“I don’t know what the value of being an entrepreneur is if you’re not making some kind of impact on the world,” says Juan Manuel Lopera.
And he speaks from experience. Growing up in Medellin in Colombia, a city once dubbed the world’s murder capital, “violence was everywhere”. Before age 12, several family members were killed – his grandfather, godfather, aunt and cousin. His family’s economic prospects were next to zero. “In the middle of that,” he says, “you have almost no chances to become a good person.”
The impact of education on success
But one teacher encouraged Juan Manuel and his classmates to look beyond their usual horizons. Even if few would get the chance to go to university, the internet was in its early stages, opening doors for them. Juan Manuel says: “This teacher changed the game for me. He encouraged us to believe there are more opportunities than the system offers you.”
He discovered coding and proved to be a gifted programmer. Straight out of high school, he’d launched his first company: a small streaming service that sold for USD 1 million, when he was only 19. That sale – at 200 times his family’s annual income – lit a spark.
“Something was different in my story,” he says. “And that was because of my teacher. Teachers have the power to really transform a society. I owed what I’d got to my teacher, so I decided my life’s work would be to try to replicate that for millions of others.”
Revolutionising classrooms
Juan Manuel has since launched two innovative businesses, using technology to support teachers.
First came Aulas Amigas (friendly classrooms). This gives online training and support for teachers in and out of the classroom. From a small start, with very little funding, it now has more than 200 employees and has trained more than 50,000 teachers. A virtual classroom lets teachers interact with trainers and colleagues, share their experiences, and carry out practical activities. Still headquartered in Medellin, it’s helping teachers across Latin America, including Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Argentina.
Next was TOMi, a portable device turning any classroom, no matter how remote, into its own Wi-Fi network. A built-in camera means teachers can turn any wall into an interactive surface. They can also create personalised study plans for every student, helping them to access a huge range of online resources.
With technology increasingly important to education, TOMi is designed to help students in poorer areas and rural neighbourhoods who can lose out if they fall on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Since launching in 2018, there are already 20,000 devices in classrooms across the region. And, Juan Manuel hopes to reach 100,000 classrooms in the next two years, with the next iteration targeting the Middle East, Asia, and parts of Africa.
His first experience of impact funds was when he was setting up a pilot in Bangalore, as he tried to expand Aulas Amigas into India. His financial backers were more philanthropic and less concerned about how companies could make returns, which was ultimately less successful. With TOMi, however, the backers providing seed funding are closer to a traditional venture capitalist fund. There’s a stricter time window for his company to meet its milestones.
“I really think it is better for me to find a fund that gives you some sense of urgency,” he says. “The pressure to do it faster – to make your impact as fast as possible – is important.”
The far-reaching impact of a sustainable legacy
Juan Manuel is part of a new generation of business leaders, capitalising on the power of entrepreneurship to make a difference. So even with the balancing act between wealth creation and impact, the responsibility to make the world better is never far away from his thoughts.
“That’s something you should do whether you’re an entrepreneur or not,” he says. “I think we’re in a new age in the human story. We’re more aware about issues like climate change and poverty around the world. So, it’s a natural evolution for humanity to become more sensible. More sustainable.”