length of 5 minutes, keeping the learning experience short and fun: perfect for a young child's attention span.
Hoang Dao: Founder of Monkey Junior
Monkey Junior's founder, Hoang, a software engineer and graduate of the Sydney University of Technology, first developed the Monkey Junior app after the birth of his first child in 2011. Desiring the best for his daughter, he researched the benefits of early education. This quest gave him the idea of developing an app that would help children like his daughter read and learn languages at an early age. This passion for helping children achieve educational excellence brought him to officially start Monkey Junior in 2014. It didn't take long for his app to catch on, seeing as other parents wanted the best for their children.
Monkey Junior Leaves a Powerful Impression at Stanford
This app has impressed many of the judges on the panel of the Tech-I Pitch Competition, especially Professor Chuck Eesley, who offered to be Huang Dao's mentor in his startup. In a recent interview with Tuoi Tre News, Hoang was enthusiastic about Professor Eesley's guidance, saying, “He will support me in building relationships with investors and other companies in the U.S., as well as giving advice and sharing experience."
Mentoring young entrepreneurs is just one of the many reasons why the GIST Tech-I Pitch competition exists. This association's mission has been to empower these innovators from around the world by equipping them with funding, guidance, skill building and networking in order to help them develop innovations that face their countries' challenges. By spring boarding bright minds to their entrepreneurial callings, the topography of a developing nation's economy will be propelled into a more prosperous future.
Monkey Junior has proven itself to be an innovation that stands out, having been selected over 1,000 applications for the competition itself. We look forward to see more great things come from innovators like Hoang around the world.
