In 2020, 60% of Africa’s population was under 25 and its tech-savvy youth population is set to double by 2030, making up 42% of the world’s youth. This represents a significant opportunity to expand Africa’s tech talent pool, create broad-based jobs within the AI industry, and drive economic growth.

Africa’s AI ecosystem is home to more than 127 hubs with South Africa hosting the largest concentration (22%), followed by Nigeria (12%), Egypt (12%), and Kenya (10%) all of which play instrumental roles in overcoming barriers and accelerating economic and talent development.

The report highlights six components of a cluster driving AI innovations in Africa: grassroots AI communities, academia, human capital, policymakers, Big Tech, and investors. Among them, grassroots AI communities comprising data scientists and AI professionals have emerged as a strong nucleus for Africa’s AI landscape. Groups like Data Science Africa, Deep Learning Indaba, and Data Science Nigeria are shaping the future by building skills, showcasing African AI research globally, attracting investments, and creating jobs. The communities bring people and ideas together, connecting local talent with global opportunities, from international events to everyday WhatsApp chats, sparking growth and innovation across the continent.

Using qualitative and quantitative methods to uncover key insights, it is assessed that while the grassroots initiatives remain critical in bridging the continent’s AI skills gap, offering upskilling opportunities and job placements, limited resources constrain their potential. This highlights a collective drive by all components of innovation clusters is essential to advance a thriving ecosystem.

To achieve this, the report offers the following recommendations:

• Academia should expand AI programs, train more professors, and align university curricula with industry needs.
• Policymakers and African governments should develop comprehensive national AI strategies that balance innovation with ethical safeguards.
• The government should also prioritize infrastructure development such as reliable electricity, affordable internet, and better data access to support AI growth.
• Big Tech should foster fair partnerships that empower local ecosystems, prioritize knowledge transfer, and protect data sovereignty.
• Investors should diversify funding beyond health and agriculture to unlock AI’s potential in other critical sectors including education and financial inclusion.
• Donors should invest heavily in human capital development initiatives, particularly those focused on youth employment. They fund training programs, scholarships, and fellowships that aim to build a pipeline of skilled AI professionals.

Commenting on the report, Abbie Phatty-Jobe, Research and Engagement Manager at Caribou Digital, said AI harnessed collaboratively has the power to positively shape the African employment landscape and boost the economy.

“In collaboration with our research partners, we have explored emerging clusters within the distinct context of Africa to address critical challenges and accelerate development; their success depends on a collective strategic approach that tackles inclusivity and targeted investment in local talent and infrastructure,” Phatty-Jobe explained in a press statement. “By empowering grassroots communities, strengthening academia-industry ties, and fostering equitable partnerships, we can build an AI ecosystem that truly reflects Africa’s unique strengths and aspirations.”

Speaking about the key role of grassroots communities in driving innovations, Wadzi Comfort a researcher and digital economy expert, noted that the emergent AI innovation clusters across Africa showcase remarkable ingenuity and potential in the face of scarce resources.

“Tech-savvy, motivated young people; —our greatest asset emerging from Africa’s youth population boom; are spearheading local AI-powered solutions to address local challenges, demonstrating exceptional agency and creativity,” said Wadzi. “These innovations span a wide spectrum, including AI-powered diagnostic tools, Informal educational academies, Large Language Models (LLMs) in local languages, community-driven knowledge-sharing platforms, and collaborative tech convenings.”

Wadzi further says youth-driven initiatives and their innovators merit substantial support and resources to accompany their agency and foster their growth and impact.

Private investors, African governments, and donors not only provide crucial financial resources but also shape the direction of innovation by prioritizing specific areas of investment. Venture capital for DeepTech startups has soared from USD$86 million (approx. UGX315.33 billion) in 2015 to USD$1.2 billion in 2023, with over 300 investors—65% based in Africa—and 127 innovation hubs driving growth.

Key government initiatives, like Nigeria’s AI Research Scheme and South Africa’s AI Institute, alongside philanthropic support from the Mastercard Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will keep creating an environment that addresses local challenges, drives innovation, and positions Africa at the forefront of AI technology.

The report employs the snowball research method to conduct in-depth interviews with 25 African AI experts, including policymakers, educators, and industry leaders, uncovering the state, challenges, and opportunities for AI innovation clusters. It also highlights insights from 18 young tech professionals involved in AI or tech fields from Zindi, Africa’s largest data science community, on their skills, job prospects, challenges, and AI’s impact on employment. Additionally, the report includes a comprehensive review of academic studies, policy documents, and reports on AI, innovation clusters, and youth employment across Africa.

Editor’s Note: To download the full report (HERE).

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Among the twenty-six (26) entrepreneurs included two Ugandans; Jovia Nassuna Kintu, and Viola Kataike. The rest of the entrepreneurs are from; Benin, Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Zimbabwe —running businesses in education, health, agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and beauty.

The selected 26 entrepreneurs represent 17 countries with 30% being Francophone. Nigeria had the largest cohort with four in the top 26. Young women are well represented, making up 10 of the 26 entrepreneurs.

The 2021 Anzisha Fellows were selected from hundreds of applications across Africa and passed multiple stages of vetting and evaluation. They demonstrated how it’s possible to pursue entrepreneurship as a career in the face of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

In selecting 26 Anzisha Fellows this year, the annual Anzisha Prize fellowship has more than doubled in size since its first selection process. In that time, Anzisha’s venture-building support team has worked closely with over 150 early-age entrepreneurs in over 30 African countries and has developed a pioneering approach to coaching, skills development, and business support that has now been packaged into a three-year learning journey.

“We’ve seen clearly that a transition from secondary or tertiary education directly into sustainable entrepreneurship requires both financial and learning support. Through our long-term partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, we’re thrilled to not only announce an increase in the number of fellowships we can offer each year but also in the monetary support each venture will receive,” Josh Adler, Executive Director of the Anzisha Prize, said in a press statement.

Adler further adds that “Our fellowship offering has essentially been reframed as an alternative or accompaniment to university education for entrepreneurs in the 18-22 age group. The grand prizes, which recognized achievement prior to selection as a fellow, will now recognize excellence from young entrepreneurs who role model job creation, venture growth, storytelling, and process improvements during their fellowship.”

The entrepreneurs will participate in a virtual induction boot camp for 10 days where they will engage with business leaders and Anzisha Prize past winners. The boot camp will prepare them for what lies ahead over the next three years.

Philip Cotton, the Director of Human Capital Development at the Mastercard Foundation, said the foundation is committed to supporting the growth of the Anzisha Prize and betting on the potential of young entrepreneurs to drive transformation. He further said, “Young African entrepreneurs have continuously shown that they can rise to the challenge when given an opportunity.”

Cotton also said it has been a challenging 19 months around the world because of the Covid-19 but the caliber of innovators were consistently seen applying for the Anzisha Prize, proving that the rebuilding and reimagining of economies can be entrusted to young people.

Jovia Nassuna Kintu founded Kia Cosmetics that manufactures and sells affordable organic shampoo, conditioner, and other hair products to provide women with an alternative to hair care products containing chemical additives. In the next 5 years, Nassuna envisions Kia Cosmetics to be the leading cosmetics company in Uganda, and in East Africa that makes quality products that women use and work effectively.

Viola Kataike on the other hand founded A Hand for a Refugee (H4R) to train and empower refugees specifically in Kyangwali refugee camp by providing them with modern agricultural skills to improve their socio-economic status. In five years, Kataike aims at recruiting 350 volunteers to extend the program to the entire refugee community in Kyangwali camp, hopefully expanding to four other refugee camps in Uganda by holding a two-week training for interested individuals in each camp.

The 2021 Anzisha Prize Fellows are:

Anzisha Prize applications for the 2022 cohort of young business owners open on 20th October 2021. Eligible entrepreneurs are advised to download the application guide or apply for the prize at Anzishaprize.org/apply.

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To kick-start, the partnership, Afro Fem Coders and the Mastercard Foundation will host a hackathon, a software design, and development skills workshop, on October 16th, 2021 where women will be taught how to pitch, develop websites & apps, coding, and programming skills. After which they will have an opportunity to enroll in the third cohort of the Afro Fem Coders programming course scheduled to start on October 31st, 2021.

Ms. Gloria Tumushabe, the Founder of Afro Fem Coders, while announcing the hackathon said, “Given the low number of African women in technology, this is an opportunity to challenge the status quo and provide women, with the ability to equip themselves with technology skills that will put them on the path to financial freedom.”

The hackathon will offer valuable insight into the learning process, provide direction and an understanding of what coding and programming are about, and how they can use the skills to create work opportunities for themselves.

“It is important to acquire these skills, especially in this current technology-driven world. More women are needed in the technology sector and opportunities are already available and will continue to be created in this sector,” Tumushabe noted.

Tumushabe saw an opportunity to teach coding to young women who were forced to stay home due to Covid-19. She leveraged the power of her network, knowledge, and the internet to start teaching girls in Uganda and the rest of Africa how to code and create computer software, apps, and websites.

Samuel Yalew Adela, Country Head Uganda at the Mastercard Foundation during the announcement said they are excited about the partnership to ensure that African women have the opportunity to learn new life and business skills that will make them more resilient and enable them to pursue their professional and entrepreneurial aspirations.

ALSO READ: WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS LEAD THE WAY IN DIGITAL PRESENCE, SAYS MASTERCARD

Afro Fem Coder’s aims to increase the number of female programmers in Sub-Saharan Africa by over 2 million within the next 10 years, and ensuring that Uganda has more than 100,000 female programmers either starting their own tech ventures or being employed in top tech positions. They hope to see the percentage of women who are exposed to programming at a young age increase by 95%.

According to UNESCO, women in the tech industry constitute only 28% of professionals in the sector worldwide and only 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa. About 20% of software engineers in Silicon Valley are women while Africa has only 2% female software engineers. Tumushabe was able to identify this gap with the exposure she had in programming, thus inspired her to start teaching other women.

“These statistics shed light on the significant gap between women and men in exploring careers in STEM. It is my wish that every woman out there can use this chance to join a cohort of other young women to not only learn something new but also create valuable networks,” said Tumushabe.

To participate in the hackathon and program, African women can sign up using here; https://forms.gle/b6pFhs4qRzGv52pC9

ALSO READ: RUKIA NAKADDAM CHALLENGES WOMEN TO TAKE ON THE MALE-DOMINATED ICT FIELD

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Samantha Namara, the Senior Associate at FutureLab, said, for the past four months they run a program which was highly selective and intensive for Uganda’s most promising education entrepreneurs.

“We were impressed by the innovations out there and the commitment to improve these ideas among the startups. This is what The Innovation Village is about. Reimagining and reinventing solutions to challenges with the ability to transform ideas and turn them into assets. We believe the ideas selected stand a real chance to meet the sector’s needs,” Namara explained.

The Innovation Team Lead, CK Japheth commented, that; “After this accelerator program, we can gladly say we have potential and promising solutions if nurtured well.”

The three startups, KAINOafrica, ThinkPlay, and Nimarungi, will receive exposure to investors and expert guidance on how to navigate the education landscape and scale their solutions via mentorship, peer learning, guidance from experts and implementing partners.

Uganda among many countries has been up in arms on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education sector due to distortion in the curriculum.

Rita Lulua, Lead Education and Skills at Mastercard Foundation noted that in the face of global closures of educational institutions and the halting of non-formal training, there has been remarkable innovation in response to support learning and teaching.

“The responses have also highlighted existing gaps and disparities, the digital one inclusive. Learning losses due to prolonged school closures means that many educational outcomes are at risk. For a number of reasons, we cannot return to the world as it was before, and stakeholders need to ensure that education systems are more flexible, equitable, and inclusive.” said Lulua.

Japheth also noted that as The Innovation Village, they aim to fill the gap created by Covid-19 effects with ideas and innovations to lead to transformative change in the education sector.

The three startups;

KAINOafrica, is an easy-to-use tool that offers premium STEM blended curriculum-aligned early childhood education content to parents for homeschooling their children and teachers in ECD centers in form of lesson guides, which they can use to deliver daily curriculum-aligned lessons to their children using our web and mobile apps.

ThinkPlay, makes board games-for-rent to help children learn math and science through play sessions with peers and family. The board games are used as a cost-effective instructional material integrated into a set of game-based learning strategies to offer a conducive, safe, and fun learning environment that increases motivation and interest for learning.

Nimarungi, is solving the problem of education inequality caused by a lack of data leading to uninformed decisions and policies affecting the marginalized youths and children. This is solved through collecting data with the use of Open Data Kit which is a free open source, accurate, quick, offline, and at scale data collection tool. More still, use paper surveys in case of phone blackouts, peer, interviews, and other sources to collect data. This data is analyzed and expressed as a response to stakeholders.

The Future of Education is a business development program implemented by The Innovation Village through its Education Technology Lab supported by Mastercard Foundation and the Arizona State University to provide holistic support to innovative businesses rethinking and shaping the Future of Education.

The call attracted over 87 applications that were narrowed down to 10 startups who pitched to a panel of judges where only the top three (mentioned above) where selected as winners.

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Accepting application will close on March 30th, 2021, which will later go through an evaluation process, due diligence made on July 30th, 2021, where winners will be announced in August 30th, 2021. Successful entrepreneurs will sharing the cash prize of USD$100,000 (approximately UGX36.6 million) and join the prestigious Anzisha Prize fellowship program.

The Mastercard Foundation and African Leadership Academy have called on young African entrepreneurs to join the Anzisha Prize Fellowship Program. Entrepreneurs are advised to download the application guide or apply for the prize at anzishaprize.org/apply.

Last year the Anzisha Prize, and a partnership between African Leadership Academy and Mastercard Foundation, celebrated 10 years of supporting Africa’s youngest entrepreneurs. The three parties announced and awarded winners of the 2020 Anzisha Prize competition —which saw Egyptian Entrepreneur, Alaa Moatamed, 21 emerge as the overall winner. Matina Razafimahefa (Madagascar) and Mohamed Bah (Sierra Leone) came as first and second runners-up respectively.

Their solutions were able to help businesses to cope with demand during the outbreak of Covid-19, as well as provided a pivot to online learning platforms. As the pandemic still disrupts the world, young entrepreneurs are building opportunities for their communities and peers.

“The world of work has drastically changed as we experience a global pandemic. Young entrepreneurs have remained steadfast and have supported their communities through difficulties. We’re thrilled to celebrate the next 20 young business owners who are, no doubt, paramount to job creation on the continent,” Ms. Melissa Mbazo-Ekpenyong, Deputy Director of the Anzisha Prize, said in a press statement.

It is reportedly said that young entrepreneurs are among the hardest hit during the Covid-19 crisis. An international Survey from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that nearly 90% of young entrepreneurs report a negative impact on their business, including reduced customer demand, supply chain disruptions, and distribution disruptions.

Women-led businesses across Africa are more susceptible to closure than those led by men because of the pandemic. To boost support of female entrepreneurs, the program is encouraging young women to apply to access various offerings of the fellowship and become role models for other young women who want to pursue entrepreneurship.

Daniel Hailu, the Regional Head, Eastern and Southern Africa, Mastercard Foundation, said, “To drive economic recovery in Africa, we’ve to tap into every available resource. That includes young entrepreneurs and young women entrepreneurs. Doing so takes intentionality.”

Hailu concludes that the Anzisha Prizes’ commitment to identifying and supporting very young entrepreneurs has only become more important in the wake of the pandemic. And the creativity, agility, and resourcefulness of young people has only become more valuable.

The post Entrepreneurs Called to Apply For The 2021 Anzisha Prize Competition appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

Anthony Kagimu; The Venture Lead, noted that the youth today have no choice but to cultivate an entrepreneurial culture to be able to create the much-needed job opportunities to improve Uganda’s socio-economic transformation.

“Entrepreneurs play a critical role in our economic growth by providing solutions to our community’s most pressing challenges. These same solutions if refined and supported have the opportunity to scale, create jobs and in turn serve their purpose in contributing to the country’s overall GDP,” Kagimu said at the press announcement at The Innovation Village offices in Ntinda.

He added that, “The foundational phase when starting a business is critical for the longevity of a business something many aspiring entrepreneurs tend to ignore. This program will share experience, product knowledge and industry skills to bolster the success levels of our ventures.”

A nationwide survey carried out in 2013 by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) revealed that Uganda has one of the highest entrepreneurial rates in sub-Saharan Africa and the world, mostly represented in the 1.8 million informal firms. The same businesses when started rarely live to celebrate their first birthday.

Kagimu said, The Innovation Village’s core mandate is to enable and unlock potential among startups and entrepreneurs but at the same time find sustainable solutions to provide a business eco-system. “This program will meet these expectations by equipping the youth with the right skills and tools to venture into business with insight into major stages of growth, investment readiness to then fully executing a business plan.”

Commenting on the program and its significance, Mr. Samuel Yalew Adela, Country Head Mastercard Foundation Uganda said, “We want a world where young people are included and are thriving and their leadership and contributions matter.”

Adela concludes saying, a future where young people are driving transformative change and achieving their full potential remains the overriding rationale for the Young Africa Works Strategy.

The post The Innovation Village, Mastercard Foundation To Strengthen Youth Startups appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

How will we achieve this goal? Before delving into specifics, the overarching answer is simple, but important: together.

True collaboration and coordination

Many initiatives exist to focus on young people—skilling them, empowering them, linking them to opportunities and so on. This work spans sectors, sometimes led by the government, and other times by the private sector or philanthropic institutions. These important and well-meaning efforts are encouraging—and often impactful. Yet they can be limited. One challenge that can arise is when initiatives of this nature are not synchronized or speaking to one another. That’s when important and practical lessons learned by one stakeholder focusing on an issue can be missed by another stakeholder focusing on a similar or adjacent problem.

The result can be duplication of the wrong kind—and inefficiencies that ultimately undermine the positive mission and create disillusion among young people.

A different approach can center on collaborative action

A few weeks ago, the Mastercard Foundation launched a strategy, Young Africa Works—Uganda, that defines our work in the country for the next decade. Young Africa Works in Uganda aims to enable 3 million young people to access dignified and fulfilling work over the next 10 years. The strategy builds on 11 years of Mastercard Foundation’s work supporting education and youth livelihoods and improving access to finance among unreached or under-served groups; work that has positively impacted over 2 million people, including farmers and out-of-school youth.

But what makes Young Africa Works unique is not our Foundation, but our partners—including government, the private sector, and several non-profit organizations. In many ways they are the true owners of this strategy. They played a critical role in shaping it, including defining its targets, and have committed to work together in the spirit of true collaboration to execute it. What does that mean in practice? It means that they have pro-actively and intentionally designed their programs to be interlinked. And they have committed, contractually, to sharing data and information with one another, in near real time, to support the full range of implementation activities. So, for example, young entrepreneurs who will receive business development services from a startup incubator under Young Africa Works, will also have access to financing from a bank participating in Young Africa Works. It also means that challenges identified in one program, can be avoided by other partners to avoid the replication of mistakes.

In Uganda, Young Africa Works will focus on supporting agri-food systems and businesses, enabling opportunities in the construction sector, improving vocational training, expanding access to financial services, and strengthening the tourism sector, which was one of the fastest growing sectors pre COVID-19, and which many young people already rely on for work and income.

COVID-19 makes enabling youth employment a more urgent imperative

Indeed COVID-19 makes tackling youth unemployment more urgent, and highlights the need to develop interdependencies and ensure connectedness among sectors and players in the economy, in order not only to overcome the present challenges, but to build resilience. We know, through data and anecdotal evidence, that young people have been materially affected by the pandemic. Many have lost work. And while Uganda’s young people are known to be among the most enterprising in the world, young entrepreneurs are struggling, under COVID-19, to keep their businesses alive.

The first thing we must do is step in and safeguard the already existing opportunities for young people. Young people like Asiat, a single mother who 6 years ago began making clothes and shoes primarily because she could not afford them herself. But what started as a private pursuit for personal ends, turned into a budding business. She steadily grew her business to over 20 employees. Then COVID-19 hit. It took its toll. Business dipped, revenues dropped, and before long, she was knee-deep in 6 months of rent arrears. Her business was in the red-zone, close to closure, when one of our Young Africa Works partners, The Innovation Village, made contact with her. Seeing its potential, and her drive, they immediately stepped in to help her offset her arrears and retool her business to increase production.

Now Asiat is ready to multiply production as conditions improve, and create more opportunities for young people as her business continues to grow.

There are millions of Asiat’s across Uganda. They hold the promise for a prosperous Uganda. Supporting them, and enabling them to access and/or create dignified opportunities is more important than ever. And it requires a team of players, a team of sectors and a team of transformative leaders guided by evidence. 

It is the collaborative effort of these teams that mimics the old traditional African setting that embodies this phrase, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. And that’s our approach.

EDITORIAL NOTE: This is an Op-Ed Article by Mr. Samuel Yalew Adela; the Country Head, Uganda at the Mastercard Foundation. Samuel played a key role in the development of the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy as well as its rollout in Uganda.

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Presiding over the virtual launch of the strategy, H.E. President Yoweri Museveni noted Young Africa Works’ alignment to the government’s national development plan.

“I commend Mastercard Foundation for your efforts towards youth empowerment and transformation in Africa over the last decade. I am glad to note that your focus over the next decade is on uplifting young people by expanding employment opportunities,” said President Museveni during his keynote address, which was live-streamed from the State House.

He added that the Young Africa Works strategy is in line with the work that the government is doing to achieve the goal of a healthy, educated, and prosperous population.

Young Africa Works in Uganda focuses on three economic sectors; Agriculture, Tourism & Hospitality, and Construction/Housing.

The Foundation is working with a range of partners; the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, The Innovation Village, Gudie Leisure Farm, GOAL Uganda, the National Social Security Fund, and Equity Bank Uganda to realize its goals under Young Africa Works.

“We have formed partnerships with a number of organizations and together, if we are successful, they already represent 30% of the goal of having 30 million people in dignified and fulfilling work,” said Mastercard Foundation President and CEO; Reeta Roy.

Samuel Adela Yalew, Country Head at the Mastercard Foundation noted that Young Africa Works would be building on a decade of work and achievements. Hon. Janet Museveni; Minister of Education and Sports reflected on the long-standing partnership of the Mastercard Foundation in the area of education.

“I believe we can now say that the Mastercard Foundation is a faithful friend of Uganda. In the last decade alone, they have provided quality education opportunities to over 6,000 young people in the country,” she commented.

Uganda is home to the second largest population of young people in the world with 82% of the population under the age of 35. Young Africa Works has already begun positively impacting Uganda’s young people.

“It has helped me to get some money to buy food and to clothe myself,” said Akiding Elizabeth Oumo, a program participant who benefitted from skills training conducted under Young Africa Works.

The post Mastercard Foundation Launch Plan to Enable 3 Million Ugandans Access Dignified Work by 2030 appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

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.

The post Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellows To Improve Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools Across Africa appeared first on PC Tech Magazine.

All the 32 finalists of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars gathered in Rwanda to compete in the Resolution Social Venture Challenge (RSVC) – an initiative of the Resolution Project and Mastercard Foundation. The challenge was founded in 2007 to identify young leaders, to empower them to make a positive impact today through Resolution Fellowships. Through the fellowships program, the selected applicants are provided with seed funding, mentorship, and access to a network of young global changemakers to pursue impactful projects in their communities.

“Africa’s young leaders are brimming with talent, ideas, energy, and a deep desire to have a positive impact on their communities. Yet few young people receive the support and tools they need to ensure a project or social venture they want to undertake is successful,” Ashley Collier, Manager of Youth Engagement and Networks at the Mastercard Foundation said in a press statement.

He further stated that by winners of the Social Venture Challenge have earned themselves resources, network, mentorship, and capital they need to implement their venture and to maximize their impact.

The 15 winning projects addressed a wide range of challenges scholars have observed first-hand in their communities, including digital literacy, a lack of mental health supports, access to sanitation, and climate-smart agriculture.

About the 3 Ugandan startups

1. Girls Alive Uganda (Tororo)
Girls Alive Uganda comprised of 3 students from Makerere University; Marion Apio, Lokolimoe Susan Hilda, and Mutoni Suzan came up with a solution that aims to address the lack of sanitary materials for vulnerable girls in Tororo District, Uganda. The project will produce and distribute affordable sanitary pads to reduce high rates of menstrual-related school absenteeism, which remains a key barrier to girls’ education in Uganda.

2. Rabbits for Education (Kamwenge)
Myres Ndyabawe and Narinda Shirah from Makerere University developed the Rabbits for Education project addressing the problem of primary school drop-out rates in a government-aided school in Kamwenge District, Uganda. The project will provide participants with rabbits and will equip them with the skills they need to raise and care for them. The initiative also will help participants find a market, so they can generate income to support their education.

3. Youth Empowerment Initiative, YEI (Arua)
YEI developed by David Gai and Akot Arkanjelo from Makerere University is an initiative that aims to build the capacity of youth and support primary school education in Yumbe District, Uganda. The project recruits and trains youth mentors to provide mentorship to primary school children and provides textbooks and lesson revision materials to upper primary classes.

The other winners were; One Urban Garden (Kenya), Women For Peace Library (Malawi), Mission Possible (Cameroon), Let’s Fight Cancer: Screen It And Suppress It (Kenya), IGem (Sudan), HappyDel (Kenya), Green Shift (Lebanon), Sua IT (Ghana), GamFruits (Gambia), Cactus Mama (Kenya), ZimDigester (Zimbabwe), and Solace For Somaliland Girls (Somaliland).

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