On Stage

Twenty five year old Sam van Tol from Rotterdam in the Netherlands travels the world in his battle against illiteracy. With his company Correctbook he aims to give children in developing countries access to re-writable notebooks. These notebooks and accessories, are sold by Correctbook in Europe. Especially the customized books are being bought on a big scale by different companies. Part of the profit is used to introduce these same kind of notebooks to different African countries. To everyone’s surprise Correctbook won the award for “promotion gift of the year” for the third year in a row!

How Correctbook started.

When Sam was on holidays in South Africa he was confronted with the causes of illiteracy. In the schools he visited, the children hardly had access to a decent pen or a clean piece of paper. Back home he couldn’t forget about the gross lack of school material he had witnessed. Worldwide almost one billion people are unable to read or write. A quarter of these people are children who go to school every day without a pen and a piece of paper.

Sam developed a notebook that can be re-used endlessly. It works like a whiteboard, but has the shape and size of a notebook. He started up the social enterprise “Correctbook” in 2014 and since then more than one hundred thousand people have started using the Correctbook notebooks. They are sold to businesses as well as to individuals. Businesses can customize their books with their own logo or artwork on the books. In this way, they help Sam to reach the goal of his mission. And this proves to be successful.

Promotion gift of the year 2017, 2018 and 2019

“It is unbelievable. Winning a title like this once is special enough when your product is new in the market. The first year we won this award thanks to the jury.

Sam van Tol went on a holiday to South Africa during his time as a Strategic Entrepreneurship student, three years ago. ´´In Africa, I was confronted with the biggest flaw in the South African educational system: illiteracy. The problem immediately drew my attention. Even in poorer countries, there are investments made in schools and education. However, there is lack of school materials on structural basis. Writing without paper is not ideal. Full of inspiration I returned to The Netherlands, with the purpose to find a solution for maybe the most underestimated problem in the world!’’

250 million children

More than 250 million children never learn how to read and write, because of a lack of school materials. These children go to school, attend lessons, but do not possess any school materials. The development of these children is jeopardised. This problem deserves more attention. Especially given the fact that globally  1 billion children are low literate.

Correctbook

‘’Every problem deserves a solution. That is why we created a notebook that is erasable for an endless writing experience. Correctbook offers a practical, cheap and ecological solution against illeteracy. We have a new and incredible mission:

‘’Correctbook wants to supply one million children of Correctbooks within five years’’.

On the right track

Correctbook has been around for a while and is on the right track.

• 10.250 Children in need have been supplied with Correctbooks
• 20+ Schools have been helped
• 25% of the B2C turnover is donated
• 10% of the B2B turnover is donated

Philips Innovation Award

There is a long way ahead of us , but Sam is up for the task. The nomination for the Philips Innovation Award is nice stimulant. The highest attainable price for young entrepreneurs in The Netherland

Last thursday the jury announced the winner of 'Best starter of the city Rotterdam'. This was taking place during the award ceremony in The Suicide Club, following the inspiration-event Groot Handelsgebouw Open. Like the title already reveals: we won! We will receive a free furnished office space in the Groot Handelsgebouw plus coaching. In the finals we were up against CamHatch Netherlands B.V., StoredEnergy and Hi Marry. 

How proud we are? That cannot be put into words. And it's going to be even crazier. Right after winning the prize of 'most promising start-up Rotterdam 2017' founder Sam van Tol was nominated as 'most promising young entrepreneur 2017'.

In march 2016 Correctbook has been nominated for the title Rising Star by Shell and the Chamber of Commerce. A competition for the most innovative start up companies (1 to 5 years). Correctbook has made it to the last 5 and very proud. We believe that innovation in the business model key is for companies of this time.

Look at the video that was used to inform the jury and the public about the social concept Correctbook.