Think back to your school days and you’ll no doubt picture roomfuls of desks, chalkboards, books and (depending on how old you are) computers. Now subtract the computers, chalkboards, books and desks – in fact, subtract the school room too.
In emerging markets, some 400 million students don’t have desks to sit at and where desks are available they don’t suit the cramped classrooms or external learning that characterize many school environments.
Struck by this simple by compelling issue, Shane Immelman invented a ‘lapdesk’ which sits on the child’s lap and provides a stable writing surface.
The Lapdesk Company is not a charity, it is part of a growing number of socially conscious, for-profit organizations, that are focusing their entrepreneurial energies on meeting social needs. Indeed, their mission statement sounds more like that of a charitable organization than a for profit venture.
“With the support of our Patron, Lapdesk Enablers, leading corporate companies, international agencies and NGOs, we aim to eliminate the 4 million desk shortage in South Africa by 2010 as well as significantly address the approximately 400 million desk shortage in other African countries and globally.”
The desks themselves are distributed free of charge to schools, funded by sponsors who can emblazon the desks they fund with information on social issues or corporate branding.
Over the last 4-5 years the company has manufactured and distributed nearly 1,000,000 lapdesks and committed 15% of its annual profits to funding bursaries and scholarships for disadvantaged children. In fact they have proven so popular, that they have also been sold to better off customers.
Lapdesks are an innovative solution to an unanswered social need – not to mention a great example of social entrepreneurship in action, a trend that is growing in popularity, and success stories.
Site: www.lapdesk.co.za/main.html
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