The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Says “YES!”

Great news from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: we’re thrilled to announce an innovative pilot that will bring thousands of great e-books to African libraries! The Gates Foundation typically partners with governments in their global library work– this partnership is unique in that it’s the first-ever partnership with a social enterprise.

With the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, we will provide eight libraries in Kenya with 250 e-readers with protective cases. Library customers will have instantaneous access to 50,000 fiction and non-fiction books, reference materials and storybooks, plus a complete set of digital textbooks used in Kenyan schools and suitable for patrons of all ages. The pilot will roll out near the Kisumu region in early 2014, and target libraries in diverse settings.

We’re especially excited about this partnership since we got the midterm results in from our e-reading programs in Ghana and saw the facts on how e-readers make children better readers quickly. Our friends at Gates told us that they think e-readers might be the best tool for eradicating illiteracy in Africa– and we can’t wait to ride this exciting journey with them.

We’ll keep you posted as this pilot rolls out, so be sure to check back.

Books for all!

P.S. Read the full press release.