Sovi Toysa small private business that since May 2021 has been manufacturing educational toys, began donating part of its production to institutions dedicated to early childhood care in Havana.
“We wanted it for a long time, for every date: Children’s Day, Children’s Day and we couldn’t make it. Now we were able to do it,” explained microbiologist Yarelis Herrera, 32, founder of the venture, in a reportage published by the agency IPS.
Along with her husband Dariel Hernández, a trained mathematician and also creator of this idea, the young woman has distributed the toys made in day care centers, special schools and homes for children without family protection in the Cuban capital.
Both told the outlet that this was a purpose from the beginning of their venture, but that they had not been able to achieve it until the business began to be profitable.
Cuban entrepreneurship toys reach children’s circles. One of the Havana institutions benefited by donations from Sovi Juguetes is the Pequeñines de la Villa children’s circle, in Guanabacoa.??https://t.co/LQWrs3p7sn #Cuba #childhood pic.twitter.com/eosx1NOTAR
— IPS Cuba (@ipscuba) January 18, 2023
The founders of Sovi Juguetes, parents of the girl Carolina -currently 3 years old-, confess that they were driven by “the need and the lack of space and tools to encourage our girl the skills that are required during early childhood, so important ”.
Thus, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, they decided to create the children’s brand, which covers the stages of early childhood, from zero to six years, “to interact with children and support learning, in a didactic way,” he says. the post.
Sovi Juguetes is dedicated to producing an ecological alternative to toys with high educational value. In the production of it, he uses biodegradable residual materials usually discarded, in three fundamental lines: wood, fabrics, paper or printing.
Among the benefits of its productions, IPS highlights the promotion of free play, creativity, language and stimulating motor development.
His designs range from stacking towers, teethers, building blocks, pegs, various nestables, wooden cars, set sensory, interactive forest and fauna cards, dinosaurs and number sets, among others.
Currently, the private enterprise markets the products through social networks, on digital sales platforms, and has a presence in the Matti store, located in Old Havana.
The promoters of the project stated that the idea of donating toys was well received by the beneficiary entities, including the Pequeñines de la Villa daycare center, in the municipality of Guanabacoa, where the couple resides.
The directors of the institution explained that they are going through a difficult situation due to the non-existence of toys, so the gesture “contributes to the learning and development of girls and boys.”
The toys produced synthesize several principles and a responsible social and environmental attitude: they recycle, promote equity and generate employment for seven people, mainly senior citizens or who need to supplement their income, the report specifies.
Sovi, the Russian word meaning owl, is committed to recycling and the circular economy and uses textile trimmings from other ventures for many of its productions.
Toys “do not differentiate colors for boys and girls, but to play, pink is for girls and boys, we should all know the colors regardless of gender… the idea is to promote gender equality in toys, because at Girls like to play with buses as much as boys and, in the future, our professions can be very varied and it is good from childhood to give them that possibility”, points out Yarelis.
According to IPSIn addition to toys for their children, parents can find in this new business advice on which toy is ideal for each stage, and what activities can be carried out with each piece.
