Educating Africa at Scale: These 20 EdTechs have insights

In a continent defined by scale—of youth, opportunity, and challenges—education should be no exception. Yet, despite billions spent on initiatives and research, actionable insights on how to scale EdTech in Africa are strikingly rare. Solving this gap is essential for unlocking the potential of Africa’s next generation.

One Million Customers Isn’t Always Equal

Imagine scaling an idea from zero to 12 million customers. By both global and African standards, that’s an extraordinary achievement, signaling sustained success. For context, African tech giants Flutterwave boast 1 million clients, OPay incredibly has 40 million users, Moniepoint and M-Kopa have reached 2 million and 5 million customers, respectively.

Eneza Education, a Kenya-based EdTech venture, recently merged with Knowledge Platform, a Pakistani EdTech company. Founded in 2011, Eneza had reached 12 million students, primarily through its SMS-based platform across Kenya, Ghana, C?te d’Ivoire, and Rwanda. Eneza was trailblazer in the Kenyan tech scene; Eneza hit its first 1 million users in 2016—the same year Flutterwave was founded!

Yet, the sustainability of SMS-based EdTech models is increasingly under scrutiny. In 2019, Elvis Chidera, a Nigerian entrepreneur, shut down his SMS-based EdTech venture, citing untenable revenue splits with telecom companies that rendered unit economics unviable. As someone who has invested in African EdTech for nearly a decade, the evidence is clear: SMS-based business models face significant challenges in achieving sustainability.?

Despite this, scarce capital continues to be funnelled into SMS-driven solutions, seemingly hoping to defy the mounting evidence against their long-term viability. What lessons can the ecosystem draw from past journeys, and how can we better align innovation with sustainable business models?

How critical is African EdTech??

The New York Times recently spotlighted Africa’s “youth bulge,” predicting that by 2050, one in four people on the planet will be African. This demographic advantage holds immense potential—but only if Africa effectively educates and empowers its youth. Despite the continent’s drive to leapfrog into the future, actionable insights on scaling EdTech solutions in Africa remain scarce.

A significant reason for this gap lies in whose voices dominate the conversation. For years, Africa’s EdTech landscape has been shaped by foreign solutions and narratives. However, the call to decolonize EdTech has grown louder. The Mastercard Foundation’s 2024 EdTech Summit earned praise for showcasing local solutions and innovators, a step towards fostering homegrown solutions that last.

A striking parallel can be drawn to the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Africa and India. Endeavor once compared Nairobi and Bangalore, finding that Bangalore’s ecosystem is 70 times more effective. The key difference? In Bangalore, experienced entrepreneurs are the most influential actors, whereas in Nairobi, influence largely rests with individuals lacking entrepreneurial experience.

Efforts by the development sector toward education amount to $20 billion annually in developing markets, with Africa receiving a quarter of this funding. Despite these investments and decades of research, there remains limited understanding of how to scale EdTech solutions tailored to Africa’s unique challenges

The Blind Spot in EdTech Research

As a short academic exercise, I analyzed 200 of the most recent African EdTech research papers using Google's NotebookLM and artificial intelligence. The goal? To determine how much these papers provide unique, actionable insights into scaling EdTech in Africa. The result: a disappointing score of 16 out of 100 (where 100 reflects new and tangible insights on financial sustainability).

A Novel Solution: Ask those who have scaled!

African EdTech remains significantly underfunded, attracting just 1% of venture financing. Despite these financial constraints, a select group of African EdTech ventures have managed to scale, making measurable progress toward sustainability.

Drawing on extensive desk research and nearly a decade of experience funding and supporting African EdTech, I developed criteria to identify ventures that have achieved critical scale and are demonstrating progress toward sustainability. These approximately 20 companies stand out for their ability to serve a substantial number of students and schools while demonstrating strong user validation. Notably, they generate significant revenue from non-grant sources, proving both the value and sustainability of their products or services in the market.

From pre-primary education to addressing the youth skills mismatch, Africa’s education challenges are massive. Tackling such big problems requires scale—scale that demonstrates pathways to sustainability. As the Arabic proverb says: “Ask the experienced rather than the learned.”

Development partners contribute $7 billion annually to education in Africa, part of the continent’s total $160 billion education expenditure, 70% of which is funded by African governments. By leveraging the experiences of these ~20 scaled EdTech ventures, we have the potential to make this $160 billion far more impactful.

A Vision for 2025

My goal for 2025 is to see an event where scaled African EdTech ventures take the lead in sharing their lessons learned, challenges faced, and key insights. Their expertise can help shape how donors, investors, and governments allocate scarce resources to improve education for Africa’s youth, enabled by EdTech.

As a first step toward this vision, I’m conducting research on scaling EdTech in Africa. Over the next few months, I’ll be engaging with 50+ African EdTech ventures, including some of those highlighted here, as well as investors, donors, teachers, and other key stakeholders. I’ll also be reaching out across my network and connecting with old and new friends working on African education and EdTech to gather diverse perspectives.

My last report on African EdTech has been viewed 18,000+ times and downloaded nearly 2,000 times, underscoring the growing interest in this space. If you’re an African EdTech venture not included in my initial list (sorry!), or if you’re an investor or donor eager to learn more about African EdTech, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s build the future of African EdTech together!

P.S. Yes, I intentionally left out the exact criteria and figures used to define the ventures I’ve highlighted. Just another great reason for us to connect!

Note: This list is meant to be a starting point, not a definitive one. If you represent an EdTech that meets the scale criteria and isn’t mentioned (sorry!), I’d love to hear from you—please reach out!