12 startups from Kenya selected for first Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship
The first Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Programme, which provides selected businesses with access to funding and other types of support, has announced the 12 startups chosen for the Kenyan leg.
According to reports, Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), which owns iHub, announced a new partnership with the Mastercard Foundation in February to launch a US $15 million ed-tech accelerator initiative in Kenya and Nigeria under the Mastercard Foundation Ed-Tech Fellowship Programme. A similar program is being run by Injini in South Africa.
The first batch of 12 startups that will comprise the first cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in Kenya has now been revealed by iHub. Over the past three months, these businesses underwent a rigorous selection process.
The companies that were selected include FunKe Science, which offers online and offline content that makes science fun and relatable for African children, Arifu, an interactive learning platform that supports small businesses and job seekers in Africa, Virtual Essence, a self-paced learning content provider, Kidato, an interactive online learning platform for the entire family, and Lemfundo Technologies, an online platform that offers K-12 learning content and exam prep for students.
Angaza Elimu, an adaptive and interactive platform that uses technology to improve access to quality and relevant education on demand, Silabu, which connects students with qualified tutors, and Smart Brains Kenya, which empowers schools to independently provide quality coding and robotics lessons in schools, are also involved. Ntemata, a learning management system that helps teachers deliver more effective assessments for students.
The remaining members of the cohort are Loho Learning, Snapplify, and Elewa, an education innovation solution focused on assisting teachers, schools, and a large training audience in delivering cost-effective and highly-scalable continuous professional development. Loho Learning provides personalized and interactive contents in a variety of digital formats to the schooling generation. Snapplify works with students and teachers to roll out e-learning contents and materials.
The Mastercard Foundation’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning has a larger objective, which includes supporting the development of an effective African ed-tech ecosystem that will catalyze innovation and advance promising practices in the use of technology in learning and teaching to benefit African students, educators, and edtech innovators across the continent. This fellowship is a part of that effort.
