Afua Banful
Hello, my name is Afua Banful. I am the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of AnetaEd.com, Inc.
I'm a mother, an economist, a health care strategist, and now an EdTech founder. I hold a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and two Bachelors of Science (one in Economics, the other in Materials Science and Engineering) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
I created Aneta because I, and every working parent I knew, was desperate for a solution to help make sure that kids were having a safe and productive time on the internet without us having to be omnipresent. During the COVID quarantines, what before was a nuisance became a huge source of stress and had an impact on my income, as I was forced to take three months off my client service work.
Company Name: AnetaEd.com, Inc.
Location: Maryland, United States
Operating since: 2021
Website: anetaed.com
Instagram: @anetawayfinder
YouTube: AnetaWayFinder
Get the app: Play Store (Android) - no country restrictions
Tell us all about your company. What services or products do you offer?
AnetaEd.com is an EdTech software company that makes Aneta. Aneta is a digital wayfinder - a different in kind parenting support tool for use with kids 2 - 10.
Aneta turns digital links into a map interface that even pre-literate kids can use independently to navigate to specific websites and apps in the order and at the times that a parent wants a child to go to them. Parents use Aneta to schedule, organize, and discover digital content that is helpful for the child. Anetapacks - link-enriched schedules and curated selections of digital resources, allow Aneta users to tap into the collective wisdom of friends, family, and teachers.
Aneta teacher accounts are a free resource to create and share unlimited Anetapacks. Through Aneta, students can independently follow their teachers' guidance from afar as if the teacher were right there over their shoulder.
That’s amazing.
Growing up, did you always intend to start your own company/organization?
No way. My entrepreneurial activities are totally unexpected and accidental.
How have your past personal & professional experiences helped you to run AnetaEd?
As a working mom, who deals daily with the challenge of keeping my young children productively engaged online, I know the problem Aneta solves well. As a new product development veteran who has built products, i.e. worked on problem identification, product development all the way through to the launch of three healthcare products, I know the process albeit, in another industry (healthcare vs. EdTech). In my job as a strategy consultant, I serve startups with new product development strategy, go-to-market strategy, and growth strategy. I have seen others take this challenging and crazy difficult journey of building a company, and I have had the opportunity to be schooled in what it takes to persevere. I am fortunate to have a network of successful serial entrepreneurs advising me.
What is the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome?
At times doubting that I was the person to take this challenge on. I have another full-time job because I have a family and need to earn a living. Yet I was shocked that there wasn't such a solution already. Eventually I said, if not I, then who - and I'm doing it.
What's your definition of success? Do you consider yourself a success? If not, when will you?
Success for me is having a commercially viable product that, at the same time, meets my mission of making it easy for families to get the benefit of our digital age. Aneta is pre-revenue and still determining its market fit so I don't consider it a success yet. In a small way though, the fact that it has solved the problem of the kids being online in my own home is something I consider a success.
Have the women around you helped you to rise? How?
I have seen other women who are mothers tread the difficult path that I am on and I'm inspired by their ability to persist even when things become tough. My mentors, don't even know they are my mentors. I watch them from afar and see that it can be done.
What are some of your future plans? Are you working on anything else right now?
Yes, I am working to:
Refine understanding of product fit for Aneta and discover partners to scale user base. Is it direct to parents? Direct to teachers? Direct to afterschool programs? I'm still working on this.
Attack the goal of raising $1M over 15 months to be able to do the following:
Product Refinement: Build functionality for the Anetapack Marketplace where anyone can place digital journeys they have built up for sale. It is just a waste that right now parents and teachers who are seeking digital enrichments on a topic can't reuse the work that others have done. Whatever the topic of interest, I want there to be an Anetapack for that in the Anetapack library.
Aneta Team Growth: I am looking for two full-time employees, one in Marketing and Sales (to identify partnerships for Aneta), another on Product (with a tech background to help bring the plans for Anetapack Marketplace, AI in Anetapack recommendations, and Aneta on Alexa to reality). I will then be able to focus more on Strategy and Operations
Marketing and Partnerships: Get some spend to put Aneta in front of the groups we believe we have a fit for.
What advice would you give to a woman starting out in your industry or starting her own company/organization?
Find people who have done it before and learn from their mistakes. Be prepared for it to be hard and lonely.
Describe yourself in ONE word. Persistent
Complete this sentence: "To be a girl or woman today is..." to have opportunities our mothers and grandmothers couldn't even fathom. Take them and help create opportunities that your daughters and granddaughters can take for granted.
If you enjoyed reading about Afua Banful, you can follow her on LinkedIn.