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E-learning tablet Mwabu targets 12k SA learners

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 22 Jun 2017
This year, Mwabu aims to make an impact on 12 000 South African learners.
This year, Mwabu aims to make an impact on 12 000 South African learners.

Education technology company Mwabu has made an investment in the South African market, through the establishment of its local hub in Rosebank.

The education technology company offers curriculum-focused teaching and learning content via its e-learning tablet. It also provides focused educator support and training through the Mwabu Academy.

This year, it is targeting to make an impact on 12 000 South African learners. "Mwabu has already invested $1 million in its product for South Africa. The company is contributing towards job creation in the country through the setup of its hub office. It will also continue to invest in developing the country's education by ensuring schools have the benefit of its e-learning content at their disposal," says Justin Reilly, CEO of Mwabu.

He points out the Mwabu e-learning content can be distributed on any device, and is available on a subscription basis, costing $1 per student per year.

The educational technology company last year partnered with Johannesburg-based tech start-up, Onyx Connect, to locally produce the Mwabu e-learning tablet.

Mwabu creates interactive e-learning content and resources, covering national primary school curricula. Its goal is to enable children from all backgrounds to realise their right to high-quality education and to equip them to access new opportunities that will drive the development of the continent.

It has already achieved success across various rural communities in Zambia, which it will now seek to replicate in SA.

"Our vision is for pupils across rural Africa to benefit from a quality education. We want to equip them to access new opportunities and drive forward the development of the continent," Reilly says.

The company says it has made a major commitment to the South African market in terms of its curriculum-focused content, with plans to introduce translations in local languages as it has done in Zambia.

The company has seven employees spread across the country and is seeking to fill another six vacancies with locally-trained professionals.

It says newly-appointed business development manager, Didi Bryant, brings a wealth of experience to the team, having worked in both a classroom and corporate education environment.

Bryant previously worked for Pearson, where she gained experience in the sale of digital education solutions as well as the training on and implementation of the company's products.

"The realities of working in the South African school environment are very disparate. Some schools have state-of-the-art technology which can accommodate any solution. Then there are other schools where budget and infrastructure simply won't allow for the solutions they want," says Bryant.

"Since Mwabu is an e-learning content provider, our focus is on ensuring the learners who receive the content will benefit. The tablets will be shared among students and this can be done in groups of two or more through a rotational classroom model, ensuring all the students get to enjoy the benefits of being exposed to the content," Reilly says. "This year, we are looking at impacting 12 000 lives."

Mwabu is in the process of recruiting a locally-trained professional to represent its training academy.

"Mwabu is dedicated to creating effective education solutions for the South African market," says Reilly. "We are confident the investment we have made both in terms of product and people will take that vision forward."

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