Skoll Scholars 2011/2012
Sydney Schaef is the co-founder and Executive Director of Kujali International, a charity that partners with local communities to help establish free and low-cost private schools designed to equip vulnerable youth with the tools, resources, and opportunities to become change agents in their communities. Kujali seeks to link its schools to local micro-enterprises that help generate sustainable revenue to off-set school operating costs, provide business skills and entrepreneurship training to students, and delivery quality goods and services to the surrounding community. In this way, Kujali endeavors to harness the power of education and social enterprise to alleviate poverty, empower vulnerable youth, and build a more equitable and sustainable world.
Originally from southern California, Sydney earned degrees in History and Religion from the University of Florida, and was also an active singer/songwriter and performer during her undergraduate years through the boutique record label, Justice Road Productions. Sydney co-founded Kujali International in 2006 after returning from a term of study at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania where she forged partnerships with community members who sought innovative approaches to poverty alleviation through direct work with orphaned children.
In 2007, Sydney co-founded the first free, private boarding school in Mkuranga, Tanzania that today provides a home, free secondary education, and enriched learning opportunities to 100 orphaned and vulnerable teens from all over the country. The pilot boarding school is completely solar-powered and features programs in horticulture, poultry farming, fine arts, and music.
After undergraduate school, Sydney joined Teach for America and worked as a secondary-level science teacher for three years in Watts, a low-income community of Los Angeles, while also earning a teaching credential and a Masters degree in Education from the University of California Los Angeles.
During that time, Sydney also facilitated professional development workshops with novice teachers, served as a department chair, and led extracurricular programs for students to inspire interest in the fields of engineering and science. Sydney describes her experience as a teacher and urban educator as critically important to her work with Kujali, informing her perspectives and approach to entrepreneurial education in impoverished communities.
Sydney plans to draw on key lessons learned from the last five years, work with stakeholders to refine Kujali’s education model, and upon earning her MBA at Said Business School, continue to advance Kujali’s mission through the establishment of quality, low-cost, community-based schools for the poor.