M-Edge Sheds Some Light on Ghana’s Students

A guest blog post by Patrick Mish, M-Edge President and CEO

Our purpose at M-Edge Accessories is to make electronic reading an engaging, enjoyable, and sought-after experience. We’re passionate about reading, and we’re passionate about bringing a great reading experience to our customers and our community. To that end, when I first read about Worldreader.org by way of a Google alert, their mission resonated deeply with me and the core values that guide our company. I knew immediately that M-Edge must get involved.

Being in the business of making e-reading great means that we’re inherently a reading organization; I currently have 9 books that I’m in the progress of reading on either a Kindle, Nook, or iPad, and our employees are feverish readers, too (I give out a lot of reading assignments!). With an organization focused on innovation and a customer obsession, our employees do quite a bit of reading on leadership, communications, and customer experience. Having access to this reading material certainly helps keep our company in a market leading position. Accordingly, with many young and highly motivated employees, I see firsthand how critical education and literacy are in driving our growth.

When we spoke with members of Worldreader.org, we were told about the many obstacles Ghana students face in regards to obtaining relevant educational materials. Generally, these students only receive books that have been donated by the USA and the material typically isn’t relevant to their lives in Africa. We were given examples of how Ghana’s teachers have been forced to teach classes on US geography; simply because those are the resources they have to work with.

E-reading devices like Kindle are enabling access to a multitude of relevant educational resources with a couple of button clicks. Students are downloading books that will educate them on African history or geography instead of reading materials related to the state of Utah. This is an enormous step towards fostering education and literacy in developing worlds.

Of course, getting a Kindle or e-reader in the hands of these students is only half of the story. Anyone who has used a Kindle or similar e-reader knows these devices are fairly fragile, and if not looked after with great care, can find themselves with a broken screen. Additionally, e-ink screen technology is not backlit, which presents a real problem for a student hoping to read at night when their village doesn’t have electricity.

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In fact, I was recently told the story of Naomi, a student in Ghana who just received her very own Kindle and was eager to find out if there was a light she could use in order to be able to study at home. I was struck by how simple this request was and how significant the impact would be on her education.

We’re sending Naomi an ultra protective cover, the M-Edge Latitude Jacket, and our e-Luminator2 booklight (and plenty of AAA batteries!) to ensure her Kindle is well protected and well lit.

I, along with all of the employees at M-Edge are honored to be a part of this significant initiative that will help these students learn and grow as their countries continue to further develop their education system. We look forward to continuing to learn about ways we can continue to give back to not only our community but across the world, with not only our products, but by sharing our love for reading and education.

Dr. Patrick Mish is founder and CEO of M-Edge Accessories. An avid reader, he was fascinated with the developing eReader industry and soon identified an opportunity to create accessories for eReader devices. Since founding M-Edge in 2006, Mish has directed the entrepreneurial growth of the company and continues to lead its current strategic direction.