Across Africa, a new generation of education technology developers is harnessing artificial intelligence to tackle challenges beyond classroom learning, from tailored tutoring and curriculum support to scholarship opportunities, admission guidance and AI literacy.These innovators are solving different problems: tutoring, personalisation, access, education discovery and AI literacy. What connects them is not a single technology, but a shared effort to apply artificial intelligence to specific points of friction in African education.
FoondaMate: Learning Through Chat
South African entrepreneur Dacod Magagula co-founded FoondaMate, an AI-enabled study assistant designed for platforms students already use, including WhatsApp and Messenger. The platform allows students to ask academic questions, request explanations and access study materials through a conversational interface, using machine learning, natural language processing and large language models to make interactions more natural and useful. FoondaMate now helps more than a million students on cheap handsets and little data, demonstrating how AI can reach learners outside traditional classroom settings.
Rori: A Maths Tutor on WhatsApp
At Rising Academies, education technology leader Shabnam Aggarwal has helped advance Rori, an AI-powered mathematics tutor delivered through WhatsApp. Rather than functioning simply as an answer engine, Rori is designed around structured tutoring, guided practice and feedback, producing learning gains worth roughly an extra year of schooling at a marginal cost of about $5 a child in a randomised trial across eleven schools. The tool has shown gains of around a third of a standard deviation in school studies on basic phones, operating on low bandwidth.
NGScholars: Navigating Scholarships and Admissions
Nigerian product leader Ahmed Ogundimu founded NGScholars in 2013 as an education platform covering admissions, scholarships, examinations and academic opportunities. The platform helps students determine where to study, which opportunities they qualify for and what steps they need to take next, addressing the problem that begins before the lesson itself.
M-Shule: AI Learning Over SMS
Kenya-based M-Shule founder Claire Mongeau approached AI-powered learning with a different constraint: what if the student does not have a smartphone or reliable internet access? M-Shule developed an adaptive learning platform that uses artificial intelligence to personalise educational content delivered through SMS, analysing student responses and adjusting subsequent material based on individual performance. The model was designed specifically for low-bandwidth environments common across many African communities, delivering customised learning journeys to primary school pupils on basic mobile phones.
Afrilearn: Curriculum-Aligned Personalisation
Nigerian entrepreneur Isaac Oladipupo, co-founder of Afrilearn, has focused on applying personalisation to curriculum-based learning. Afrilearn provides digital education through video lessons, class notes, practice exercises, examination preparation and AI-assisted learning tools aligned with African curricula, reaching more than four million learners with over 500,000 gamified quizzes and solutions.
AltSchool Africa: Building AI Literacy
Nigerian entrepreneur Adewale Yusuf, co-founder and CEO of AltSchool Africa, is focused on a different question: who will know how to use AI effectively in the first place? AltSchool launched AI for 10M Africans, an initiative aimed at introducing millions of people across the continent to artificial intelligence and its practical applications, helping them understand how to use AI tools productively, evaluate outputs and apply them to work and problem-solving.
Africa Presents is a Pan-African digital magazine and monthly publication covering politics, business, economy, culture, tech, and the stories shaping Africa and its diaspora. Visit africapresents.com and follow @AfricaPresents for daily coverage and monthly themed magazine editions.
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