MEST Africa announces 1st cohort of Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

MEST Africa has selected 12 innovative companies for the inaugural Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in Ghana. 

They represent a range of innovative solutions poised to make a significant impact in education across Ghana. The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship is designed to support promising African EdTech companies with critical business and financial support, with insight into the science of learning, preparing them for scale, sustainability, and impact.

Speaking at the launch of Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in Accra on May 9, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into STEM infrastructure is crucial for preparing students for the 21st century.

He stressed the importance of technological tools in advancing teaching and learning, stating: “AI is changing education and that is where we need to be. Mastercard EdTech Fellowship would ensure that we have the next generation of EdTech developers in Ghana who drive innovation in education.”

The Acting Head of Strategic Partnerships and Thought Leadership for Mastercard Foundation, Suraj Shah, said his outfit has the ‘Young Africa Works’ initiative that aims to enable 30 million young Africans, 70 per cent of whom we're targeting young women, to gain dignified and fulfilling work. 

Transforming education

He said as part of the initiative, the Foundation offers support to the Ministry of Education in improving the quality of education to enable these youths to get the skills to tackle the jobs of today and tomorrow.

“So we work with Ministries of Education to help identify the gaps in education and skills outcomes, and bridge those gaps with locally innovative EdTech solutions. So what you see here today is one of the many EdTech Fellowships we are doing across Africa. We currently have eight EdTech Fellowships addressing nine countries.

In Ghana specifically, we're working with the Ministry of Education, we met with the Minister to create this fellowship where we selected 12 very promising innovative EdTech solutions that would help bridge some of these gaps identified by the Ministry,” he said.

The Programme Manager at MEST Africa, Angela Duho, expressed her enthusiasm about the selected companies, stating, "we are thrilled to welcome these visionary companies into the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship at MEST Africa.”

“Their innovative solutions hold the promise of transforming education in Ghana, and we are excited to support their growth and impact. Through our partnership with MEST Africa, we are working to increase access to quality and relevant learning for Ghana and Africa’s underserved learners through locally developed technology-enabled solutions,” she said.

First cohort

The selected companies for MEST’s 2024 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship are Perbi Cubs, Inspiring Teachers Ghana, Dext Technology Limited, Loozeele Excellence Academy, Ayaprep, Qknow Edtech, and Wonderspaced.

The rest are DeafCanTalk, Firefly IO, Coral Reef Innovation Hub, eCampus, and Alpha Virtual Academy. Through the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship, the cohort will embark on a transformative journey of mentorship with support from specialists on education innovation, sustainability, impact and scale, pedagogical evaluation through access to courses on the science of learning and equity-free grants with the aim of scaling their impact and contributing to the advancement of education in Ghana.