WGI

The WGI Worldwide Company is a leading global education company headquartered in New York City. We are engaged in the design, development and deployment of products that teach people how to read and write. The ability to read and write is key to a person’s development and long-term success in life. Through our work WGI is disrupting the traditional education system to transform how the world learns and ultimately provide an education to people across the globe. WGI was founded as the Wilson Global Initiative in April 2014 by a then 14 year old named Chance Wilson. Wilson, who was then an eighth grade student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had noticed a serious issue: Many of his peers in school were unable to read and write. Wilson saw peers in his English and Theatre classes unable to read from a book or play. Further research led him to realize that illiteracy was one of the world’s biggest issues - not just limited to his Baton Rouge middle school. Turning his imagination to action, Wilson realized this was a crisis and he had to do something about it. He decided to start a nonprofit dedicated to helping people learn to read and write. WGI was born. For over six years WGI worked on the ground in various communities where we taught people key literacy skills through physical classes and programs. This saw WGI partner with local schools, organizations and charities to impact those who needed an education. Specifically, WGI built programs, recruited volunteer teachers and mobilized them to teach people in places like Los Angeles and Tokyo. Today our core offering is education technology. Over half the world has access to a mobile device and we recognize this as the future of education. Building technology that can teach people to read, write, and other skills solely from a device in the palm of their hands is revolutionary. This is our current challenge.