The latest podcast from Infosum’s Identity Architects is a sit down between Team Dayā founder Jay Sears and pod host Ben Cicchetti.
In the podcast, you will learn how Sears got started in the world of ad tech and the origin story of Team Dayā’s work Building Change by financing the construction of primary schools in remote corners of the developing world.
Just some of the people and companies mentioned include: Shiv Gupta (U of Digital), Jaryd Knutsen (Symitri, TrustX), Hasan Arik (Redmill Solutions), Jordan Mitchell (Rubicon Project, Magnite, IAB), Jeff Green (The Trade Desk, Jeff T. Green Family Foundation), Eric Mathewson (WideOrbit, Lumine Group), Mike Benedict (Datonics), Terry Kawaja (LUMA Partners), Darren Herman (Bain Capital, Silicon Alley Sports), Ajay Banga (mastercard, World Bank), Michael Wolff and Neal Richter (Amazon).
Our next school build kicks off December 1st in Guatemala, and our 2025 building dates will be available by September 1st. Anyone curious to learn more about joining a future school build or otherwise supporting the mission should contact our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen.
You can listen to the Infosum’s Identity Architects Pod (Episode 63: Jay Sears, Team Dayā: “Generational impact”) on Spotify or pick your favorite platform.
A big Team Dayā thanks to #CannesNYC and its organizer Andrew Kraft. The perennial event for those in the #same300 that are not in the South of France has selected Team Dayā as its charity partner.
Team Dayā members Lauren Rose and Neepa Shah will be at the event to talk about our work Building Change – raising funds and building primary schools in developing countries around the world. Advertising and technology executives can support the team in many ways – from financial support, to lending their expertise, to traveling to a future school build. As the event takes place, team members will be traveling to Senegal where the next project starts the week of June 24th.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Lauren Rosen during our recent school build in Hardahani, Nepal.)
Please consider supporting our Team Dayā. We cannot build these schools without your support. Example investment opportunities:
$100 Five shovels for excavating the school’s foundation
$250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
$500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
$1,000 Paint for a school
$40,000 Builds a school
Team Dayā 2024 Plans
In 2024, we plan to build schools in Nepal (March), Senegal (June 2024) and Guatemala (December 2024). These ground breakings will be our second school in each of these countries.
The exact start dates are:
Sunday, March 17, 2024 – Nepal (arrive Kathmandu) [groundbreaking completed, construction in progress]
Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Senegal (arrive Dakar) [scheduled]
(PHOTO: Students in one of the classrooms financed by Team Dayā in 2022.)
In 2022, Team Dayā traveled to the community of Nguiddine Keur Sara in the Fatick region of Senegal to help build the community’s first proper school building. The community has done so well with the first building – the number of students has nearly doubled – we are returning in two weeks to build a second school building in Nguiddine Keur Sara.
“If we had the word that expressed more than thank you, we would use that,” said Chief Khokhan Nolong at a closing ceremony with Team Dayā and Nguiddine Keur Sara community members in 2022. “We pray for you, the way you come in peace here. May you also go in peace in your country.”
(VIDEO: Team Dayā Senegal 2022: Chief Khokhan Nolong of Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal expresses the community’s thanks for the new school building.)
Prior to our 2022 project, the community only had two temporary classrooms made from millet stalks, sticks, leaves and cardboard. Our 2022 project delivered two permanent classrooms and a boys and a girls latrine.
(VIDEO: The 2022 Team Dayā school. The temporary classrooms built from sticks and straw can be seen in the background off to the right side.)
The school currently has 5 grades offered; grade 1 – grade 5. The current enrollment of 193 pupils (96 boys and 97 girls) is up from the previous enrollment of 106 pupils in 2022. The two permanent classrooms (from our 2022 project) are complemented by two temporary classrooms (that need improvement). The pupils in 2nd grade and 4th grade share a classroom.
The original grades offered when we built the first project in 2022 were 1st and 2nd grades – so the school has added three additional grades and the number of teachers has gone from 2 to 5. In 2023, the community worked with our NGO partner buildOn to help 19 out of school children enroll back in school. What terrific progress since the community built its first classrooms in October 2019 from sticks and straw.
Our Supporters
We cannot do this work without our successful fundraising efforts from people like yourself. For our 2022 project in Senegal, Team Dayā received $250 from Mark Copple, then a senior at Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, California, who had collected 5,000 deposit bottles and cans to raise the funds. In 2022, we also received a $10,000 matching challenge from U of Digital and its CEO Shiv Gupta for our Senegal school building. No matter what the level, we depend on your financial support.
$100 Five shovels for excavating the school’s foundation
$250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
$500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
$1,000 Paint for a school
$40,000 Builds a school
Team Dayā 2024 Plans
In 2024, we plan to build schools in Nepal (March), Senegal (June 2024) and Guatemala (December 2024). These ground breakings will be our second school in each of these countries.
The exact start dates are:
Sunday, March 17, 2024 – Nepal (arrive Kathmandu) [groundbreaking completed, construction in progress]
Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Senegal (arrive Dakar) [scheduled]
