The Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) in Information, Communications, and Technology today announced 12 EdTech fellows companies that will benefit from the Centre’s support to expand their operations and improve secondary teaching and learning across Africa.
Mr. Peter Materu, Chief Program Officer at the Mastercard Foundation says, “The announcement of these first fellows at the Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning is a milestone moment in the work we’re carrying out in Africa.”
The Fellows were selected after an Africa-wide request for proposals late last year. Innovators were invited to submit proposals that either:
- Enhance and increase accessibility and affordability of professional development for in-service teachers, which also minimizes their out-of-classroom time. or;
- Create and deliver enriched learning content that improves quality, relevance, and accessibility to both in-school and out-of-school secondary school learners.
“Bringing together these talented entrepreneurs and supporting them as they innovate to drive excellence in teaching and learning offers new opportunities with great potential to raise the bar in African education and benefit tens of millions of students,” said Materu.
The companies will receive a comprehensive package over the next year. That includes customized mentorship, financial support, the opportunity to test, validate and scale their business, and a USD$40,000 (approx. UGX147 million) grant to aid in the development of their solutions.
With these resources, they can grow their businesses and help to improve learning outcomes throughout Africa.
The selected 12 EdTech companies include; O’Genius Priority (Rwanda), HITCH (Nigeria), AkooBooks Audio (Ghana), Eneza Education (Ghana), iCog Labs (Ethiopia), M-Shule (Kenya), Siyavula Education (South Africa), The Dr. C.L. Smith Foundation (South Africa), Kytabu Co. Ltd (Kenya), Litemore (Kenya), Instill Education (South Africa), and Chalkboard Education (Ghana).
“We’re very proud and excited to have this first group of leading African innovators in EdTech with us,” said Mr. Joseph Nsengimana, Head of the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT.”
He added that the 12 companies are working to expand the use of ICT to address some of the most pressing issues facing education in Africa today.
The Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning is a five-year initiative that was launched in 2018. It is part of the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Arica Works strategy to enable 30 million young people, especially young women, to find dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
The Centre aims to spark innovation and promote promising practices in the use of information and communications technologies for teaching and learning, and to catalyze significant improvements in education across the continent.
