Back in 2016, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) entered into a partnership that resulted in Zimbabwean students studying ACCA accessing free-online introductory courses. The agreement was entered into through Econet’s digital education platform called EcoSchool. This time around Econet Education has set an ambitious target in 2018 to positively disrupt education within Africa through high-quality, affordable and accessible digital education solutions.
The recent all-Africa focused partnership with Dublin-based online learning giant, Shaw Academy, sees Econet Education establishing a mutually beneficial relationship to exclusively market their highly sought after online educational courses, across the continent.
Shaw Academy is the world’s largest interactive online classroom providing courses on a range of subjects. Students get to be in an online classroom with students from other countries. The courses carry a diploma accredited by the European Qualifications Framework.
Tendai Mashingaidze, the CEO of Econet Education explained:
“We are passionate about overcoming the barriers to quality, affordable education which is continuously faced across Africa, by leveraging online learning platforms such as Shaw Academy. Given the broad variety of lifestyle and business courses that Shaw Academy provides, we noted an opportunity to provide accredited online opportunities to Africans between 15 to 55 years of age at a very affordable fee.”
According to the Econet Education team, the partnership with Shaw Academy will reaffirm their commitment to empowering and upskilling Africans across the content with in-demand, credible and affordable technological education solutions.
Responding to the ever-changing needs and skills requirements of unemployed, self-employed and working professionals across Africa is what led to the establishment of Econet Education, Tendai Mashingaidze reiterated.
Speaking at the announcement John White Chief Strategy Officer at Shaw Academy said;
“This partnership demonstrates the ambition Econet Education and Shaw Academy have to transform hundreds of thousands of lives across Africa. Our mission is to develop high quality education that is affordable and accessible to all and by working with Econet we can do this at scale and in an innovative fashion.”
As Econet Education continues on its quest to provide cost-effective, globally competitive online learning to Africans, we look on with eager anticipation to the continued impact their mission will have on the African digital, social and economic landscape.
