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Lingawa is an emerging edtech company focused on making quality education accessible to a diverse audience. It operates an online tutoring platform that offers engaging lessons in native languages, catering to students of all ages, from children as young as five to adults. The platform features a variety of courses and connects learners with experienced tutors who employ creative and critical thinking techniques. By utilizing technology and innovative teaching methods, Lingawa aims to provide affordable and personalized educational solutions that enhance traditional schooling and promote language learning.

YARP Foods is a startup specializing in agri-processing, specifically producing cost-effective, high-quality all-purpose cassava flour for flour user industries. It operates by processing cassava into multipurpose flour, utilizing climate-smart systems to ensure reliable supplies, enhance farmers' incomes, and minimize losses, thereby providing consumers with quality products.

54 Collective, established in 2018, is a South Africa-based venture capital firm that invests in and supports African tech startups, primarily focusing on sectors such as fintech, health tech, agritech, logistics, and e-commerce. The company provides catalytic capital alongside value-add support and leverages its global network to help founders scale their businesses. 54 Collective, a business-focused investor, integrates impact considerations into all its operations, aiming to generate returns for investors while enabling entrepreneurs to grow their ventures.

The Government of Rwanda through the District and Sector gave my family a household cow. My dad was asked to establish a kraal and feeding garden to cultivate pasture. He did it. The Fresian cow given for free, gave us milk and dung, making us get milk for home use and surplus for sale. However, we were hit by the summertime and the pasture was depleted due to small plot cultivation we struggled to produce food crops and cow fodder. Our lovely cow started starving, prompting us to rise as early as 4 am and fetch thinny dry shrubs and grass along roadsides and river banks. Our milk production fell from 12 liters a day to 3 liters. The family got stressed with the unstoppable cow mows, rendering the neighborhood complaints about our darling cow noise nuisance due to undernutrition. “Daddy, I will find a way, I am in a country of solutions, not setbacks and regrets. Internet surfing led me to a new technology called Hydroponics Fodder”. Liaising with the external expert made the technology knock at our door, in Rwanda". The UKC member and vision bearer said.

Kytabu is a textbook subscription application that offers students a cost-effective way to access educational materials. Through a low-cost Android tablet or desktop application, users can rent textbooks in various formats—such as pages, chapters, or entire books—on a flexible time basis, including hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly rentals. Payments are facilitated through mobile money, making transactions convenient. The service provides access to the complete library of the country's education curriculum, allowing students to select the content they need within their budget. Kytabu employs a microSD card that stores 8GB of pre-installed textbook content, along with a GSM SIM card to support mobile payments and access to updates or additional materials online. This model ensures that students have affordable, up-to-date, and easily accessible educational resources.

Zeraki is an educational technology company focused on improving access to quality education and facilitating transitions between educational levels and into employment. The company's platform enhances the educational experience by addressing obstacles that learners face, offering insights that support informed decision-making for educational stakeholders. By streamlining administrative tasks and providing valuable resources, Zeraki aims to elevate the standards of education and empower students throughout their academic journeys.

Eneza Education Limited, established in 2011 and based in Nairobi, Kenya, provides mobile-based educational services designed to enhance learning accessibility across the country. The company offers a virtual tutor and teacher's assistant that facilitates access to courses and assessments for students and teachers through various platforms, including USSD/SMS, online web applications, an offline desktop application, and an Android app. Eneza Education’s offerings include locally-aligned tutorials, tips, and assessments, complemented by features such as a leaderboard, Wikipedia text, and live teacher chat. The company's content, developed by Kenyan teachers, targets students from primary to secondary levels, promoting comprehensive, on-demand educational support to improve academic performance. Eneza Education operates as a subsidiary of M-Prep Inc.

Zibuza operates an online professional learning community, tailored to the unique needs of South African teachers based on their location, grade, subjects, and interests. The platform offers a wide array of educational resources, facilitating collaboration and learning among educators, learners, parents, and organizations.

Siyavula Education is an education technology company focused on enhancing high school students' performance in mathematics and science through personalized, technology-driven learning solutions. The company has created innovative software that offers adaptive practice in subjects such as Maths, Physics, and Chemistry, tailoring content to meet the individual needs of each learner. By providing targeted feedback, Siyavula enables students to master essential concepts and skills. Additionally, the platform features openly licensed, curriculum-aligned textbooks, which facilitate online learning and aim to make quality education accessible to all learners and teachers in South Africa.

O’Genius Priority is Empowering Genuine Welfare. IT solutions, Web and Mobile development.

Chalkboard Education is a developer of a mobile platform aimed at enhancing access to education through digitized distance learning. The company collaborates with universities, training institutions, and organizations to transform traditional educational content into a digital format that can be distributed to users on their mobile devices. This approach enables students across Africa to access training materials remotely, even without an Internet connection. By facilitating training and polling of beneficiaries globally, Chalkboard Education also focuses on tracking the impact of its educational initiatives, making it a vital player in advancing accessible learning solutions.

M-Shule Ltd. is a mobile learning management platform founded in 2016 and based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company specializes in providing personalized educational resources, primarily in Mathematics and English, through a mobile interface that leverages SMS technology and artificial intelligence. M-Shule creates tailored mini-lessons designed to match students with appropriate content based on their individual learning levels. It facilitates communication between students, parents, and educators by sharing progress analytics, insights, and reports via SMS and web interfaces. By focusing on offline and low-income communities, M-Shule delivers interactive and self-paced learning experiences that empower students and unlock new educational opportunities across Sub-Saharan Africa.

AkooBooks Audio is a platform and experience provider focused on transforming mobile phones and devices into 'accessible libraries' of Black/African audiobooks in English and African languages, that reach new audiences.

Hitch Tech Inc., established in 2018 and headquartered in Kitchener, Canada, specializes in developing an educational video platform tailored for African schools. The company creates battery-powered video hotspots that store educational videos offline, allowing students and teachers to access them via WiFi or local networks, even in areas with limited internet connectivity or power infrastructure. Hitch Tech curates and aligns these videos with local curricula and textbooks, making them locally relevant and accessible, thereby transcending literacy barriers and empowering underserved users in emerging markets.

Instill Education is an education organization established in 2015 and based in Rosebank, South Africa, with a mission to transform teaching and school leadership across Africa. The company addresses the pressing need for high-quality teaching capacity on the continent by offering a practically immersive graduate learning program. This program includes integrated classroom training, demand-driven initiatives, and the application of evidence-based pedagogies and data-driven methodologies. By focusing on learner engagement and maximizing time on task in every lesson, Instill Education aims to enhance the overall quality of teaching and learning for both educators and students.

Schoolinka is an Edtech company based in Nigeria, specializing in continuous professional development and job placement for K-12 teachers in Africa. It uses AI and machine learning to match teachers with tailored skill development resources and suitable job opportunities. The platform serves as a hub for teachers, schools, and professional development resources, featuring a Learning Management System (LMS) for online courses and a job board for vacancy postings and applications. By connecting educators with relevant resources and job opportunities, Schoolinka aims to enhance teaching quality and improve the overall school workforce in Africa.

Flex Finance is a spend management platform specifically designed to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa with managing their finances. Recognizing that a significant number of businesses in the region fail due to inadequate financial management, Flex provides a solution that streamlines expense tracking and budgeting through an intuitive user interface. The platform offers features such as digital requisitions, bulk payment transfers, and comprehensive expense management tools, empowering businesses to digitize their daily operations and better control their spending. With high digital literacy among African businesses and a willingness to adopt digital solutions, Flex Finance aims to enhance financial management practices, ultimately contributing to the sustainability and growth of these enterprises.

Zlto is a virtual incentives platform that allows organizations to track and increase positive behavior while generating valuable data on emerging markets.

RecyclePoints is a waste recycling and social benefit venture focused on encouraging individuals and corporations to recycle by creating value from everyday waste. The company operates an incentive-based scheme that collects recyclable materials from consumers, rewarding them with points for their contributions. These points can be accumulated and redeemed for various household items available through the iRecycle store. By motivating post-consumers to actively participate in recycling efforts, RecyclePoints aims to reduce waste while fostering a sense of community engagement and social responsibility.

Tulaa is a Nairobi-based company founded in 2017 that develops a software application aimed at enhancing the agricultural marketplace. The platform connects smallholder farmers with agri-input suppliers, financial service providers, and commodity buyers, facilitating the sale of agricultural products and access to affordable financing. By leveraging mobile technology and local agent networks, Tulaa reduces the costs and risks associated with doing business in the agricultural sector. The company's marketplace provides farmers with essential information on supplies, credit options, and market connections, ultimately enabling them to improve their sales and financial stability.

Jumo is a fintech company focused on delivering innovative financial solutions to customers in emerging markets across Africa and Asia. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, Jumo develops credit scores and financial products that empower partners to offer loans, savings, and diverse financial choices. The company's ultra-lean banking technology connects banks with traditionally inaccessible customers in cost-effective and responsible ways. Additionally, Jumo's money marketplace utilizes behavioral data from mobile usage to create financial identities for small and medium enterprises, enabling these customers to establish creditworthiness based solely on their behavior. This approach not only enhances access to financial services but also supports the growth of financial inclusion in underserved markets.

Jumo is a fintech company focused on delivering innovative financial solutions to customers in emerging markets across Africa and Asia. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, Jumo develops credit scores and financial products that empower partners to offer loans, savings, and diverse financial choices. The company's ultra-lean banking technology connects banks with traditionally inaccessible customers in cost-effective and responsible ways. Additionally, Jumo's money marketplace utilizes behavioral data from mobile usage to create financial identities for small and medium enterprises, enabling these customers to establish creditworthiness based solely on their behavior. This approach not only enhances access to financial services but also supports the growth of financial inclusion in underserved markets.

Zoona is a mobile technology company established in 2009, headquartered in South Africa with operations in Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. It specializes in developing products such as money transfers, electronic voucher payments, and agent payments, aiming to provide safe and reliable financial services to underserved communities across Africa. As of now, Zoona has processed over $2 billion in transactions, demonstrating its significant impact on the continent's financial landscape. The company has been recognized by notable organizations like The Nike Foundation and The Unreasonable Group for its potential to empower young entrepreneurs and help girls become entrepreneurs, thereby contributing to poverty alleviation efforts.

Carnegie Mellon University is a renowned private research university, offering undergraduate and graduate programs across diverse fields, with a strong focus on technology and arts. It is particularly distinguished for its School of Computer Science, recognized globally for its research and education, and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, which uniquely combines management and policy expertise. The university serves various sectors, including education, technology, and the arts, contributing significantly to these fields through its academic programs and research.

GiftedMom is the first mobile health platform in Central Africa, which uses low cost technologies to improve the health conditions of pregnant women and new borns in under served and disconnected communities. The GiftedMom project was started by a group of Medical and engineering students, Medical Doctors, health and community workers, with vision to reduce maternal mortality rates (Millennium Development Goal 5) as well as infant Mortality rates (MDG 4) in Cameroon. The project comprises a Web and Mobile platform, SMS Services and Google Fusion Tables, all aimed at divulging important information on the proper management of pregnancy, and a healthy follow up of newborns.

Tespire is a technology company specializing in cloud-based administrative software for primary and secondary schools. It offers a comprehensive platform that simplifies administrative tasks, such as application and enrollment management, while also enhancing the learning experience through features like online learning materials, assignment tracking, and progress monitoring. Additionally, Tespire provides a single login for parents to manage multiple children's accounts, fostering better engagement and communication between schools and families.