Nigeria and Kenya get a $15 million accelerator program for Edtech startups through Edtech Fellowship Program, which would cover more than three years.
Africa has recorded a high level of substandard education among children and youth, and the poor quality of education escalates to tertiary institutions where students are taught outdated technologies and concepts. However, there has been some progress in digitalizing the educational sector to improve learning and engage students with captivating game features to teach and practise lessons and concepts.
Several Edtech startups like ULesson gained $15 million in funding in 2019. Also, Kidato, founded by a Kenyan serial entrepreneur, received a $1.4 million seed investment in 2021, and Foondamate, a South African Edtech startup, obtained $2 million seed funding in 2022 to step up tech use in the African educational sector.
Now, the funded accelerator program is expected to support Edtech founders in the two countries (Nigeria and Kenya), as it would amplify the impact of Edtech startups in Africa, as well as encourage tech innovations in the educational sector.
Despite the push in Africa’s Edtech, the development is stunted. Cofounder and CEO of CcHub, Bosun Tijani, revealed why Africa’s Edtech development is poor. According to Tijani, Edtech is highly regulated, coupled with the fact that Edtech startups operate independently from recognized parastatals in charge of national education in African countries and vice versa.
Comparatively, Africa is yet to cover a larger part in offering global Edtech solutions. Therefore, Tijani believes that targeting Nigeria and Kenya, which have the largest Edtech market, would reach a majority as it plans to create 12 startups each, in addition to the existing 300+ startups, tutorial Apps and platforms.
Although he did not disclose how Edtech is regulated, in 2018, the CEO of dot Learn asserted to the bureaucratic regulations of most African countries. Dot Learn is a platform that promotes e-learning, making tutorial videos accessible to over 20 million students around the world. CcHub Edtech has innovative plans to partner with Safaricom and MTN to achieve its Edtech solutions.
“If we invest intentionally in a very structured Edtech inclusive ecosystem of government, teachers, investors, foundations, and even in some cases, the students and their parents, we believe that we can begin to gain a better understanding of how to use tech to improve learning in schools”, said Tijani.
“Over the next three years, we will have 72 Edtech companies launched into the market. We believe this will kick start the ecosystem and reboot it afresh because out of that number, at least you’re sure about half or 20-30% of them could live for another 3 to 4 years. And that will allow us to know if technology can truly work for education in Africa”, he added.
How high is your expectancy level on these Edtech startups? Tell us where you expect improvement in Africa’s Edtech space.
Join the conversation; follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at GoSpeedHub.
Photo By Statesman
