I’m happy to announce that among the 150,000 applicants to the Tony Elumelu Foundation Programme, Edubaloo was selected among the final 1104 shortlisted to receive a $5000 grant and access to a network of entrepreneurs and business training resources.
The acceptance into the programme serves as a validation of our work, and we’ll use the grant to further our efforts in researching and demonstrating the effectiveness of AI-enabled learning for secondary school (K-12) students in Africa, starting with Nigeria.
What started two years ago as a side project has now become an initiative to create a more inclusive Africa through affordable, high-quality education. By launching our AI-powered exam preparation app on both iOS and Android, we have achieved our first step towards this mission.
We understand the challenges of making quality education affordable.
To combat this, we’ve kept our team lean, working with a functional group of just six people, and leveraged AI to streamline many of our operational processes, including product development, management, and content creation.
We’re also aware of the adoption challenge or, as we call it, the “invisible teacher” challenge.
We expect a degree of resistance to fully AI-enabled learning as AI in Education is still in its early stages. So we are not surprised by responses of students or parents who are unsure about the effectiveness of AI-learning when compared to traditional methods.
To address this, our strategy is to introduce AI features into a product that students and parents trust and are already familiar with—exam preparation apps. By integrating AI into their learning experience, we aim to demonstrate its value and effectiveness.
One of our standout features is SnapSolver, which allows students to take pictures of difficult questions they encounter in school and get instant answers. Since launch, we’ve garnered over 3500 users, with 500+ daily active users.
It’s currently free for students to test out, and we invite everyone to give it a try and share their feedback.
This is only the beginning! By exploring and leveraging the capabilities of AI in Education, we can level the playing field and ensure that every student, regardless of their background, has access to quality learning resources and support.
But we can’t do this alone, so join us on this journey as we can reshape the future of education and unlock the potential of the next generation of Africans!
