Tegu in the Media | Tegu

Will Haughey, Tegu co-founder and Chief Blockhead, shared the Tegu Story while on vacation to reconnect with his Kiwi roots.

Hello Queenstown, New Zealand!

The interview started with questions that many who hear about Tegu for the first time often wonder. Why Honduras? “Why would you establish a company in one of the least developed and unstable countries in Central America? Why are you making life so hard for yourself Will?”

Will recalled that it all started while his brother Chris was travelling through the country and felt compelled to do something about the extreme poverty and dire economy. The brothers were soon “struck by the reality that the best way to serve the poor was through the creation of a business that could stand on its own two feet and be attached to the global economy.”

Honduras is a country of 7 million people with 65% of its population living below the poverty line. As Will pointed out during the interview, it is “a difficult environment to say the least but that’s exactly why it needs businesses like Tegu.”

Thus far Tegu has created 50+ stable jobs in Honduras, pays above market wages, supports reforestation and local education, and uses FSC-certified and sustainable hardwoods. In the words of the interviewer, it is an example of “capitalism with a social face.”

The concluding question in the interview was particularly interesting: “What’s next? How big can you get?” Will answered: “our vision is to create the world’s most innovative premium toy company” and to “create hundreds if not thousands of jobs.”

Onward!

I look forward to the day when the name “Tegu” immediately conjures up images of fantastic magnetic wooden building blocks in the imagination of a complete stranger pulled off the street. In fact, I think I can safely say that the entire team here at Tegu looks forward to that day. Of course we know it won’t happen overnight, or possibly even in the next several years. These things take time, and we’re more than happy to do our part to get the word out there.

We did recently take a small step forward in this endeavor that was reaffirmed to me on Sunday. But first, a little background information.

As we are growing and maturing as a company, one of our largest priorities is finding ways to get the word out on the street. (Of course, I am talking about the mean sensible car-filled streets of suburban USA). Through various efforts, we have seen Tegu featured in multiple online publications and blogs. We have seen Tegu profiled in print in numerous periodicals. And we have even seen Tegu blocks manipulated in the beautifully manicured hands of several morning show personalities on the small screen. (Sadly, our attempt to pitch placement in James Cameron’s Avatar did not go through)

Through a fortunate turn of events, we were recently featured on a segment about awesome indoor winter activities on NBC’s Today Show in January. The Today Show is televised nationally, and reaches roughly six million viewers. Needless to say, we were excited for the opportunity, and as it turns out- rightly so. If you haven’t seen the segment yet, you can see it HERE.

A screen capture from our 30 seconds of fame!

Following our segment on the Today Show, we had an increase on our waiting list of over 200%, and our Facebook fan page saw the biggest influx of new fans since our initial push. These are all great things.

New facebook fans!

But sometimes it takes a specific instance to really drive things home, which leads me to my story from Sunday.

I was talking to a new friend and we were going through the basic Los Angeles introduction song and dance: Where are you from? (nobody is from Los Angeles) Valley or Westside? (Westside, thankyouverymuch) Favorite earthquake story? (Loma Prieta ’89, up North) Etc. etc. And the inevitable “So what do you do?” came up. When it was my turn, I proudly stated that I was a toy designer for a start-up toy company, and that we are making magnetic wooden blocks.

“Magnetic wooden blocks? Were you guys on the Today show?”

: o (That was me, after her question.)

Now that was great to hear, but it was even greater to see her eyes light up as she asked! It was the first time ever that I had met someone who had heard of our blocks before I met them, and positive proof that the Tegu story is reaching real people out there. She went on to share about how Tegu had caught her attention as a great product for her nephew, and that definitely put a smile on my face. In fact, thanks to my interaction and the Today Show, I expect one more fan on our Facebook page today. So, if you’re reading this (and you know who you are) thanks for reaffirming our efforts in one fell swoop, and bringing us one step closer to our goal.

-SoS

Tegu | Blog

#Innovative toy company committed to harnessing its profit to benefit the struggling nation of #Honduras. We've created magnetic wooden building blocks!

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