"Kids Played Maths for Two Hours on Christmas Morning": The Mi-box Live Story with Chris Withers

"I thought, right, I'm 43 and this is the thing that I need to do. This is my thing," says Chris Withers, inventor of the board game combining sports challenges with maths, Mi-box Live.The former teaching assistant has designed and created an innovative board game and app that transforms mathematics learning into a fun, interactive experience.Drawing on his background in education and his own experiences at school – "I was a good sportsman, but struggled to read and write at school. So I struggled to understand maths questions, even though I could do the maths," Chris designed a game that combines sports themes with mathematics to engage children in a way traditional worksheets hadn't.Mi-box Live addresses a crucial gap in educational resources by making mathematics enjoyable, social, and accessible to players of all abilities. With features that allow players of different skill levels to compete fairly, the game creates a unique learning environment where children are celebrating for engaging in maths, sometimes playing for hours without realising they're practicing essential skills.In this episode, Chris covers:How his experiences as a teaching assistant inspired the creation of Mi-box LiveThe evolution of the game from simple classroom materials to a professional productSecuring £50,000 from Innovate UK and a £70,000 loan from the Business Enterprise FundWhy the sports theme and competitive element are crucial to the game's successHow the app enables family members of different abilities to play togetherWorking with manufacturers in China to develop and refine the physical productHis approach to protecting intellectual property across multiple territoriesEarly success stories including children playing "two hours of maths on Christmas morning"Research showing improved speed and accuracy in mathematics after playing the gameBuilding a two-pronged market approach targeting both schools and parentsWhat next?More about Mi-box Live: https://miboxlive.comMore about the Business Enterprise Fund (BEF): https://www.befund.org/aboutFUNDED: Brilliant Entrepreneurs and Founders is a podcast by the Business Enterprise Fund a social enterprise dedicated to breaking the "finance shackles" faced by many small and medium-sized enterprises & social enterprises.Find BEF online at https://www.befund.org and on LInkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-enterprise-fund/• This podcast is produced and edited by Jamie Veitch https://www.jamieveitch.co.uk/• The music is "Aerosol of my Love" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/• Artwork design by Research Retold https://www.researchretold.com