By Adelaja Emmanuel Boluwatife
Since the conclusion of the covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, investor interest in african education technology (edtech) has cooled, highlighting how technology aids learning. Yet, there is also the argument that a continent chock full of young people should continue to place a premium on education and technology. The mastercard foundation edtech conference, which began in abuja on monday, follows this theme. On monday morning, hundreds of conference attendees from 13 african countries caused traffic disruptions on aguiyi ironsi road, maitama, and the adjoining roads leading to transcorp hilton abuja. Participants include a diverse group of edtech founders, ceos, investors, research firms, research institutes, university lecturers, students, and government officials. Many african tech conferences have broad agendas and focus on major issues and regulators. Over 300 edtech firms took time out this week to address the unique challenges of their industry, creating a gap. “this is the web summit of edtech startups,” a joking founder said as he joined the queue of attendees trying to enter the main hall, a large tenth with a 600-seater capacity and a 24-business exhibit hall. Although 600 attendees are far from the hundreds of thousands of web summit attendees that the organization records every year, the attendance at the mastercard foundation edtech conference was a feat for the edtech industry. For an inaugural conference, the attendance of 600 edtech who-is-who in africa was impressive. It brought edtech startups into the same room as two parties critical to the industry’s development: the government and investors. The conference will feature eight education ministers, with panel discussions scheduled for monday and tuesday. According to the mastercard foundation, edtech can bridge the learning gap and enable over 600 million young people in africa to have access to high-quality education. The edtech conference, according to joseph nsengimana, director of the mastercard foundation’s centre for innovative teaching and learning, was crucial because it allowed every stakeholder in the industry to collaborate on solutions to the many challenges that the education sector faces in africa. To attract investors, these solutions would include ways to make edtech products profit-oriented while still affordable to the underserved.