On Gamifying Diversity & Inclusion Education - A Conversation with Alma Moya Losada

Episode Transcript

Claire  00:08

Hi, everyone, and welcome to a new episode of the narratives of purpose podcast. I am your host Claire Murigande. On this podcast, I bring you inspiring individual stories of ordinary people who are making extraordinary social impact in their communities or around the world. Our new theme this month is 'technology for good'. Now, because I'll have several guests speak about tech in education in health care, and even women in tech. This will be a weekly series throughout the month of August. So watch out for the release of a new episode every week. Alright, let's begin by exploring education, technology, or so called ed-tech or even EduTech depending on who you're speaking with. My guest today is Alma Moya Losada. She is the co-founder and the CEO of Aequaland, an award winning ed tech startup, which is a storytelling game app developed for children to learn about inclusion, creativity and critical thinking. In our discussion, we talked about gamifying education and social innovation. Please take a moment to rate and review our show by subscribing on your preferred podcast app. But for now, have a listen to Alma's story, and her passion for technology to support greater human potential. Hi, good morning, Alma, how are you today?

Alma  01:37

I am really good.

Claire  01:40

Thank you so much for joining me, I'm really happy to have you today because I've been keen on learning a bit more about educational technology, or edtech, as it's often called. And I'd also like to get your perspective, more specifically on what your startup is doing around inclusion, creativity and critical thinking for children through gamification. But before we dive into all that, why don't you introduce yourself and share a bit of your background with our listeners?

Alma  02:11

Sure, absolutely. I'm originally from Spain. But I mean living and working in Switzerland for nine years. And I studied business and marketing. But I mean, most of my career career also working in tech. I studied medical devices then moved into transformation in edtech, into education. And then I was in a non profit, and basically it was in video gaming in virtual reality. And now since last year, I'm launching my own startup, Aequaland that is the first of its kind social impact in EduTech, focus video game developer. And we want to really create meaningful games that educate and entertain the little ones on inclusion, as you say, creativity, and sustainable matters. And I love sports outside my career, I am really sporty and adventurous. And I have been climbing this weekend and preparing for an Ironman this summer. And I truly believe that sports also allow us to build our confidence and also support us on being focused have drive, and it has helped me through my entrepreneur career as well.

Claire  03:23

Wow, that sounds really amazing. I mean, you're preparing for Ironman, that's quite impressive, I have to say. And I can imagine that this is a way to really, you know, just like some other people would do meditation or any kinds of other physical activity. It's certainly something that helps you throughout your journey as an entrepreneur.

Alma  03:43

Yeah, it's a routine. Like for example, myself, like I wake up every day, this morning, I went for a run. And then I do stretching, kind of stretching yoga, meditation. I do it every morning, 15 minutes of mobility, kind of like yoga type exercise, and then I went 40 minutes running. My morning ritual is stretching class and exercise, which can be running, cycling, swimming. And then I start my journey and my day, and it's important to have these routines when you are a self entrepreneur, solo entrepreneur. But even to achieve tasks like Ironman or any type of competition also helps to have a goal, you have a goal and you have to achieve and then you create a plan to make that achievement. And it's the same with your own company, you know, or your job if you want to be promoted or get a better job. Ask yourself how you can get there and you have a goal, and then you make a plan to do it.

Claire  04:47

Absolutely. I think the key word here for me is also ritual, having like this, this constant practice to make sure that you're really on track on as you say, the goals that you set for yourself to really achieve your dream or your overall objective. So let me start with the first question. I noticed that your company is quite young. So it's fairly young. It was founded in April 2020. So just one year. And I'm really curious to know, how did you get started? You know, what led you to found Aequaland? Because you mentioned before that you have a really wide background, you've been active in different areas. Why did you focus on EduTech and why did you start Aequaland?

Alma  05:31

So that's coming from more of a personal theme, my grandmother's could not have their own bank accounts, and not even have the right to vote. And this has felt like my passion and commitment to the equality movement. I became a board member at the Business Professional Women Club to empower women in this region in Switzerland. But when I was there and also on an NGO for women empowerment through these experiences at that board, I realised that the root of the problem of equality, we're not at the workforce level. And it really came down to education. And I realised that we were all biassed, everything is biassed, we don't see things you know, as they are sometimes. And it's much more than the generational inclusion movement that is multi dimensional, I would say you have to include race and ethnicity, it's much broader so when you have to set in this diversity and inclusion foundation early on. And then because I became an auntie, I became a godmother, I was with someone that has a little boy, to all these make a cocktail. And because of my experience from video games as well, the industry is very traditional, and you have very strong stereotypes, like they're super full heroes, you know, and the super sexualized objects, like women around video games, and with a mix of many things, I realised, when I was checking out the location of my kids, my nieces, and the son of my ex, were having was very traditional and outdated. COVID has accelerated this need of connecting the real world with the educational world, you know. So that's a positive thing that I have seen, but my motivation, unlike this personal theme of my involvement, everything came from the quality, how to educate people? And then the decision or, or how we can reduce this defence gap between gender, between races as well as I would say, economically, on rural versus urban, as well, because I think, yeah, more and more people have access to internet has access to technology, and I think education is gonna get cheaper. As well, thanks to that.

Claire  08:03

I think you're right, it's truly going to be more and more accessible not only, I think in terms of cause, but also in terms of ways of access. I mean, these devices, you know, many, many years ago, it was through a computer. But today, you can virtually do almost everything through a phone. But as you say, the system is not really adapted to the new technology. And I see more and more startups like yours, or initiatives that include and embed this new technology within education. My question to you now is what is exactly equivalent? And tell me exactly how is it designed and for what purpose?

Alma  08:42

So the idea of economies is we want to create a better world through the games we make. And we are big on the blue planet. This was our first foray into the way it's already available on iOS and Android. And it's set in two planets, there's a yellow and colourful planet to guide children through the values of respect, diversity and inclusion while having fun. Our goal is really to create a positive social impact by fathering children's development and creating this diverse and sustainable multiverse. But this is really a way of gamifying education and educating kids on the social skills that they need to drive in the 21st century.

Claire  09:30

Okay, so I see that you have this gamification approach. Children will learn through playing. And your app basically is kind of depicting different environments through different planets to address the different topics like sustainability and diversity. So are you collaborating with schools or with organisations, how do you bring more visibility to this app?

Alma  09:58

Co one of my co-founders is Rebecca, she's a teacher, a school teacher. And she is our Illustrator, but also our "teachers lens". But on our board also, we have a Professor from the British Columbia University, and he's more focused on diversity and inclusion and leaders. And then we have somebody that is more on the digital transformation, we have Benjamin and Kelly from the video games, we will design to do it in Spain as well for the development. And then for the most research we are collaborating with scientific money is an organisation based in New York, and there are two researchers, two women, two mothers who are fantastic. And there's also supporting companies on making products that are educational, but at the same time are fun.

Claire  10:52

I was just wondering as well, because now you said you have different people on your board. So you have different perspectives to see as well how you can, you know, continuously adapt your product, but now since the founding, so that was one year ago. Can you already tell what has been the impact? Or are these early days? And you're still in the early phases of your product? Or maybe have you had any feedback from some schools that you've been working with? Or some other structures?

Alma  11:17

So yeah, absolutely. In fact we have one thousand downloads. Half for them, our active users, we reached 4000 followers across all our social media in six months. So that's already a big impact, we have also won two awards. One was one part of the incubator that we also have financial support with the price, then we also have some nominations, we have been featured in the media. So that's kind of the impact so far. We have achieved a lot of things in a short period, we launched our prototype, we have a nice reach, we haven't really had a marketing budget, my marketing is pretty much my own network and my friends networking and my teams network as well. So I think for such a small team and small resources, we have been doing great. As an entrepreneur it's difficult because I'm the only one working full time. The whole team has other jobs. So it's like they're working 20% 40% Typically, depending on the needs, so the only one I'm working with is myself. And it's difficult sometimes to stay in my flow. Because of the eight people last November, you know, brainstorming, business modelling, prototype launching, creation, and love that idea creation, that's my flow, my energy. I like to put people together and create things. But from January to now it's finance, fundraising. And I don't like that. So I can see because I have to focus and it's harder for me. So I'm getting support from other people now, because I'm not in my flow. And I talked with my mentor and you say Eugene, someone that is super structured, super organised, that has the skills that you don't have, to help you with that, through that also, you need to build up a team that is complementary to your strengths. Because what happened was with my team, Rebecca is really like me, we are both creative, both of us, we are more than on the status mindset, I would say I'm more likely to notice structure roles, very freedom. And then it worked for the creation because we love a cold project. But then you need to have someone who has more of the structure and the rules and the process.

Claire  13:58

And wanted to come back on something that you said before. And I suppose this is something that also encourages you to continue moving in the right direction. You mentioned that you have received several awards in just a year, which is, I have to say quite impressive. And I just want to mention two of them. You were the winner of the global generational inclusion award by Women Tech Network, another one which was for you or not for the startup that you were a finalist at the Digital Female Leader award in 2020 in the EdTech category so my question to you is, what do these recognitions represent, apart from perhaps, you know, showing you that you're on the right track because you're being recognised in this area

Alma  14:44

For me, I'm here thanks to all the people. I believe in me and support me, but I would say this prize, this also gives me an energy booster. You know, sometimes it's like okay, they see the potential, they see that I'm on the right track, as you say, you know, it gives me the recognition of what I have achieved so far, but also gives me the drive to continue, I have to say that I see that there is more and more, also support for women, I do appreciate that we have more and more visibility. But what I haven't seen so far is that I have not received my funding, some people say if you were a man, you already have the money. Or if you were maybe Swiss, I would really have the money. I don't know,

Claire  15:38

How do you see the evolution of EdTech or gamification in education as a whole, because I can imagine, as we go through this whole transformation within the digital space, and all these new technologies, this has certainly a lot of traction at this point. But I'd like to see your perspective on the near future, not in 20 years, but let's say in the next 5 to 10 years.

Alma  16:06

So gamication is going to be a big thing. Because it's going to help teachers to get their students motivated and I see also gamification applying to business, not only into education, but it's gonna massively grow. And we want to be part of that educational growth on the tech space,

Claire  16:30

I see a bit the vision that you have right now for your for your company, and really leveraging and combining all the new technologies as they become more accessible, building up on that and coming back to what we've been speaking about, since the beginning, about inclusion and diversity, and also access to internet for all these different educational tools. It's not obvious that everybody has the same access to the internet. So do you think that the gap will increase? Because in some countries or some areas, this is going to advance very quickly and not in other areas. What is your take on that?

Alma  17:09

Absolutely, there is a divide, you know, and it's increasing because of COVID. So you have, because of COVID, many people, like all the Western countries, have moved from face to face, classes and meetings to online, because we all have computers, mobiles, smartphones and stuff and internet at home. So we could continue our learning or work. But the students in rural or not developing countries, they don't have that access. So they fill the gap in that sense. But on the other hand, I was in South Africa in April and actually had more and more access to your smartphone. They don't maybe have an iMac or MacBook like I do, but they do have a cell phone, a smartphone, but the through South Africa I spoke with someone and he explained to me like, you know, your app will be awesome, because my friends could access me and my family members, but he said to me, internet is very expensive for them, their providers, and he told me you could have a collaboration with the telecom company. Aequaland could be free to download, so they can play. And I get an agreement with these telecom companies, because it has to be free access to these people as well. And I think, yeah, well, I will, you know, try to bring, you know, to South Africa, and I will try to maybe work with telecom companies also, to get this access. Because you need to have WiFi to download the app, but all the contact details are offline, so it's gonna work. So all you need to do is download the content, Aequaland. So there is a fine line, that it also increases these gaps. But it's allowed us to make education cheaper, better education more accessible, and things like that. I do believe for me Aequaland as well is like I want to make good games and good educational with a good educational person for everyone to have access, because what I'm trying to be about inclusion, sustainability or people with money, they already had this type of education, they are less bias you know, if you go to private school you get virtual reality headset, augmented reality tools, you learn about sustainability, how to problem solve, when you focus on creativity, innovation. They talk about diversity. You know, like they are already in that sense. For me it's more people who have less access and mobile, it's more patriarchal education? Girls have to do this and boys have to do that. And that is why you have this divide. Well, in richer families you have women can be announced, it's more open. And there is not that bias and you have to get kids in that quickly and it's completely. I hope we all together make a push on making good products, cheap products and accessible for everyone.

Claire  20:34

Yeah, that's really a great ambition. And I hope that you can achieve it, I'm sure you will. One thing I just want to ask you as well. And perhaps this is a more larger question, you were just mentioning unconscious biases. And I realised the other day, I mean, just like you, I also have some nieces and nephews, and two of them are quite small. And it's a boy and a girl. And I realised that at some point, I just caught myself, you know, speaking differently to the girl and to the boy, which I didn't realise I was doing until I kind of heard myself, I don't know what happened there. And this reminded me of something when when I was a teenager, people would say, "Oh, my goodness, you've grown, you're so tall now" And when I became an adult, I was also saying the same thing to younger people. So by that I mean that, you know, we unconsciously do things without even being aware of it, because this is what we have seen in our environment. And so the question is, do you think that your app or more of these new technologies through education, are going to be helping us not avoid that bias, but change that bias, because in the end it's mostly the adult people who are also, you know, putting on the bias in educating the children, you see what I mean?

Alma  21:52

Exactly, that's one of the things, certainly, We are in the process of breaking this bias and to open up their eyes, you know, I posted last week about the blue eyes, brown eyes exercise they did. I find it super powerful, how we can make exercises or games that make you realise how we make decisions on how we treat people depending how we do things. And so you cannot treat different people differently because of the colour of the eyes. And that applies to sexual orientation or the colour of skin. So that's something that we are going to include in our products. How to reduce these biases in kids. So they are more conscious about their decisions about their impact on other people and on the earth. Yeah, absolutely. And also, parents also perceive that.

Claire  23:18

Was my point. Exactly, it's mostly the adults that are kind of putting on the bias through the education of the children who would then you know, repeat that themselves at a later time point

Alma  23:28

It's adults that make things this way, for kids it's just another friend, you know. Called Lucy or whatever name, you know, depending on the country in the culture, but it's just a name and it's a person. They don't, the other layers are added by adults, and what happens is kids start to learn about that from five onwards, before that they just see humans.

Claire  23:59

Can you briefly explain? You just said before that you posted something about this, this experiment and this about blue eye brown, I can just explain to our listeners what that is?

Alma  24:13

Yeah, but that's a school teacher. That's what she did after the assassination of Martin Luther King. She wanted to do exercise in the classroom to also make aware to the students about discrimination and then what she did to make them aware of how white people treated black people differently. So what he did is the first day when they arrived to the school after the assination, he said "today, the blue eyed people here in this classroom are superior to the brown eyed people. So the blue eye people today have more play time" He set up some rules you, they were different and made it so the the blue if people were superior, and the following day, they did the same, but it's "okay today, see realise that brown eye people are superior to Blue Eye people". What happened on the second day. And on the third day, she talked to them and said there is no superiority on blue eyed people, we are all the same, and how do you feel about what happened, the other day? And they students said, "they called me brown eyes" And they made them feel like it was an insult. They seemed to call me something really bad. It's impressive how this committee adjusted so quickly. And then how they can really battle because being treated inferior or superior, and also they saw they have to do activities for the day. And actually, the ones that were superior, they were faster. And that were inferior took longer to do the same exercise.  And because you feel like are inferior that they were not concentrated on that. So all these experiment really showed that you can excel because you think you're better and stronger. And you do the reverse thing when you feel that you are less qualified. So believing in yourself is very important as well, and believing what you're capable of. And this exercise is super simple, but it's super powerful. And a certain lesson. Because after all, you have to experience it yourself.

Claire  26:59

Absolutely agree with you. I think everything is about experience indeed. And in that experiment that exercise is quite a powerful insight for especially for children to learn that at a young age, because you know, you can see it from adults. But if you don't live it again, coming back to your own experiences is a totally different story. So Alma, we are slowly coming to the end. But before I let you go, I have a few questions for you. So it's time for my quick preview. So what I like to do on my podcast is to kind of get a sneak peek into either the music that you listen to or the books. So are you ready for my questions?

Alma  27:40

Yes, please go ahead.

Claire  27:41

Okay. Okay. Question number one. What is the music that you listen very often to at this moment? Or if you're not really a music person? What is the book that you are reading right now?

Alma  27:53

I'm a music lover, so I'm really into music, and I listen to music all the time. So I'm super big, big fan, and you should have a Spotify. And I have many, many different playlists. For example, for my sport routines, I listen to house music, saxophone, house music, drum and bass, sometimes rock. For my mobility or stretching I listen to Indian or ethnic music or sounds of nature. When I'm working I usually listen to electronica or chill lounge music. While cooking I listen to acoustic jazz, some rock, but when I'm driving I  like a lot of Afrobeat like Burna Boy, and rock'n'roll or classics also, Police U2.

Claire  28:48

So very, very, very eclectic. And depending on the moment, the second question now is probably also a follow up on that. Is there a specific song or a specific artist that has resonated with you in a specific time in your life?

Alma  29:05

More than a song, an album is my playlist is a playlist that I call my boost playlist. And I I would say it would recommend to anyone to have a list like that to boost, an energy booster you know, like when you're down when you are not in your flow. Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye, things like that, Rainy Day or I Will Survive. These types of songs are powerful. And this is me. I will recommend that you create your energy booster playlist.

Claire  29:47

Wow, that's great. That's a great idea and a great recommendation. So my last question is do you have a specific album or specific band that you absolutely recommend for listeners to listen to? Or would you be willing to share your playlist with us?

Alma  30:03

I am happy to publish my list if they are not published to make it public anyway. I would say listening to music is great. There is a quote that I like to say: Life is one grand song, so start the music!

Claire  30:25

Thank you so much for joining me. And thank you so much for sharing your journey with a colon and all your perspectives on EdTech and what you see for the future. Would you like to say some final words before we close?

Alma  30:38

Well, thank you, Claire, for having me. And one thing I would say to your listeners is listen to your heart. And if you want to really do something, it doesn't matter if it's professional, or personal, you can make it work or make a plan. Ironman for me was impossible to do something like that. And it's just by making a plan, we are capable of anything, human potential is beautiful. And the limit is only us. So I would recommend like, dream big and go for it. And it's just a matter of making a plan. And I do believe I'm gonna make it happen on to the next level. So I'm just making a plan to make it work.

Claire  31:31

Wow, there's a really beautiful bird dream being and making it happen. Well, I'm sure you'll make it happen. And by the way, I think we should probably rename Iron Man into IronWoman as well. Or make it gender neutral.

Alma  31:45

Absolutely, yeah.

Claire  31:46

Thank you so much, Alma. Take care. Bye bye. Bye bye, have a good day. That was episode 14. A Conversation with Alma Moya Losada. Alma is truly an action driven woman. She is a committed social entrepreneur, with her dedication for setting gender equal foundations early on in childhood. You can download the beta version of Aequaland, on the App Store or Google Play to test it yourself or with your children. Thank you so much for tuning in today and listening to this new episode. I appreciate you taking the time. Make sure you sign up for our newsletter so you can stay informed about all our activities. We also look forward to continuing engaging with you on all our social media platforms. Simply follow us on Facebook at Narratives of Purpose on Instagram at NarrativesofPurpose_podcast and on LinkedIn at Narratives of Purpose Podcast. Join me again next week for the second episode focusing on edtech. I will be speaking with another startup founder based in Mauritius. Until then, take care of yourself, stay well and stay inspired.