WhatsApp and NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Announce Impact Partnership and Release of Children’s eBooks with International Literacy Nonprofit NABU – Launching NABU Nigeria
In Nigeria, 70% of children cannot read with meaning or solve simple math problems. Studies show mother tongue books are essential to help children bridge the gap to literacy. There are marked gains in educational outcomes when children learn first in their native languages.
That’s why we are proud to expand our efforts into Nigeria to accelerate our
mission to solve the global literacy crisis so that every child can read and rise to their full potential. Thanks to our founding partners, WhatsApp and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s family foundation — The Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation (CAFF) — NABU has successfully established our presence in Nigeria and released our inaugural collection of ebooks in both Igbo and English.
Download our app today to begin your reading journey!
This collaboration stems from a unified mission to preserve and pass on culture through children’s books.
WhatsApp, the global messaging platform, has always stood for bringing people closer to their cultures and Giannis Antetokounmpo understands the importance of passing on culture firsthand. Growing up in Greece, Giannis’ mother sang him Igbo lullabies to keep him connected to his Nigerian roots. With a vision of preserving his own culture for his children, Giannis and his family foundation, CAFF, aim to help families across Nigeria and the Nigerian diaspora share and pass on their culture through NABU’s ebooks.
NABU’s expansion into the Nigerian market has generated employment opportunities for local writers, illustrators, editors and more. Together, we have already achieved the following milestones:
• Assembled a team of 20 highly skilled creatives
• Provided training to 50 local illustrators
• Developed and designed a collection of 20 e-books
NABU disrupts the cycle of poverty by leveraging technology to publish children’s books for free on digital platforms in mother tongue languages.
On International Literacy Day, NABU Nigeria launched its inaugural series of custom ebooks in both Igbo and English. These initial 20 books are available
today through NABU’s free app. NABU is dedicated to expanding beyond Igbo to bring Hausa, Yoruba and other mother tongue languages to life in our ebooks for children and their families to read and learn together.
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THE IMPACT OF YOUR GIFT
NABU is free for children, families, and teachers, thanks to our generous donors. Your donation can make a big difference:
- $25 monthly subscription for one child: Provide access to the NABU app and hundreds of bilingual books for a child and their family
- $45 monthly subscription for one classroom: Gift NABU to a teacher for use in their classrooms to support student learning
- $1,500 to publish a children's book: Support our professional development initiatives, training local artists to create culturally relevant stories for children in their communities, with translations into 25 languages
- $5,000 to sponsor a country-wide children's radio program:Expand our impact through storytelling radio programs across an entire country