Be creative and produce a winning business idea or tool to help blind people succeed in tomorrow's economy!
Despite having the ability and the willingness, only one in three blind or partially sighted people of working age are currently in employment. We ran a competition to see whether students could devise an original business solution that will equip people with sight loss for work or a tool to generate an income today and in the future.
Blind bit of Difference Challenge winners announced
We're delighted to anounce that a London Business School team has won the Blind bot of Difference competition to create employment opportunities for blind and partially-sighted people.
Jun-Woo Kim and Jihun Kim won the competition for their Sight to Vision idea, a global technology-based teaching service that would train someone with sight loss to teach conversational English to office workers and students via the internet.
Jun-Woo Kim and Jihun Kim said: "This business model has strong prospects, because it would deliver a top-notch learning experience at a reasonable price in an industry demonstrating exponential growth."
Philip Connolly, Employment Campaigns Officer for RNIB, said: "RNIB is really excited to be part of this venture and we're looking forward to working with the winners to ensure their proposal on paper becomes a reality.
"When the business is up and running a large number of blind and partially sighted people could be offered jobs and they will be providing real solutions to the business community and in turn contributing to the economy.
"Evidence shows that 66% of blind and partially sighted people of working age are not in employment, that Government schemes fail to place blind and partially sighted people in work and that training and employment opportunities for those furthest from the labour market are dwindling. Employers have also told us that they find people with a sight condition the most difficult to employ. This competition proves that the charity sector can be part of the solution."
Jun-Woo and Jihun, who are both studying for a Masters in Finance, added that their Sight to Vision idea would benefit people with partial or full sight loss because instructors would be able to teach without leaving their home, while enjoying a flexible full or part-time work schedule.
The size of the digital English learning products and services market is huge. Jun-Woo and Jihun estimate that up to 20,000 people could be hired in South Korea alone and up to 150,000 globally as part of Sight to Vision, with an expected annual income (before tax) of above £32,000.
The Blind Bit of Difference challenge
The "Blind Bit of Difference" challenge competition was open to all students from University College London and the London Business School. You can enter as a team (maximum of four). Each team was paired up with a blind or partially sighted person to help them understand the challenges of living with sight loss.
Government Welfare to Work Programmes are not delivering outcomes for the scale of the need so innovative business solutions are called for: Solutions that either favour their employment or create new tools that enable those of use with sight loss to earn a living.
Download the full competition details and entry form (Word, 115KB)