Edtech Evolution // 16 Platforms Changing Africa’s Narrative 

How has the Edtech sector adapted to the times across the continent and which are the rising platforms to look out for.

What a better time to be alive then now? With the world becoming a global village and the advancement in technology, life has become so much easier and more exciting.

Technology has made it possible to get state of the art services and information at the comfort of your home or in your office space. Education has become more interesting with the integration with technology to offer seamless experiences despite the prevailing global pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to shift to e-learning: learning via digital platforms. As of April 2020, according to a research done by UNESCO, it shows that 1.3 billion learners were affected by school or university closures. Remote learning measures are likely to be around for a while hence the worldwide education market has seen a big investment in education technology. 

Education Technology (Edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. Africa has placed herself on the global map in the education sector with the fast response to adoption of Edtech to ensure that students are able to get quality education despite the remote measures put in place. 

In our article today, we’ve put together a list of top 16 organisations in Edtech around the continent that can help to improve our access to quality education technology:

M-Shule unlocks new opportunities for millions across Sub-Saharan Africa and the world by helping individuals learn new skills, evaluate their progress, activate them to new behaviours and collect and analyse data based on their progress. It is an SMS knowledge-building platform that helps organisations deliver learning, evaluation, activation, and data tools.

Obami have developed a formula that helps organisations create curriculums around any subject. Through the use of technology, they help to get digital learning assets uploaded and organised into a coherent learning experience. The South African company is a cloud based learning experience platform offering great content creation, assessment and reporting tools.

Tuteria links qualified tutors to students within the same area and budget offering both online/offline tutoring. The Nigerian Edtech company was founded in 2015, and in 2017 the startup won the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. 

Student Hub helps Higher Education students in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa  generate comprehensive student satisfaction performance data – in order to highlight strengths and weaknesses. It is a data driven organisation brought to life by student and graduate participation and collaboration.

Eneza Education provides curriculum aligned revision material in all subjects for primary and secondary learners on any device. The tutors provide access to curriculum-aligned content in all subjects on SMS & Web. The Edtech company – based both in Kenya and Ivory Coast – has evolved to being accessed on any multi-device- smartphone, tablet, or laptop. School administrators are empowered by being equipped with relevant content. is an Edtech company that 

Tinker Education, a Nairobi Garage member, is a STEAM Edtech platform that ensures students are equipped to utilise technology confidently in the infinite world that is composed of 0 & 1. Tinker Education teaches students that the computer is a powerful tool for creativity and invention. Students are considered as future innovators and idea makers as opposed to consumers.  

Kytabu enables African learning institutions and students meet their learning objectives. It is done through leveraging education technology platforms and content. Their belief is that technology can help institutions in Africa to make better data-driven decisions that put them in a better financial and educational position to positively impact learners. 

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Ubongo creates fun, localised and multi-platform educational media that reaches over 1.2 million homes in East Africa each week. Its programs seek to improve school readiness and learning outcomes for kids, caregivers and educators. The Tanzanian & South African based entertainment Edtech platform are the creators of the popular Akili & Me content.

Brainshare enables students to easily exchange notes, past papers, revision materials, course work or ask questions remotely. The Ugandan based Edtech strategically places teachers, students and parents in one ecosystem. Teachers can upload notes, offer assignments and moderate student discussions whereas students can easily access content anywhere anytime with or without the internet via web & mobile.

Arifu allows both smart and feature phone users to learn via SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. The Kenyan Edtech platform which is personalised and free for its learners, purposes to place opportunity and information within the reach of everyone.

Elewa seeks to use technology to invent new ways of training and education each day. The Kenyan Spring Valley based organisation consists of a group of educational innovators that come from different backgrounds, cultures and walks of life. 

Endless Solution’s ultimate goal is to build a global platform for digital literacy. It offers devices and an operating system that comes with a wide range of pre-installed apps that can be accessed offline or even in areas with low connectivity. To enable learning the platform comes with over 50,000 Wikipedia articles, video lessons, and apps across a range of topics ensuring that you have access to knowledge at your fingertips. 

Firefly allows teachers and  students to have access to school information online and out of the classroom – as a secure, collaborative platform for schools.The Kenyan based company simplifies communications, lesson management and progress tracking, while engaging the whole school community. Firefly ensures that everyone can keep learning, whatever the circumstances.

Kidato has recently raised US$1.4 million seed investment to scale  its online platform for K-12 students in Africa. The Edtech company was founded in 2020 with a vision to provide a high-quality, affordable education to the growing middle class in Africa. The company is based in Karen & offers live online academic, fun, interactive after school classes for kids, ages 4 to 18 like coding, chess, art, music, sport and languages.

Zydii enables businesses in emerging markets to affordably provide digital training. It is done by leveraging “local for local” relatable courses, as well as multi channel learning, which includes offline learning for areas with no internet access. 

Akili Kids is an Edtech company specialising in the entertainment industry. The first and only dedicated free-to-air children’s television network is based in Nairobi, Kenya. It uses imaginative and educative content that parents can trust and children benefit from. 

In summary, Edtech has a promising future not only globally but Africa & Kenya as well. As 4IR emerging technologies – Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Virtual Reality (VR) and even 5G – take shape, entrepreneurs on the continent have an opportunity to be a part of the Edtech evolution happening right now. Their innovative efforts will greatly contribute to the further development of the educational sector. 

Photo By Julia M Cameron from Pexels.