The second cohort for the prestigious Injini Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship, focused on South African startups, has been announced, featuring twelve selected companies. These startups stand to benefit from both financial assistance and a suite of supportive services aimed at bolstering their impact in the education technology sector.
Injini is at the forefront as Africa’s first ed-tech exclusive accelerator, established in 2017 and functioning under the UVU Africa Group. Its non-profit status underscores a commitment to enhancing educational quality, accessibility, and relevance across Sub-Saharan Africa. Injini pursues this goal through its accelerator programs and the research efforts of the Injini Think Tank.
This initiative took flight following Injini’s partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, as reported last year, which saw the launch of the EdTech Fellowship for South Africa-based startups. The fellowship endows participating startups with a multifaceted support package that includes direct grants, detailed product evaluations, skill development workshops, mentorship and coaching, comprehensive market research, and facilitated access to market opportunities.
After a thorough selection process, hinging on applications and interviews, twelve startups have been chosen for the program’s second rendition. The fellowship promises these ventures tailored support in educational innovation, fundraising, impact measurement and evaluation, and commercial strategy. Additionally, they’ll receive specialized market research from the Injini team and the chance to collaborate with industry-wide experts. The startups are also granted opportunities to network with and learn from significant players and authorities within their field.
Moreover, these EdTech innovators will have the privilege of engaging with Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute faculty through various courses and consultations. To top it off, the selected startups will secure equity-free funding exceeding ZAR1 million (approximately US$52,000).
The diverse group of startups ranges from Book Village’s online reading tutoring platform to E-Cubed’s digital entrepreneurial ecosystem; from EcoLabs Africa’s ICT optimization for underprivileged schools to Fintr’s financial literacy games for children. Others, like Global Teachers Institute and Grow ECD, focus on professional development for teachers and ECD management support, respectively. Mindjoy offers classroom management solutions, while Finding Thabo introduces interactive, brain-stimulating games for early learners.
Also joining the ranks are RoboSTEAM, dedicated to coding and robotics for young students, SOCO_ED bringing adaptable ed-tech across industries, Ubuntu Education empowering African educators, and Vambo AI with its multilingual educational tools.
Spearheading these efforts, Injini’s executive director, Krista Davidson, emphasized the organization’s zealous commitment alongside the Mastercard Foundation to empower these chosen fellows. Together, they aim to scale the startups’ ventures, amplify their impact, and instigate substantive progress within the region’s educational landscape amidst South Africa’s multifaceted educational challenges.
