Book Dash is a not-for-profit, South African social impact publisher of open, African picturebooks for very young children. Based on evidence, our vision is that “Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five”, long before they enter school! We create, translate, print and distribute beautiful African picturebooks to preschool children to increase early years book ownership. Getting relevant, quality books into the homes of very young children and families is an evidence-based way to support all aspects of a child’s lifelong development and increase positive parenting practices. The earlier we start, the more the benefits compound. To that end Book Dash developed a unique 12-hour publishing model that vastly reduces the time and costs associated with creating such books. We gather creative professionals who volunteer to create beautiful new, African storybooks in just one day! Then, we share them with the world so that anyone can then freely translate, print and distribute high-quality books to children. We work with funding and distribution partners to provide physical copies in abundance to hundreds of thousands of children and families to own. Research shows that owning books is a key factor in holistic early development and lifelong academic and economic success: the effect of owning books outweighs a child’s socio-economic status and is equaled only by parents’ level of education. Working together to increase the number of books in very young children’s homes, we could effectively disrupt a cycle of inequality for good."