The spirit of Edukey began as a father and son adventure in Switzerland in 1981. Moving away from the conventions of the time, John Debonneville was convinced that an early education and the environment were key to developing character and intelligence in children. To this end, he and his wife Carmela set out to educate their newborn son, Alan, in the subjects of elementary maths and languages, amongst other subjects, well in advance of the local school’s curriculum; starting from the very first months after Alan’s birth, until his adolescence.

The approach was simple. John considered every moment an opportunity for his child to learn about the world. Focus at first on basic maths and new vocabulary while discovering new people, situations, animals, objects, games, etc; at the same time, always make sure your child is interested and motivated to do so, with a good mixture of encouragement, love, dedication and fun. Such foundations can instill a life-long love for learning and self-improvement.

The results were better than John and Carmela could have expected. By the age of 6, Alan’s had skipped a grade in school. Thereafter, Alan managed to maintain remarkable grades throughout school, coming up as first of his class and at the same time developing excellent aptitudes in French, English, German and Italian. At 13, he won the National Championship of Mathematics in Switzerland for his age range. Outside the classroom, he developed a passion and extensive experience to win various contests in the world of online video games. Ultimately, these victories fueled the drive of his first business venture.

In 2001, at the age of 20,, Alan decided to leave the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, to co-found establish “Internet Gaming Entertainment” (IGE) in Spain. Alan relocated the company to Hong Kong in 2003 and managed all operations, including new products and sales growth, technology and customer service. By the time Alan moved on to his new business venture, IGE was the world-wide leader in its field and employed over 500 employees throughout Hong Kong, China and South Korea, serving hundreds of thousands of internet customers per year around the world.

Such success further reinforced this one conviction shared by John and Alan: none of it would have ever happened without an early parent-child education. The importance of early learning is actually not questioned anymore: in the past 20 years, researchers have made great progress in the field of developmental psychology and brain science, proving in many ways the importance of early learning for young children.

The importance of early learning is no longer repudiated. Widely-published developmental psychology and neuroscience studies have supported the importance of early learning for young children.

Yet, a paradox still remains. Despite substantial evidence documenting the critical importance of developing a child’s brain from the very first year, very few institutions are dedicated to helping parents and care-givers maximize learning during these pre-school years. As a result, many parents remain ill-informed at a time when they need the most guidance. Without proper guidance, parents read countless books and opposing theories on child development, browse the internet, ask friends, parents and educators to make better-informed choices. Given the amplitude of sources available today, parents often struggle to make the right decisions for their child’s well-being.

Equally as confusing is the proliferation of playgroups focused on arts, language, sciences, sports, or other subjects that promise their child will excel in one area. Although there is probably no harm in exposing children of ages 0 – 3 to these playgroups, the question remains: are they really achieving the goals that parents have set out for their children? While most companies and institutions tend to focus more on the child, however, the greatest potential still lies with the parents.

Parents should educate, encourage and entertain their children daily.

To fill this need, Edukey was co-founded by John and Alan. The mission of Edukey is to help parents achieve the hopes and dreams they have for their children, and to help them reach their fullest potential as their children’s first teachers, play-mates and role-models in life.