Co-Creation Hub Nigeria (CcHub Nigeria), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, recently celebrated the conclusion of the 2023 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship with a Demo Day. The Demo Day was held at the Podium Event Centre in Lekki, Lagos, and celebrated the achievements of 12 innovative Nigerian EdTech start-ups, and their founders who form the 2023 cohort of Fellows.
The Fellowship, which was first announced in February 2023, was a rigorous selection process that led to the selection of 12 EdTech companies that met the robust criteria outlined by the Mastercard Foundation and CcHUB. The companies were then inducted into a six-month accelerator program that included advisory support on the science of learning,, investment, product development, financial management, and communication strategy, among others.
The Demo Day provided an opportunity for the selected EdTech companies to showcase their products and their growth over the six-month program, and share their plans with potential investors and customers. Collectively, the 12 Fellows’ EdTech solutions reached 312,000 learners during the six-month acceleration period alone.
The 2023 cohort of the CcHUB Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship include EduTAMS, a multi-tenant cloud-based school management system for basic and tertiary schools with a focus on API-based connectivity and interoperability of learner data for large education systems.
The 9ijakids online platform creates exciting learning experiences to help children fall in love with learning using games; Gradely is a solution that empowers parents and schools with a toolbox to provide personalized learning of the standard exam curriculum through interactive videos, an extensive practice test bank, and live tutoring while Money Africa provides financial literacy education for adults and children through digital content, personalized advisory services, and an online community.
Also in the list are Nkenne, an African language learning app for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora with a focus on the context of African culture, tonality, and building social communities; Davtonlearn, a SaaS learning management system for corporate organizations to onboard and train their staff in line with each company’s corporate objectives and workforce goals and Qataloog, an online curator of curriculum-relevant content for learners across various levels and disciplines in K-12, tertiary, and TVET education.
The list also include SabiTeach, an online learning platform that seamlessly connects learners with qualified teachers for private sessions while also providing tutoring services for children with special needs; Schoolinka, a digital platform improving the pipeline of quality educators by upskilling teachers and accelerating top teaching talent to improve the standard of education in Africa; Gotocourse, an EdTech solution that provides a comprehensive virtual school platform for creators and students to connect and learn; Kunda Kids Ltd, an EdTech App that provides a collection of African-inspired stories and language learning content for children and Schoola, a learning platform for K-12 schools that offers gamification and tools for fun, engaging and interactive lesson preparation.
As part of the benefits of the Fellowship, the EdTech companies also received $100,000 each in funding to help drive the growth and scaling of their businesses, and will continue to receive post-acceleration advisory support from CcHUB over the next 12 months. The Fellowship is part of a broader goal of the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning to support the growth of an impactful African EdTech ecosystem that will catalyze innovation and advance promising practices in the use of technology in learning and teaching to benefit African learners, education, and EdTech innovators across the continent.
Overall, the process has been intentional to ensure that the cohort offers a range of solutions covering digital content, learning management platforms, STEAM education support, workforce and skill development, tutoring and testing, curriculum-based online learning content, and providing support for teachers in lesson delivery and assessment.
The call for entries for the next cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Program opened on December 13, 2023, to select 2024’s cohort of 12 start-ups part of the continued three-year partnership between CcHUb and the Foundation.
