Sprout E-course Alumni Story: Yad Faeq and Delkys Ortiz Pena

Not all ideas succeed, and even really great ideas don’t always make it to project launch. There may be funding, organizational or feasibility barriers -- or it may simply not be the right moment. Two YouthSpark members took their project “failures” and turned them into much different, and successful, projects. Here is their story.

Yad Faeq is a freelance web developer Microsoft Student Ambassador. He recently gave a talk at Stanford University about the failure of his “Easy Route” project and the development of his new crowdfunding platform, “Know Fund”.

“I realized there was a big problem in [Northern Iraq],” says Faeq, describing his initial project, “which was not having access to the Bing or Google maps to make use of GIS information. My solution was to create an application that would crowdsource information from anyone who had access to the GPRS: ‘Easy Route’. You could pinpoint your position and send your info to the cloud I created. The mobile application could be used by drivers to pinpoint an accident, for example,” providing direction for traffic as well as emergency vehicles.

The project was highly effective, and it was celebrated at several Imagine Cup competitions as well. Then….“Unfortunately, when I came back I pitched it to a few investors [in Iraq], but it went downhill. Later on, I had contact with a few of the Imagine Cup teams, and one of them knew someone who created an app called Waze -- the same idea we did but it was created after we came up with the idea. Facebook ended up almost buying that app for one million dollars.”

Faeq could clearly see that in developing regions where investors do not invest in technologies, wider issues arise. Technology can solve problems related to economics, employment, health and community sustainability -- but young innovators are stifled when they lack funds. So he began a microfunding platform, Know Funding, based on his work at the Microsoft YouthSpark event in Cairo. Although the site is ready, Faeq is waiting to launch it until he relocates to Chicago, where investment and interest awaits. (He will be attending Columbia College there, studying game design.)

Much like Faeq, Delkys Ortiz Pena had to regroup when his project, another great idea, did not work out. Just three years earlier, Ortiz Pena had moved to New York from the Dominican Republic, he started working at McDonalds, taking courses from a non-profit that offered tech courses to low-income immigrants. He quickly landed a great job in IT, and received an award from the Robin Hood Foundation for his achievements.

Ortiz Pena was noticed by Microsoft and invited to attend a YouthSpark event in Redmond. There, he discussed his idea for his “E-waste” project (creative disposal of e-waste), then attempted to develop the project through TakingITGlobal’s Sprout e-course. It was through the Sprout e-course that Ortiz Pena realized he needed to change course. “I wanted to be realistic, because one of the things that the e-Sprout course instills in you is that you choose something that you can achieve. I realized through the course that even though e-waste is a huge problem in New York, it was just too vast and something that I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do.”

He instead developed “Tech Culture Box”, which empowers youth seeking future employment in IT. Tech Culture Box gives access to software and educational opportunities that are often not available in their schools. It serves as a clearinghouse and guide to existing resources by bringing them together so that they are easy for students to find. Ultimately, the project will be provided to New York City public schools, through a cloud system linking interactive classes for students.

Ortiz Pena is currently in negotiations with a college to partner on Tech Culture Box, and it will launch in 2014.

Both Pena and Faeq credit TakingITGlobal and Microsoft for inspiring them to make their projects happen. Referring to the online community, Faeq notes, “At some point I saw that it wasn’t only me that was working so hard… just seeing that and having the exposure of others that are in the same position is great. It had a really huge, positive impact on my life.”

Pena agrees. “I learned it is better to do something you love and gain a legacy from it. It was life changing.”