Denis Opudo
M-Shule is a Nairobi based e-learning platform. The platform became second at the 2017 Global Edtech Startup Awards (GESA). The award took place in London. A total of 15 startups 15 startups took part in the finalist stage with M-Shule included. Arterus took the top award. Arterus is a Japanese based startup. MentoMind startup from India came third during the event.
M-Shule platform delivers accessible, personalized education to primary school students across Africa. The platform uses SMS and artificial intelligence (AI) during its deliveries. The award shows the efforts of the platform in promoting African edtech to the rest of the world. M-Shule CEO and founder Claire Mongeau also said that they were happy to have clinched the award.
The judges used some criteria to get the winners during the awards giving. They included strong business model, scalability, ambitions, and innovation. The startup must have met those qualifications before emerging the winner. The difference between the first to the third startup was on many issues.
M-Shule uses all the four factors in bringing personalized learning technology to Africa. It is also the first time an African startup uses technology to offer primary education. Besides, the startup works without an internet connection, and that made it stand out from the rest. The other companies depend on internet connections for them to function. That gave it an upper hand over such companies during the awards.
It is only 10% of African schools that have internet connection. Therefore, it calls for startups to be more creative and more innovative. That is the only way through which schools can get connected to strong learning tools. Therefore, M-Shule wants to be on the list of those platforms that used that did whatever they can to bring quality education in Africa. That is what many judges and audience applauded about the firm’s idea.
In October 2017 the startup was selected alongside seven others to join Injini. Injini is one of the Africans first edtech incubators based in Cape Town. Additionally, in November 2017 the startup was selected to represent Kenya at the Seedstars Summit. The summit will take place in Switzerland in April 2018.
