Spurred to action by the lack of labs and experiential learning in primary and secondary education in Egypt, Mohamed Ismail, an undergrad at Tanta University, and fifteen of his friends set out to create scientific toys that would fill this void. Together, they built Bara’s Company and manufacture wooden toys that teach.
The team’s first design is a mini excavator that is complete with working hydraulic systems. The excavator comes disassembled in the box with an illustrated guide that a child (age 9 and up in this case) can use to assemble it.The toys are dynamic and well composed, and so is the Bara’s Co. team. They are well organized by function, including Mohamed who leads marketing, and others who head up product design, production, and research. The dual-gender team not only has the passion, but also the academic training from university and the functional focus within their company to deliver on their promise. Classmates turned co-owners, the Bara’s Co. team divide their time between studying for exams and power drilling blocks of wood into functional toys.
Bara’s Co. has been receiving due recognition for their innovation including winning a prize at the Injaz Misr Egypt competition of 25,000 Egyptian pounds (US$3,000). The team is focused on their skills, outsourcing things like packaging of the toys to other firms. Currently Bara’s Co. is actively pursuing partnerships with schools to get their toys to their target audience of children, starting in Egypt.
