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Tag: Injini Mastercard Foundation

  • Don’t miss out: Apply for the 2025 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

    Don’t miss out: Apply for the 2025 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

    Injini, a South African ed-tech incubator, and the Mastercard Foundation opened applications for the 2025 EdTech Fellowship on November 11, 2024. This fellowship aims to support startups in South Africa focused on enhancing education through innovative solutions.

    Fellowship benefits

    The recently announced EdTech Fellowship provides participating startups with a comprehensive support package that includes direct grant funding, product evaluation, tailored market research, skills development, mentorship, and opportunities for market access. Following the successful selection of a second cohort in April, applications are now open for the third cohort.

    Read also: Mastercard EdTech Fellowship applications opens

    The fellowship aims to empower startups by equipping them with essential resources and guidance to scale their innovative educational solutions. Ultimately, this will contribute to improved education in South Africa and beyond. Interested persons  are encouraged to submit applications before midnight December 8, 2024.

     About Injini

    Established in 2017, Injini is Africa’s first and only specialised ed-tech accelerator and think tank, headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. Its mission is to enhance educational outcomes across sub-Saharan Africa by supporting key stakeholders in improving the quality, accessibility, and relevance of education.

    As a registered non-profit organisation, Injini focuses on nurturing innovative solutions that address pressing educational challenges.

    Read also: Insights from the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

    Over the years, Injini has accelerated over 40 ed-tech startups across the continent, fostering a vibrant community of innovators. Its partnerships, notably with the Mastercard Foundation for the EdTech Fellowship Program, aim to drive significant improvements in educational technology solutions. Injini’s Think Tank comprises experienced education sector experts who effectively guide startups in executing their innovative ideas.

    Through various programs, including intensive acceleration support and market access initiatives, Injini empowers startups to develop evidence-based solutions that ultimately enhance learning experiences for millions of learners across Africa.

  • Injini Mastercard Foundation supports 12 startups in South Africa

    Injini Mastercard Foundation supports 12 startups in South Africa

    The Injini Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in South Africa has selected twelve startups and provided access to funding and other forms of support as it commences the second edition of its ed-tech accelerator program.

    After extensive application and interview processes, twelve ventures have been chosen for the second edition of the programme. They will have the chance to work with professionals from all walks of life, receive individualised assistance from Injini’s education innovation researchers, collaborate with experts in various fields, and network with influential members of the ecosystem and subject-matter experts.

    The application was opened on February 13, 2024, and the program will begin this month and last for six months. 

    Read also: Lagos to partner Mastercard on technology

    All that entails

    In addition to receiving venture capital funding over ZAR1 million (US$52,000), they will have access to a variety of courses and office hours offered by Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute faculty.

    Books Village is an online reading tutoring platform; E-Cubed is a free, digital, chat-based entrepreneurial learning, connecting, and innovation platform for educators, students, parents, and government officials; EcoLabs Africa is a startup that optimises information and communication technology infrastructure in rural and township schools by recycling old computers; and Fintr is a startup that uses games to teach kids about money.

    The group is rounded out by RoboSTEAM, an organisation that focuses on teaching coding and robotics to elementary school students; SOCO_ED, an ed-tech solution that can be used in any field; Ubuntu Education, an organisation that helps African educators by providing them with tools, connections, and opportunities for professional development; and Vambo AI, an organisation that helps students and teachers by incorporating multilingual capabilities into their lessons.

    According to Krista Davidson, executive director of Injini, the organisation is excited to continue working with the Mastercard Foundation to support these Fellows as they grow their businesses, make a bigger splash, and bring about significant educational reform in South Africa and the surrounding region. This comes at a time when the education sector is facing many problems.

    Read also: Moringa School, others to teach developers how to use APIs

    About Injini Mastercard Foundation and its aim

    Injini, a subsidiary of the UVU Africa Group, is a registered nonprofit organisation with a mission to improve educational outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company was founded in 2017 with this objective in mind. With the help of its Injini Think Tank and other initiatives, the only ed-tech specialised accelerator in Africa is working to improve education across the continent regarding accessibility, quality, and relevance.

    Injini was reported to have launched the EdTech Fellowship for South African startups in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Through the initiative, eligible startups can access market access, individualised market research, coaching, mentorship, intensive skill development, product quality evaluation, and direct grant funding.

    Also chosen are Global Teachers Institute (GTI), which offers work-integrated learning placements to future teachers through partnerships with schools, governments, and universities; Grow ECD, a software platform for early childhood development (ECD) management; Mindjoy, a platform for educational software; and Finding Thabo, a game that encourages players to engage various brain regions and lay the groundwork for a lifetime of learning.