Worldwise Education, Inc.

Q&A with Charles Paul, CEO of Worldwise Education

Worldwise Education (WE) CEO Charles Paul is a former high-school teacher who left the ranks of education for a career in corporate finance in 1982.  For over 15 years  he served as the CEO of Charles Paul & Company, a merger and acquisition firm he sold in 2001.  Prior to that time, Mr. Paul was Managing Director of mergers and acquisitions for two prominent investment banks in southern California.  Nearly $1 billion exchanged hands as a result of his closed transactions.  Mr. Paul received his BA in English from Jacksonville University and attended graduate school at the University of California, Irvine. 

What exactly will WE do for schools, teachers and students?

The lack of school supplies is a critical problem facing public education today. According to the National School Supply and Equipment Association, public school teachers spend nearly $500 per year of their own money on classroom supplies. Many school systems no longer have the funds to pay for even the most basic necessities—paper, pencils, pens, chalk and textbooks. WE is a company that addresses that problem through our Artwork for Education™ program. Working through parent-teacher organizations, we use student artwork to create greeting card sets which are sold to parents, relatives and friends. The funds generated for the school—50% of gross sales—can be then directed to the schools’ areas of need.

Beyond this, WE rallies community support for its cause by selling greeting cards through local retailers. A portion of the purchase price of every card sold is returned to schools, creating a sustainable revenue stream for program support.

Our broader mission is the creation of WExchange, a sort of “Freebay” internet site that will connect teachers with corporations, retailers, institutions and individuals who want to donate clearance stock, excess inventory, equipment and other supplies that can be used in the classroom.

How can a market-based solution solve the problems of today’s public education?

Our mission is to create a highly effective solution that helps teachers—the people responsible for educating our children. Today’s teachers must make ends meet under extraordinary financial constraints. It is only logical to develop a business that uses creative market solutions to address problems caused by a lack of funds.

Most of us understand what it means to juggle a budget when funds are scarce. Anyone who has started a business, bought a house or planned for the future knows what it means to labor under constrained circumstances. Just as individuals find ways to succeed financially, WE has designed a business to help teachers succeed.

WE offers a new solution to an old problem. Our quest is to help—not criticize, not theorize, not proselytize— but to actually do something about it.  And we are confident that this market-based approach will work.

What separates WE from its competitors?

Worldwise Education is the only company of its type. It is more than an education company, more than an art company, more than a fundraising company. Our mission is to help education and we use student artwork to achieve that goal. Artwork for Education is the foundation and the program rings true with both parents and customers. The consumer research is unequivocal on this. Consumers have a positive image of companies that support a cause they care about, and a positive brand drives sales.

How will WE achieve such ambitious goals?

WE wants to focus on what can be done today. We have a core group of talented and resourceful people who believe in our mission. We have developed strategies and are implementing them.  Through Artwork for Education, we have designed and marketed creative products that appeal to parents, teachers, retailers and consumers. With the launch of WExchange, we will further assist teachers. Like any successful business, we are building our business from the ground up—one product at a time, one customer at a time. We are only limited by our imagination.

END