Entrepreneurship is Bringing New Life to Education

As Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” What is the role of entrepreneurs in this change? How can youth entrepreneurship bring innovation to the world of education? Let’s delve in!

In the last decade, the learning and education space has witnessed a sea change around the world, led by new technology-based solutions aimed at making learning more personalized and effective. The growing acceptance for these solutions has led several entrepreneurs to venture into this space and leverage technology to make education “accessible”, “affordable”, and “impactful” for all.

Meet some of the entrepreneurs of the Ye! community who are having an impact in education:

• Chriss Bimpong is the creator of A-Plus E-Learning, a pioneering provider of education via E-learning, based in Ghana, Africa. A-Plus E-Learning aims at providing students at both the junior and senior high school levels tablets with a pre-installed application that consists of video lessons on different subjects, administered by professionally qualified teachers from different countries.

• Danielle Gafni is a young Californian entrepreneur.  When she was 11, Danielle has created Bankaroo, a virtual bank for kids. Bankaroo teaches kids about the value of money in a simple and fun way. In fact, the platform allows youth to create checking, savings and charity accounts and to track kid’s allowance, gift or chore money.

• Pim Bellinga is a young entrepreneur whose personal goal is to teach even people who think theyhate statistics how to understand the world through data. He has developed a gamified app called "Hate statistics" where students can learn statistics in an easy way!

• Angela Koranteng has founded STEMbees, a non-profit organization focused on encouraging and mentoring young African women to pursue their dreams and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

• Kwadwo Sarpong is a young entrepreneur and the founder of  African Research Academies for Women (ARA-W). ARA-W is a non-profit organization that seeks to bridge the gender gap in science and research by introducing talented low-income undergraduate female students to an 8-week summer intensive research during the summer.

Let’s delve in further to check out startups and organizations that are fostering the education of new generations outside the Ye! Community:

• Onebillion is a nonprofit startup that has created an app that teaches children to read, write and become numerate on tablets and smartphones by working through a carefully structured course made up of hundreds of engaging activities, games, and stories.

• Fireborn Institute is a non-profit startup that provides parents with practical and easy-to-remember strategies to help their children in school.

• First Working is an organization whose mission is to help underserved and underrepresented high school students acquire social capital.

Evidence also shows that school functioning is severely handicapped by some contextual and structural constraints. Quality education is often restricted by low teaching standards. Entrepreneurs have therefore, also taken up the challenge of training and qualifying teachers to enhance the availability of quality education.

• Here, ten great examples of innovative startups that are making primary grade teachers more effective.

Photo credit: bit