The great poet William Butler Yeats once said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Yeats’ words could be viewed through the lens of societal impact – the impact of education on the world around us.



Necessary in this pursuit are multilateral relationships that strengthen development – locally, regionally and beyond. In Africa, the value of collaboration in this regard is immense. This is because these collaborations enable the sharing of resources, knowledge, and best practices, facilitating comprehensive growth and allowing us to collectively address common challenges.



Now, more than ever, we are realizing the role universities play in societies beyond the mandate of higher education. We are vessels for societal impact, and our scope is increasingly broadening and pushing our gaze outward. As we realize this vision, fostering collaboration among universities in the region and beyond is crucial. Universities need to provide guidance on moral, political and social issues. 



This is what I refer to as societal impact. This concept represents the effect of our research and work in the real world. It represents a shift beyond academia to the economy, society, culture and beyond. The emergence of an ‘engaged university’ represents a sphere where institutions actively contribute to societal development and address regional challenges. In this regard, it is wholly necessary for us to develop peer-led networks that significantly contribute to development.



Times Higher Education’s Chief Knowledge Officer Phil Baty in a report on university-industry collaboration writes: “Universities cannot fulfil their limitless potential without collaboration – collaboration between institutions, with industry and across borders.”



The very notion of collaboration needs to extend beyond higher education institutes. The Dowling Review of Business-University Research Collaborations suggests that strategic business-university research collaborations entail a range of benefits and allow challenges to be addressed by research questions that have tangible applications. 



Through these collaborations, researchers can have a tangible impact while improving their arsenal of skills. For industry, this collaboration allows for new techniques or technologies to emerge and extends innovation and expertise. As this thought suggests, there is great value in collaborating with industry.



Similarly, in a university and industry collaboration study, Othman and Omar assert, “Even though universities are known to pursue fundamental research as well as educating the people, they may not provide ready-made workers that are highly competent and capable of performing in any conditions.



However, universities do have the capacity and also capabilities to ensure that the workers capabilities are tailored to the needs of the industry.”



Indeed, as these ideas demonstrate, universities have a mandate that extends beyond their own walls – we have a responsibility to society to provide answers. The impact we can make together is significant. Establishing joint research and design (R&amp;D) projects between industry and research institutions in both countries can facilitate technology transfer and knowledge exchange and promote innovation in mutual areas of interest – particularly related to areas of sustainable development. Collaborating on skills development initiatives can address workforce needs and promote capacity building, particularly across borders. 



The economist Ricardo Hausmann argues that this is how the working population gains ‘know-how’, which he defines as a combination of implicit knowledge and experience. This knowledge transfer alongside capacity building initiatives speaks directly to inclusive economic growth and job creation. Hausmann’s thesis suggests that there is much more to be gained by international knowledge transfer, especially as countries such as South Africa look to ‘leapfrog’. 



Related to my previous point, facilitating the transfer of technology from research institutions to industry can also stimulate innovation and economic growth. Supporting entrepreneurship and startup incubation can spur economic development and job creation. Collaborative initiatives, such as accelerator programs or venture capital funds, can provide resources and mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs in both countries. 



As Hausmann suggests, there is much more to be gained by widening these collaborations beyond borders. In the pursuit of societal impact, cooperation and mutual understanding creates a space where diverse perspectives converge, where innovative ideas are nurtured, and where the seeds of future collaborations are sown. 



As the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once said, “I am deeply convinced that there is no other way to deal with global challenges than with global responses and organized in a multilateral way.” If this indeed is now our mandate as universities, then we must both offer and welcome collaboration – particularly within the continent as we seek to address many of our common challenges. This is how the very notion of the ‘engaged university’ emerges.

Networking people  with globe

EXPERT-SPEAK: Beyond Academia – The Societal Impact Of Multilateral Educational Collaborations

More states are now giving money to families who pull their kids out of public school, creating a pot that can be spent on online learning and microschool programs.



In September, Sandra Testo pulled her 14-year-old son, Keaton, out of his public middle school in Trinity, Florida—a response, she says, to years of bullying that had left him so anxious he ended up routinely hiding out in the school nurse’s office. Keaton now spends his days at home, completing his 8th grade coursework via Outschool, an online learning platform that offers live virtual classes for K-12 students. On Tuesdays, he attends a Christian co-op with other kids his age to study art and play basketball. “It’s been the best thing,” Sandra Testo says. “His demeanor has changed. He’s just so calm now.” Testo pays about $300 per month for Outschool from an educational savings account (ESA) funded by Florida.



Homeschooling is booming for a variety of reasons, but chief among them are dissatisfaction with public schools that spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic and $5 billion a year (and growing) of state stipends for families opting for public school alternatives. Those can include traditional private schools, online classes, homeschooling and microschools—networks of in-person learning “pods” with one teacher and a dozen to two dozen kids, often using online courses.



It all adds up to a growing parent-driven market for the edtech industry, says Michael Moe, founder and CEO of GSV Ventures, which backs educational startups. “Personally, I think the most exciting opportunity is in microschools, but homeschool, charter schools, low-cost private schools and virtual charter schools are all positioned well for this coming boom,” he says.



In 2019, before the pandemic, 3.7% of children aged 5 to 17 were schooled primarily at home either by parents or through virtual classes, up from 2% in 1999, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2023/2023101.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survey</a>&nbsp;by the National Center for Education Statistics, which attributes that increase in part to information technology making home instruction more feasible. The NCES doesn’t have more recent data yet, but an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2023/homeschooling-growth-data-by-district/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">analysis</a>&nbsp;by the&nbsp;Washington Post&nbsp;found the number of homeschooled children has surged 51% since the 2017-18 school year. Meanwhile, private school enrollment rose just 7% while public school enrollment declined 4%. The big spurt in homeschooling came during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, when virtual classes and mask mandates were widespread. Since then, as public schools have returned to (more or less) normal, homeschooling numbers have dropped some, but held on to much of their pandemic era gains. Notably, some of the students who fled public school for home during the pandemic are now enrolling in microschools.



A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/09/26/home-schooling-vs-public-school-poll/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">poll&nbsp;</a>conducted in August for the&nbsp;Post&nbsp;found homeschooling has spread well beyond the Christian conservatives most associated with the movement in recent decades. These days, homeschooling families increasingly cite anxiety over school safety (including bullying and violence) as well as a belief that what is available online is better than the instruction in local public schools, with a majority now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/tablet/2023/09/25/aug-1-10-2023-washington-post-schar-school-home-schooling-poll/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">using online live or recorded classes</a>.



This parent-driven opportunity is a rare bright spot for an edtech industry still struggling through the bust that followed its Covid boom. Funding for U.S. edtech startups in 2023 totaled $3.2 billion, down dramatically from the $9.5 billion raised in 2022 and $20.3 billion in 2021, according to data from Crunchbase. (In 2019, before the pandemic, the industry received $2.2 billion in investment.) The Covid-era funding frenzy came as three federal stimulus packages showered&nbsp;<a href="https://covid-relief-data.ed.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$190 billion</a>&nbsp;on K-12 schools—money was spent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/k-12-federal-covid-relief-what-can-we-learn-from-doing-school-funding-differently/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on everything</a>&nbsp;from beefing up technology for online learning, to making schools physically safer, to mental health supports and catch-up instruction for students. (Schools must spend their final Covid dollars by this coming September.)



As the federal windfall ends, new money to support the parent-driven boomlet is coming from state-funded educational savings accounts. Back in 2020, there were just four state ESA programs serving about 25,000 children and doling out around $100 million annually, says Joe Connor, founder and CEO of Odyssey, a platform that aims to connect state ESA programs with parents and education vendors. Today, 13 states have programs (some have more than one program, with different eligibility and funding) providing $5 billion a year to parents, he says. Those numbers are likely to grow. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/the-top-10-education-trends-for-2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">33 state legislatures considered ESA programs last year</a>&nbsp;and that it is now tracking nearly 100 such proposals.



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In August 2022, Melissa Shah, a Gilbert, Arizona mother of three, used a state funded ESA to enroll her now 16-year-old son into a KaiPod microschool. He’s neurodiverse and excels at math, but struggles with writing and reading comprehension. “Being able to customize your child’s education allows both the child and the family to increase their quality of life,” Shah says. “My son is finally feeling challenged in math, but it took until 11th grade. He spent so many years being bored in this subject, but not until we moved to an accelerated online private school paired with KaiPod Learning did he really shine.” Her son is now making plans to attend college—something Shah doesn’t think he would have considered without the opportunity he’s now had to forge his own educational path.



While ESAs are clearly boosting the money available to parents, Amar Kumar, founder of Boston-based KaiPod, argues they’re actually a “lagging indication” of growing parental demands for more control over their children’s education. “The way I see it is—ESAs follow what’s happening on the ground. As more and more families are saying, ‘Hey, I want to tailor my child’s education the way I see fit,’ that’s when politicians come on board and say, ‘Okay, then you should be able to use your tax dollars to do that.’”



Since launching in 2021 with seed funding from Y Combinator and EO Ventures, among others, KaiPod has helped independent teachers set up 49 pods and has opened 19 of its own company-run pods across five states. About half its current students were homeschooled before enrolling, while another quarter left full-time online schooling to join KaiPod and the last quarter left traditional public or private schools, Kumar says. Each pod is typically made up of 12 to 14 students and one educator. The pod covers a range of school subjects—from math to reading to science—with each student following their own self-paced and family-selected curriculum. Tuition prices vary by pod. In Nashua, New Hampshire, a five-day, Monday through Friday plan costs $6,600 per academic year. In Rosewell, Georgia, the same plan costs parents $9,000 per year. Parents also have the option to purchase two, three or four-day plans at most locations.



If parents have not already settled on a homeschooling curriculum, KaiPod helps them construct one. “So they may choose an a la carte approach of curriculum—Khan Academy for Math or Lexia for reading or something else for science,’’ Kumar says. “And then they come to the Kai pod three, four or five days a week to do all the other things and have a safe place to work.”



Outschool, a San Francisco-based online learning service, has seen a surge in business from ESAs, with the number of users paying with the accounts growing six fold in 2023, reports founder and CEO Amir Nathoo. Over the course of 2023, Outschools’ weekly receipts from ESA funds increased from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands, he says. Currently, about half of the 100,000 monthly users of the platform are homeschooled, while others use it to supplement their public or private education. (The service, which was launched from the 2016 Y Combinator class, raised $110 million at a $3 billion valuation in 2021, bringing its total funding to $242 million from more than two dozen investors.)



Tony Wan, head of platform at Reach Capital, an education-focused VC firm that has invested in Outschool, cites state funded ESAs as one of the most important K-12 education trends to watch this year. “We anticipate demand for ESAs to grow as parents continue to seek alternatives for their children who they feel are not well served by existing and local options,” offers Wan, whose firm has also invested in other companies that sell to parents, such as early learning and reading platform Sharpen and tutoring platform Preply.



“We’ve seen (the number of) prospective customers that ask about paying with ESAs and other government funding increase dramatically,” reports Felipe Izquierdo, Founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Quest, which uses online games to teach math to pre-teens. He sees this as a big area of growth for his year-old startup, which now has 500 customers. So too does Garrett Smiley, the cofounder and CEO of Sora Schools, a New York-based virtual accredited private middle and high school that expects to increase its enrollment to 1,000 next academic year, from 335 now.



While ESA proposals have engendered big political fights in some states and so far have only been adopted by Republican controlled states, they seem to enjoy broader public support than the older private school voucher model. In a July&nbsp;<a href="https://hunt-institute.org/resources/2023/12/2023-across-the-aisle-report-cutting-through-the-noise-parents-and-voters-want-real-world-skills-safe-schools-and-literacy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">survey for the Hunt Institute of 1,300 likely 2024 voters</a>, 56% of respondents said they support spending taxpayer dollars on education savings accounts, compared to 49% who said the same for vouchers. (The Hunt Institute, which is affiliated with Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, has received funding from the foundations of Amazon founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?sh=33966241b238">Jeff Bezos&nbsp;</a>and Microsoft cofounder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;and his ex-wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/melinda-french-gates/">Melinda French Gates</a>&nbsp;and from Meta cofounder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?sh=65dcd7a3e06d">Mark Zuckerberg</a>&nbsp;and his wife Priscilla Chan.)



Which students qualify for ESAs, how much they get and what parents can spend the money on varies widely from program to program. Montana and North Carolina have launched accounts just for students with special needs. New Hampshire established its ESA in 2021 for families with 350% or less of the poverty rate (a household income of $105,000 or less for a family of four). The accounts are not popular with teachers’ unions. The American Federation of Teachers-New Hampshire sued to block the program, claiming it violates the state constitution because it is partially funded through the state’s lottery program, whose earnings are earmarked exclusively for state aid to education. In November, a Superior Court judge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.doj.nh.gov/news/2023/documents/20231115-howes-v-edelblut-mtd.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dismissed the lawsuit</a>.



West Virginia’s Hope Scholarship program, launched in 2022, and recently upheld by the state’s Supreme Court, provides accounts (equal to the state’s per capita contribution to local public schools) only to students who had previously been enrolled in public schools or are just starting kindergarten. This year, the accounts provide $4,489 to eligible students to pay for tuition, homeschooling curriculum and other expenses for individualized education. But the legislation could eventually make the accounts more widely available.



That’s in line with a trend toward wider eligibility. Arkansas, for example, launched ESAs this year with eligibility restricted to certain students, such as those with disabilities or fleeing the lowest ranked public schools, with total participation capped. The accounts are equal to 90% of the state’s per capita student funding for the prior year for public schools—that translates to $6,600 this year. But by the 2025-2026 school year, the state plans to make the accounts available to all students who want to leave public school.



“Generally, states want to make sure that the programs are up and running and that there is no fraud, waste and abuse before they expand the categories,” Connor observes. “But I think if you step back, generally the policy is to empower parents. And historically what we’ve seen is an expansion of what that means rather than a contraction.”



Arizona’s “empowerment scholarship accounts” were first established in 2011 for students with disabilities. For the 2022-23 academic year, children with disabilities were eligible for up to $43,000 in ESA funding, depending on their disability. But in 2022 the state made smaller accounts (now ranging from $6,000 to $9,000, depending on how much state aid would have been paid to a public or charter school system if the student had been enrolled) available to any non-disabled resident K-12 student regardless of family income, so long as they’re not enrolled in public schools or publicly funded charter schools. Parents can spend the money on private school tuition, curriculum, home education or tutoring, to name a few things. (This is separate from Arizona’s tax-credit subsidized voucher program for private schools and families can’t qualify for both.)



Connor’s Odyssey works with ESA programs in Idaho, Missouri and Iowa, and operates an online marketplace where parents can purchase pre-approved educational services for their children. After the programs are up and running, he sees a spike in interest from education vendors who want in on the action. “Once money actually starts flowing to the parents, and parents are purchasing things, we typically see that is when vendors—some tutoring centers, afterschool programs, music programs—get very interested in it, because now it’s a potential source of business and revenue for them,” he says.

Serious Mother Helps her Children To Do Their Homework in a Living Room

Will Homeschooling Parents Save Edtech?

Dr Preeti Aghalayam, the first woman to lead an IIT, hopes to operate at a scale that is impactful and leverages scientific strengths.



The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), India’s top-ranked engineering and technology university, is set to open its first international campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania, in October, bringing to the African continent its prestigious, world-renowned legacy and expertise headed by Dr Preeti Aghalayam, also the first woman to lead an IIT.



“We&#8217;ve been looking at what makes sense for us [as an institution] because we are nationally ranked number one [in India], and what are the places where our kind of education and research will find value,” says Aghalayam, the Dean of School of Science &amp; Engineering and Director-in-charge of IITM’s Zanzibar campus, to FORBES AFRICA. “Also, which nation, or which region would find useful what we bring to the table, which is quite different than other institutions, say in the West, or even in India.”



The Zanzibar campus is expected to onboard 50 undergraduate and 20 post-graduate students in October for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in data science and AI. The academic offerings are expected to be expanded in 2024.



After over two years in the Office of Global Engagement at IITM and an over 10-year career teaching at IIT Bombay (in Mumbai, Maharashtra) and IITM (in Chennai, Tamil Nadu), where she was a professor of chemical engineering, Aghalayam was hand-picked to lead the campus, as part of a partnership with the Government of Tanzania. Aghalayam is also a former IITM student and pursued her post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.



“This whole relationship is at the level of the education ministries of [India and Tanzania] and IIT Madras is a designate of the Government of India,” she adds of the new partnership.



“I believe that Tanzania is also very keen on this, especially in the Zanzibar region, because they are looking to expand their education offerings. Apart from being a tourist destination, they are looking if it can also become an educational destination.”



With a challenging and aggressive timeline to open the campus and build the same institutional reputation, infrastructure, and ecosystem in a new part of the world, Aghalayam is tasked with a difficult feat, but one she is embracing as a seasoned academic and researcher. With scientific rigor and research at the core of her ambitions, she hopes to propel the campus to be both inclusive with more diversity than India sees, but also competitive in nature.



“[We] will offer the type of academic programs that are needed by the young people, not only in Tanzania, but also the larger East African region, at the level of quality that is the IIT hallmark,” says Aghalayam.



“It&#8217;s important for us to operate at a scale that is impactful, makes a difference, leverages our scientific strengths etc., because it helps solve global challenges.”

Preeti Aghalayam, the first woman to lead an IIT_ image supplied

Tourism And Tech In Zanzibar: India’s Top-Ranked IIT To Debut Academic Programs In Africa

The June/July 2023 issue of FORBES AFRICA was my favorite reading for the month as it touched on a subject close to my heart – agriculture. In a conversation with Dr Akinwumi Adesina (President, African Development Bank) a few years ago, he talked about the importance of agriculture (one of his ‘High 5’ pillars is ‘Feed Africa’) and the need for the youth in Africa to engage in the sector. His famous words to me at the time were “we need to make agriculture sexy again so that the younger generation is motivated to enter this sector that can transform lives”. 



His words were inspired not only by the historic impor- tance but also by the opportunities being created by innovations in the sector. It was therefore hearten- ing to read stories of young ‘agripreneurs’ from all over Africa who are, through agritech, trying to bring innovation into the agricultural ecosystem and create more efficient supply chains from seed to soil to market.



Agriculture in Africa, as in a number of Asian economies, is the most important sector contributing an average of 20% to 24% of the total Gross Domestic Product of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In absolute terms, there are about 33 million smallholder farms of which an estimated 35,000 commercial farm units are in South Africa; 5,000 to 7,000 of these farms produce 80% of the agricultural output in South Africa.



Farmers living in these smallholder farms (who largely use their hands for cultivation) contribute 70% of the food supply on the continent. Corre- spondingly, 65%-70% of Africans rely on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood.



Considering that Africa has most (about 60%) of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, the continent imports between $35 billion to $45 billion of food/agricultural products each year, since only about 10% of the available land is being cultivated. This stems from poor infrastructure development and therefore limited access to a large part of the 700 million hectares to 800 million hectares that can be cultivated. Other than land, other areas that need machinery, technology, infrastructure development and distribu- tion. 



The most critical of all factors is easy access to low-cost finance and while financial institutions talk a good talk, very few provide reasonably-priced working capital to farmers. To make the continent self-suffi- cient, there is a need to invest almost $75 billion to $80 billion annually in the agricultural sector in Africa and there needs to be a concerted effort by policymaker to ensure that the banking sector comes to the party failing which, the continent, despite all its natural ad- vantages, will be unable to feed its growing population and alleviate poverty. 



An important factor today, not just in agriculture, but across all industries, is educa- tion and relevant literacy across all demographics.



A few years after the launch of CNBC Africa in 2007, I started a thought leadership discussion on the Future of Education in SSA. Over the years, we have identified areas including redefining the purpose of education to make it more relevant to today’s times. Each year, we have had some brilliant minds from around the world join the deliberations to bring forth different global perspectives. 



At the 2023 virtual sum- mit in July, we decided to unpack some of the current challenges, particularly relating to youth unemployment in Africa that has reached alarming levels. In many countries, more than 40% of fresh graduates do not find stable employment, even a year after finish- ing university. Part of the problem is the historic gap between the jobs being created and the number of students graduating from university. This problem, however, is being compounded by the transformation of existing jobs that require new skillsets, which ap- plicants do not have; nor can these be secured through unstructured staff development programs.



Owing to a very difficult history of colonization, the African education landscape is unique in its evolution reasonably-priced internet. SSA today has only 22% internet access compared to a global average of 63%. Furthermore, broadband access in Africa comes at a very high cost. In terms of afford- able pricing, India has the fifth lowest internet data rates in the world, with the cost of data at about 17 US cents per gigabyte. In comparison, South Africa at $2 per gigabyte is almost 12 times higher in price than India. The other important nuance is the low Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 9.4% in Africa.



We live in a world today where artificial intel- ligence (AI) is responding to queries predicated on existing datasets. The debates are ongoing about the role of AI in all aspects of the future. No one can predict this accurately but it’s safe to say that if you can imagine something, coding, creativity and AI will find a solution. 



It sounds surreal, but it is the best time to be alive, as we have witnessed more possibili- ties in the last few years than we have seen in decades of analog. ChatGPT, the new kid on the block, has challenged the education arena with so many dimensions and has created a fear of redundancies and whether machines will take over most jobs. 



While these are genuine, short-term apprehensions, we do know that job displacements from what computers and machines can do are different from functions performed by human beings relating to creativ- ity, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and problem-solving. As some jobs are being taken over by automation, more are being created that will continue to replace the older ones in the form of supervision of automated systems, programming, and maintenance. 



As an exam- ple, during the internet era, new jobs relating to web design and development, digital marketing and cyber security, to name a few, were created. Now, with blockchain, AI and virtual reality, the world is opening up to workplace transformation, where coding, computer sciences and creativity will play an important role in creating job replacements in areas that we are yet to discover.



Another important dimension that was discussed during the Future of Education Summit was the impor- tant and underlying role of the economics of transfor- mation. Conservatively, unemployment costs for coun- tries run into billions of dollars of wasted resources each year. Global GDP could go up by trillions of dollars if unemployment is curtailed. On the other hand, the cost of reskilling is estimated to be between $10,000-$20,000 per new graduate joining a company, which is cumu- latively running into billions of dollars for employers. What this points to is that these costs to business can be optimized if there is closer collaboration and conversations between governments, academic institu- tions, and the corporate world.



In practical terms, the most transformative out- comes are going to come from industry where large employers will define their needs to educational in- stitutions. Colleges and universities need to adapt to these requirements by designing bespoke curriculum that will increasingly become industry-certified. The day is not far when human resources (HR) departments in organizations will be driven by professors who will articulate the needs of the establishment and act as an interface with academia.



The role of humanities will continue to increase critical thinking and creativity into sciences making up for the inherent deficiencies in machines. This blend of the two worlds of Arts and Sciences, which have always been historically segmented into silos, will provide the solutions in the future world of AI. In this context, one of the most interesting discussions was on the concept of “a factory within a university” or “a university within a factory”. 



The possibilities are endless, and the deliberations were animated and intense, but the trend line was clear that for a progressive continent, investment in capacity building is in education so that the future generations of youth have equal opportunities as their peers in other parts of the world.



An important event for us at the ABN Group is the annual All Africa Business Lead- ers Awards (AABLA) ceremony that recognizes business leadership on the continent in vari- ous categories. Being an entrepreneur, I know from three decades of experience that building a business at the best of times is a challenge.



However, when you establish businesses in emerging markets like SSA, where you cannot take anything for granted, the skills, adaptability, perseverance and commitment needed requires leadership to be a lot more versatile and humane. To recognize these heroes from amongst us, we hosted the event for the sec- ond time at the Convention Centre in Sun City, South Africa, before a gathering of 450 business leaders from across Africa.



The event this year was attended by a large contingent of international business leaders from Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, the US and the UAE. We were also privileged to have in our midst, and perform- ing for our guests, two-time Grammy award- winner, Wouter Kellerman. An issue that limits greater participation is the restriction on business visas by South Africa. 



Many guests from Nigeria and Rwanda were unable to trav- el for the AABLA. As we talk about increasing strategic relationships, inter-Africa trade and other collaborations, we are still unable to develop a basic agreement on cross-border travel for Africans. These barriers need to be lifted at the earliest to have meaningful people-to-people engagements for better understanding and social engagements that are essential for building a strong foundation for collaborations.

Rakesh Wahi

The Important Conversations Around Agriculture And Education In Africa

Tom Bennett, Director and Founder of researchEd in the United Kingdom, on what evidence tells us about the future and purpose of education.



BY JILL DE VILLIERS



AS COVID-19 SWEPT THROUGH THE WORLD, SOME AREAS OF OUR lives were more deeply affected than others, one of them being education. Before the pandemic, technology had started taking a more prominent place in education, and online learning was being integrated into the system. 



When Covid-19 struck, schools and tertiary institutions were forced to change their models rapidly, migrating to digital options. Soon, the talk pivoted to blended learning and hybrid solutions, combining in-person and virtual classrooms and teaching methods. How likely are we to return to old teaching methods and classroom settings, we ask educationist, author and speaker Tom Bennett, who hails from the United Kingdom (UK) and is the Director and Founder of researchED. 



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:34% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tom-Bennett_1-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51596 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tom-Bennett_1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tom-Bennett_1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tom-Bennett_1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tom-Bennett_1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tom-Bennett_1-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">Tom Bennett will deliver a talk during the 2021 Future of Education Virtual Summit, with the theme ‘Redefining the Purpose of Education’ on July 29, held in partnership with FORBES AFRICA and CNBC Africa</blockquote>
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“After Covid, I see education 95% snapping back to where it was before, because the face-toface model of education simply cannot be beaten in most circumstances. The one benefit of the Covid experience has been that people the world over have seen how hard it is to home school children, how much blended learning often lacks compared to face-to-face… but also we have learned remote learning is not something impossible to manage and that where it is useful, we have lost our fear of trying it. For example, in the UK, whenever it snows, schools often shut and nothing gets done. But now, no more snow days, although I’m not sure that children and staff are as happy about that!” Bennett says. 



He was a teacher in the East End of London for 13 years before founding researchED, which he describes as “an international non-profit that asks simple questions that can change the world”. The organization brings together everyone within the educational ecosystem – “not just the privileged priest class of education, but teaching assistants, administrators, teachers, as well as academics, leaders and researchers – to share their thoughts about what they do, and what evidence informs what they do.” 



They travel the world, presenting low-cost, inclusive and accessible events, which are particularly popular among teaching staff, who are hungry for answers to questions like: ‘How can I achieve what I want, without struggling blindly in the dark? What does the evidence tell me? When do things work, and when do they not work?’ 



Bennett has written four books on classroom behavior and evidence-informed education. “Ideas about how we manage behavior are still stuck in the 19th century, and too many teachers and schools are forced to reinvent the wheel every generation instead of building upon what we have found to work and improving upon it,” he explains. 



“Teachers rarely get an evidence-informed training as they begin their careers, and many schools still make decisions based on intuition, gut feeling and hunches. But children – and teachers – deserve much better than that. We can do much better than that.” 



Lately, we have seen a burgeoning of technology solutions to a myriad of questions that Bennett says teachers aren’t asking. 



“Tech companies are often guilty of selling solutions to problems no one has, and ignoring the lack of evidence to back up the boldest of their claims. That’s not to say that tech doesn’t offer enormous opportunities to supplement and support education, but also to say that schools and countries have poured billions into tech promises that have rarely materialized.



“Evidence tells us many things that teachers can incorporate into their classrooms with only a little effort and with huge dividends: low-stakes retrieval practise (frequent testing) secures lesson retention enormously; being aware of cognitive load theory teaches us the students need information presented in manageable chunks, and that teachers should favour direct instruction with novice learners before allowing them too much freedom to drive their own studies. 



This is especially relevant with blended forms of learning, where beginning learners often drown in what they don’t know, and might lack the motivation and the foundational knowledge how to drive their own learning at home.” And finally, how does Bennett see the purpose of education? 



“The beauty of education is it has no intrinsic purpose. We have purposes for education. So when we ask ‘How should we educate?’ Then we have to first ask, ‘What do we think the aim of this education is for?’ Only once we have answered that can we rationally begin to decide what we need to do, whether we’re trying to teach the best of what has been thought and said, prepare citizens for the future, or help children become fully rounded human beings.&#8221;

Focus on raised hands in classroom

Education: What We Can Do Better

TOPLINE Evidence is growing that reopening schools with proper precautions will not increase the spread of Covid-19, with the Centers for Disease Control concluding Tuesday that in-person learning is not causing significant outbreaks—but the agency warned indoor athletics may derail efforts for safe in-person schooling.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



The CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7004e3.htm?s_cid=mm7004e3_w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evaluated&nbsp;</a>17 schools in rural Wisconsin from August and November, and found only seven students (3.7%)—no staff—contracted the virus from school.



Those schools were able to limit Covid-19 by wearing masks, separating students into groups of 11-20, social distancing and having established quarantine measures when a student did become infected, the study says.



Another study released by the CDC Tuesday found that an indoor wrestling tournament in Florida caused 30% of attendees to become infected, leading the researchers to&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2775875" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">note&nbsp;</a>that indoor athletics lacking proper social distancing and other safety measures “could jeopardize” school Covid-19 safety precautions.&nbsp;



Several recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6950e3.htm?s_cid=mm6950e3_w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">studies</a>, both in the U.S. and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/children-and-school-settings-covid-19-transmission" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">abroad</a>, have reached similar conclusions, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2021/01/06/peds.2020-048090.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study&nbsp;</a>in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics finding in-school transmission was “extremely limited” during the first nine weeks of in-person instruction in North Carolina.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



&nbsp;“As many schools have reopened for in-person instruction in some parts of the US as well as internationally, school-related cases of COVID-19 have been reported, but there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission,” the CDC researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2775875" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote&nbsp;</a>in the Journal of the American Medical Association.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



The school reopening debate has gripped districts across the country for the entirety of the pandemic. For the fall 2020 term, 24% of school public districts were fully online, while 51% were using a hybrid model and 17% were fully open for in-person instruction,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mchdata.com/covid19/schoolclosings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according&nbsp;</a>to data firm MCH. Though large school districts and local officials, recognizing the harms of distance learning on students, are starting to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/school-districts-reopening-coronavirus/2020/10/19/3791c952-0ffb-11eb-8074-0e943a91bf08_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">push&nbsp;</a>for full in-person instruction, they are at times at odds with teachers unions, who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/nyregion/montclair-schools-covid.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">argue&nbsp;</a>that districts aren’t taking strong enough measures to protect teachers.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h4>



There was a large outbreak linked to school reopenings in Israel last spring. But the CDC researchers say the outbreak was tied to crowded classrooms, exemption from face mask use and “continuous air conditioning that recycled interior air in closed rooms during a heat wave.”



By Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff

Empty classroom at a school in central Naples. After the

Covid-19 Doesn’t Spread In Schools With Safety Precautions, CDC Reports—But Sports Are A Different Story

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, announced Tuesday morning in an Instagram post that the first Bezos Academy — a free preschool for children coming from low-income families — will launch in October in a town to the south of Seattle.



“This classroom is just the beginning,” Bezos wrote, captioning a photo of a classroom bookshelf, lined with titles such as Pita &amp; Ralph’s Rotten Day and My Papi Has A Motorcycle. “The @bezosacademy opens its doors on Oct. 19th. This one in Des Moines, WA, is the first of many free preschools that we’ll be opening for underserved children.”



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The preschool will have a year-round curriculum, five days a week, for children 3-5 years old. According to the Bezos Day One website, the team selected to put the preschool in Des Moines, a town to the south of Seattle based on income levels, rates of participation in free and reduced-cost meal programs, gaps in access to license childcare providers, and buy-in from local businesses who will support the growth of the preschool. It will continue to use this kind of data set for choosing locations to other schools.



Bezos first announced his intention to build a network of preschools in November 2018, when he launched the $2 billion Bezos Day One Fund. The fund has two priorities: giving to nonprofits that are helping homeless families, and building a network of preschools. Since its launch, the fund has given around $100 million a year to a variety of homeless-focused nonprofits, the Amazon founder has remained relatively quiet about the schools initiative, until today.



The schools will be inspired by Montessori, a method of education where curriculums are more hands-on, collaborative, and change based on the individual student’s own interests. Bezos attended a Montessori school when he was 2 years old in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “You know, intuitively, I think it was probably a very formative experience for me to be able to go to those classes, in that environment, and be so stimulated at an early age,” Bezos told Montessori Life magazine in a 2000 interview. “I don’t actually know what the scientific research shows, but intuitively I have to imagine that it’s good for little kids.” In the same interview, Bezos recalled “tracing out letters on sandpaper” and “painting on a big easel.”



The network of preschools will operate under the parent nonprofit organization, also called Bezos Academy. The group is in the process of hiring for a position that will assess the success or failures of the preschool program.



By Angel Au-Yeung, Forbes Staff

Jeff Bezos’s India Visit Marked By Probe and Protests

Jeff Bezos Announces The First Bezos Academy, A Free Preschool For Students From Low-Income Families

Why the foundations of education systems in Africa need to be more inclusive so that no one is left behind.



Covid-19 has confronted us with the greatest education emergency of our lifetime. It interrupted the education of over 90% of the world’s students, exacerbating already existing inequalities and magnifying the global learning crisis. The ripple effects of this pandemic on people’s lives will be felt for years, potentially generations, if more is not done to make sure that exclusion is minimized, and the most vulnerable protected.



Before this pandemic hit, the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report, All Means All, for which I am a youth advisor, shows that half of the world’s out-of-school children were in sub-Saharan Africa, totalling 97 million children and youth and growing. Without improvement, more than one in 10 adults in the region will not have completed primary school by 2050. Against this backdrop, I also learned that 40% of countries in the region have not supported disadvantaged learners during school shut-downs due to Covid-19.



The 2014-15 Ebola virus epidemic was all too recent to have been erased from planners’ memories. Yet the challenge was too large for any education system to respond effectively. This reeks of potential devastation for some of the most marginalized.



Battling back from this will require getting our priorities right. This isn’t just about the complex decisions to be made about continuing school closures, or re-opening, or finding new hybrid measures, it is also about deciding what emphasis to give to what types of learning.



We have to hope that countries will come up for air from this education emergency with a more inclusive outlook. If we are now fighting to open school doors again, why should that fight extend only to some and not all? Multiple groups still find their education opportunities are determined by their background, identity and ability. In Uganda, for example, less than half of eligible children in refugee-hosting districts have access to pre-school. In Tanzania, only half of children with albinism complete primary school. Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania still enforce a total ban on pregnant girls and young mothers in public schools. Four countries (South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Somalia) do not specify a minimum age for marriage. And so the list goes on.



The foundations of education systems in the regions need to be made more inclusive for starters. Despite commitments to achieving inclusive education by 2030, only 2% of countries in sub-Saharan Africa have an education law inclusive of all learners, no matter their background, identity or ability.



But attention needs to be paid to the mechanisms within education systems as well. One survey found that fewer than one in 10 primary school teachers in 10 Francophone countries in our region had any training in inclusive education. Now faced with distance learning and the digital divide, such training is even more important than ever.



Inclusive education requires providing adapted infrastructure and materials and making sure that every child feels welcome in school. In many countries, however, including Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, most primary schools lack separate toilets for girls. This has a huge impact on whether of girls who have begun menstruating want to attend school or not. It is of vital importance in our region, where many students are over-age.



Clearly, finding success in the face of these challenges is not something any country can do alone. Covid-19 will increase costs, not just because of health bills, but also because of teachers’ salaries, technology, and infrastructure implications if social distancing has to be maintained. Both the length of school closures but also GDP scenarios will determine recovery. The GEM Report recently calculated that Covid-19 risks setting aid to education back by six years due to recession.&nbsp;



But, in every crisis, there’s opportunity. And the opportunity we have is to meet the challenge head-on. Business as usual is not enough. We must improve education offerings in the face of uncertainly and prepare this new generation to face and conquer the next crisis that will appear around the corner. We owe it to them. I, for one, will be working with fellow youth activists to make sure this point is heard.



– By Vivian Onano, youth advisor to the Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO

Two beautiful African children sitting in Classroom in Bamako, Mali

The Opportunities Young Leaders Are Seeing In Education

Katlego Thwane has had to dip into his own savings, with the Covid-19 crisis, to fund his noble cause, teaching the underprivileged in a South African township.



He is in his twenties, yet turning around the destiny of underprivileged young people around him.



Katlego Thwane, a 28-year-old born and bred in South Africa’s lively township of Soweto, is an educator and founder of the Atlegang Bana Foundation here that caters to primary school learners who struggle to keep up at school and need additional help.



“Our foundation also provides for needy learners from underprivileged backgrounds. One of my biggest campaigns at the foundation every year is to give confidence and motivation to learners for the year ahead,” says Thwane.



He has bagged numerous awards and accolades for his work, as a 2017 Young Community Shaper, 2018 Lead SA hero and featuring on live television show Big Up on SABC Mzansi in 2018.



Growing up, he was a “naughty boy”, as he describes himself, but says many are now astonished at the serious, ambitious young man he has become.



“Teaching has always been a passion of mine. I love seeing change, transformation and grooming leaders, and value their education while being innovative in taking&nbsp;our country forward.”



Thwane has recently established a clothing brand, BANA, under the Atlegang Bana Foundation. He is also currently handing out food parcels to the needy in his community, in partnership with Hollywoodbets.



“The virus has affected us immensely with many parents losing their jobs or taking salary cuts, we are not receiving the financial support as before. This has led to me [dipping] into my own personal pocket and [using it] to buy tutors data for teaching virtually,” says Thwane.



Most schools continue operating online because learners haven’t as yet returned to school, however, this has come with its share of setbacks.



Makosha Masedi, a parent of a Grade 4 learner, says her challenges come with network issues and understanding the tasks given to the child.



“Some of the programs that the work is loaded on to is not friendly for all devices, so submitting and retrieving becomes a problem, as also understanding some of the work,” rues Masedi.



But Thwane powers on, hoping for a better tomorrow, for himself and his country.

Katlego Thwane

All For Grooming Future Leaders

Elizabeth Elango Bintliff, the CEO of Junior Achievement Africa, on why quality education should be available and accessible at scale and what needs to change to fill the gaps in teaching.



JA Africa’s mission is bridging the gap between classroom education and the world of work for young Africans, reaching 250,000 students in 15 countries in Africa each year. It’s CEO, Elizabeth Elango Bintliff, tells us more about building the workforce of the future:



You’ve been working in the youth empowerment sector for a long time. What do you see as the challenges?



I think three things are critical for young Africans to be empowered: education, experience and exposure. Access to the internet is ‘solving’ for exposure, though to a limited extent. But we need to solve for experience and education. Of the three, education is key and education tends to be the domain of the government. Elite private schools are great, but often cost-prohibitive for the average student. We need to make quality education available and accessible at scale.



Conversely, what are the opportunities?



The digital and online space are great opportunities for Africa. We are seeing this now in the time of Covid-19 more than ever. Yes, access to computers is a challenge, but even more challenging is access to data. There is no shortage of online resources that teach entrepreneurial mindsets to young people. I think what governments need to be working towards, more than even buying and putting computers in schools, is making offline access to these resources possible. If we make them affordable to access, the private sector would be more inclined to solve the hardware needs.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;Classrooms are still configured for desks to face the teacher who is the sole holder of knowledge, whereas the world of work operates on round tables and collaborative thinking. Small changes like that matter.&#8221;</blockquote>



How do we give young people in Africa greater access to these opportunities?



We need to overhaul the way we are teaching. We need not only change how teachers are trained but what they are teaching students. In many countries, the curricula are antiquated. But the approach to teaching is even more so. Rote learning; providing information to children to memorize and regurgitate is still the dominant approach. It gives students little space to think for themselves. Classrooms are still configured for desks to face the teacher who is the sole holder of knowledge, whereas the world of work operates on round tables and collaborative thinking. Small changes like that matter.



What is the role of government and the private sector?



The role of government is central to success in changing education. Government has the ability to make change happen at scale. But African governments have to make these changes not just at policy level but also in implementation. We know that governments don’t have the resources to do so, but at least they can coordinate the efforts of the private sector. The private sector is going to have the greatest need for skilled labor, and there is increasing willingness to make these investments in education, but the effort is fragmented. It needs coordination.



Who are the other stakeholders and what can they contribute?



Non-profit organizations like ours are working hard to fill the gaps in education. But those gaps are big and growing and the scale is limited. NGOs can develop and test hypotheses about doing things in new ways. But governments have to adopt and scale them. JA Africa is currently undertaking a continent-wide youth employability survey, along with global consultancy firm Oliver Wyman, based out of Johannesburg. The findings of that survey will be invaluable to the private sector and policy-makers.



In education, parents are often the most critical stakeholders. Parents have to embrace new pedagogies, even if they are unfamiliar to them. Parents fear entrepreneurship because it is uncertain. But nothing is certain. Large multinational companies are laying off their staff because of Covid-19. So young entrepreneurs [should be equipped to] be better off in times of uncertainty. Africa becoming the largest workforce in the world is a huge opportunity if young Africans are skilled enough to take advantage of it.

E Bintliff

How Teaching Must Change To Prepare Youth In The Covid-19 Era

“Wealth, if you use it, comes to an end; learning, if you use it, increases.” Swahili Proverb



An enduring lesson learnt throughout our 175-year existence is that, while things rapidly change around us, the things that truly matter don’t! The desire to keep learning and growing is one such thing that remains a driving force behind everything we do at Old Mutual. Education is central to this.



Responding to the Challenges



Aligned to both Sustainable Development Goal’s 4 (Quality Education) and 17 (Partnerships) as well as our Responsible Business philosophy, we’re working to share, connect, learn and grow together with the communities we serve through Education.



We believe in the power of Education to solve key social issues such as poverty, inequality and unemployment. By continuing to invest in Education today, we know that we can build a more prosperous future for the generations of tomorrow.



Old Mutual has partnered with authorities, experts, and practitioners in the field on a number of ongoing initiatives including: &nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Dynamic and interactive Financial Education and Inclusion programmes that have reached millions across the African continent. Utilising an array of channels and leveraging off technology, the programmes impart valuable and often life changing principles that empower customers and communities to build and sustain their lifetime financial goals.</li><li>Investing in Schools, Teachers and Leadership to drive immediate and long-term impact in the Education sector. Old Mutual’ s Education Flagship Project – a longer-term programme with a seven-year investment cycle – is in place to connect the dots between learners, teachers and school leadership through innovative training that has paid off in improved results in affiliated schools.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Skills Development interventions such as Bursaries, Internships, Learnerships and Graduate Development programmes that seek to create sustainable job opportunities and placements for learners.</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/175-Digital-Classroom-Advertorial-image-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-45337" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/175-Digital-Classroom-Advertorial-image-1.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/175-Digital-Classroom-Advertorial-image-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/175-Digital-Classroom-Advertorial-image-1-600x338.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/175-Digital-Classroom-Advertorial-image-1-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Introducing Africa’s Biggest Digital Classroom to Bring It All Together!



In perhaps our most ambitious move yet, Old Mutual has committed to building Africa’s Biggest Digital classroom so that we can extend the Education-based work already being done across the Group to so many more.



This Digital Classroom is being designed to respond to the challenges of widespread education exclusion, low Financial Literacy rates on the continent, vastly uneven teacher-to-learner ratios, as well as accessibility to physical and financial resources that continue to hamper the success of the delivery of Education on the continent today, and into the future.&nbsp;



Enabling Learning Through Digital Engagement



But why a digital classroom?



Our aim as a business, is to be able to effectively respond to an increasingly connected Africa with user-friendly, value-adding solutions and experiences that bring as many people along on this educational journey as possible. Designed with a generation of digital first, tech-savvy users in mind, but mindful of the wealth of knowledge coming through from past generations, Africa’s Biggest Digital Classroom will enhance the capabilities of past and present, to shape a brighter future for all well into the future.



While we’re investing in digital capabilities to enhance education across the continent, we know that the future of Africa is still its people! And Africa’s Biggest Digital Classroom has people at its core. We believe that in creating opportunities for people to share and connect using digital technologies, we can contribute to greater inclusivity and a more prosperous continent for all.



How You Can Participate



Work is already underway to establish Africa’s Biggest Digital Classroom. We will be creating opportunities for our employees, customers, teachers, learners and many other stakeholders to add their voices to the design process. You can follow our progress and add your voice to the conversation on social media using #175Africa



We look forward to working with you to bring Africa’s Biggest Digital Classroom online!



Content provided by Old Mutual

175 Digital Classroom Advertorial image 2 with 175 years logo

Building Africa’s Biggest Digital Classroom

Most edtech startups are idealistic outfits with little revenue and low valuations, but Rachel Romer Carlson’s Guild Education is worth $1 billion and is on track to book $100 million in sales. Her secret? Connecting workers who have tuition benefits to colleges that will gladly pay to meet them.



It’s 9AM two days before Thanksgiving in Arkansas, and Walmart executives are dragging their suitcases around a windowless office building in search of a large conference room. They settle on an interior lunchroom with dull gray carpet, claiming one side of a long table in the corner and gesturing for their guests to sit opposite them. Ellie Bertani, Walmart’s director of workforce strategy, says she’s struggling to find qualified people to staff the company’s expanding network of 5,000 pharmacies and 3,400 vision centers. Her fellow Walmart execs are silent, but Rachel Romer Carlson, 31, cofounder and CEO of Guild Education, sees her opening. Without hesitation she says her team can work with Walmart and find a solution fast. “You guys and us,” she says, “let’s do it!”



Carlson flew to Bentonville from Guild’s Denver headquarters the day before. Dressed in a sensible navy blazer and black slacks, she hasn’t bothered with makeup. Since 7:30 that morning she’s been huddling with teams of Walmart brass, going over options to train workers for those new jobs. They range from a one-year pharmacy technician certificate program offered by a for-profit online outfit called Penn Foster to an online bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration at nonprofit Southern New Hampshire University.



Carlson’s groundbreaking idea when she launched Guild four years ago: help companies offer education benefits that employees will actually use. Many big employers will pay for their workers to go to school (it’s a tax break), but hardly any workers take advantage of the opportunity. Applying and signing up for courses can be cumbersome, and in most instances employees have to front the tuition and wait to be reimbursed. Meanwhile, many colleges are desperate for students because they have small—or nonexistent—endowments and are financially dependent on tuition. Many nonselective online programs spend more than $3,000 to attract each new student. Carlson charges schools a finder’s fee (she won’t say how much) for the students she delivers from her corporate partners.



So far Guild has signed up more than 20 companies, including Disney and Taco Bell. Guild gets paid only if students complete their coursework, so a full 150 of the company’s 415 staffers serve as coaches who help employees apply to degree programs and plan how to balance their studies with work and family. When a company like Walmart requests a customized training course, Guild solicits proposals from as many as 100 education providers (nearly all of them online) and recommends the programs it deems best. It also negotiates tuition discounts and facilitates direct payments between employers and schools, a big plus for workers who would otherwise have to wait months to be reimbursed.



Carlson, an alumna of the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 list and a judge on the 2020 list, says she has already channeled $100 million in tuition benefits to workers. She expects 2019 revenue to top $50 million, and Guild investor Byron Deeter of Bessemer Venture Partners predicts 2020 revenue of more than $100 million. In mid-November Carlson closed her fifth round of financing, led by General Catalyst, bringing her total money raised to $228 million at a $1 billion valuation. In the sleepy, well-intentioned world of edtech, Guild is one of only a few startups whose values have soared, says Daniel Pianko, a New York-based edtech investor with no stake in the company. “I can see a path for Guild to be a $100 billion company,” says Paul Freedman, CEO of San Francisco venture firm Entangled Group, who has known Carlson since she was in business school and was one of Guild’s earliest investors.



When asked to detail Guild’s inner workings, like its strategy for soliciting custom courses, Carlson eschews specifics and delivers what sounds like a political stump speech: “The economy’s moving so fast,” she says. “We can’t let higher education dictate the skills and competencies that we need five to ten years from now.”



&nbsp;There’s a reason she talks this way. Her grandfather Roy Romer was a three-term (1987–1999) Democratic governor of Colorado before spending six years as superintendent of Los Angeles’ public schools. Carlson started riding along on his campaign bus when she was 6 years old; occasionally she would even speak at his rallies. When her father, Chris Romer, a former Colorado state senator, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Denver in 2011, she served as his finance director. (“The loss was devastating,” she says.)



Along with politics, the Romers were committed to increasing access to education, especially for working adults. Roy Romer helped start Salt Lake City-based Western Governors University, a pioneer in online adult education. In the wake of Chris Romer’s mayoral bid, in 2011, he cofounded American Honors, a for profit company that offered honors courses at community colleges (the company struggled, and the brand is now owned by Wellspring International, a student recruitment firm).



After graduating from Stanford undergrad and working briefly in the Obama White House, Carlson launched her first venture, Student Blueprint, while getting her M.B.A. (also at Stanford) in 2014. Student Blueprint sought to use technology to match community college students with jobs. It was a noble idea, but she decided to finish school and sold the software she had developed to Paul Freedman’s Entangled Group in 2014 for a negligible sum. In 2015, after she wrapped up her M.B.A., she pitched the idea for Guild to one of her professors, Michael Dearing, and to seed investor Aileen Lee, of Cowboy Ventures, raising $2 million.



After relocating to her home turf in Denver, she landed her first major corporate partner the summer of 2016 when she sent a LinkedIn message to a Chipotle benefits manager that played up the fast-food chain’s “strong Denver roots and social mission.” With help from Guild, Chipotle’s $12-an-hour burrito rollers are now pursuing bachelor’s degrees from Bellevue University in Nebraska or taking computer security courses at Wilmington University in Delaware. In October 2019, Carlson persuaded Chipotle to lift its cap on tuition benefits above the $5,250 the IRS allows companies to write off.



Guild’s biggest competitor is a division of Watertown, Massachusetts-based publicly traded daycare provider Bright Horizons, which has offered tuition benefit services since 2009. It works with 210 companies including Home Depot and Goldman Sachs. Under Bright Horizons’ system, the companies—not the colleges—pay. Much of the genius of Guild’s business model is that it correctly aligns incentives: The colleges are the most financially motivated party, so they foot the bill. Another competitor, Los Angeles-based In Stride, launched in 2019 with funding from Arizona State University, and like Bright Horizons it charges the corporations.



“I see our competition as the status quo,” Carlson says. “Classically, employers have offered tuition-reimbursement programs, but no one is using those programs.”



The nonprofit Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation has done five case studies showing returns on investment as high as 140% for companies that offer tuition reimbursement programs. “We saw powerful impacts on retention,” says Lumina’s strategy director, Haley Glover.



&nbsp;“Walmart and Amazon are in a death struggle,” proclaims Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School. “If a Walmart worker can say, ‘I got an education that allowed me to get promoted,’ they’re going to be someone who speaks generously about Walmart and they are more likely be a Walmart shopper.”



Like a good politician, Carlson is working to please everyone. “We found a win-win,” she says, “where we can help companies align their objectives with helping their employees achieve their goals.”



–&nbsp;Alexandra Wilson and Susan Adams

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Make The Colleges Pay: How This Entrepreneur Helps Companies Offer Education Benefits That Employees Will Actually Use

The&nbsp;<a href="http://s.mo.ibrahim.foundation/u/2018/10/28235917/2018-IIAG-Press-Release.pdf">Ibrahim Index of </a><a href="http://s.mo.ibrahim.foundation/u/2018/10/28235917/2018-IIAG-Press-Release.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="African (opens in a new tab)">African </a><a href="http://s.mo.ibrahim.foundation/u/2018/10/28235917/2018-IIAG-Press-Release.pdf">Governance</a>&nbsp;measures and monitors Africa’s governance performance. It produces an impartial picture of governance performance in every country on the continent. David E Kiwuwa, associate professor of international studies at the University of Nottingham, asked&nbsp;Mandipa Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean academic, researcher and 2017/18 Ibrahim Scholar to unpack some of the findings from the 2018 report.



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Where do you see progress in Africa in terms of good governance and leadership over the past decade?



The Index defines governance as the provision of the political, social and economic goods and services that every citizen has the right to expect from their government. Governments have a responsibility to deliver these services to their citizens.



The 2018 Index shows that countries that have done well in overall governance have also seen improvements in transparency and accountability. These improvements fall under the broad category of “safety and rule of law”. Here, the continent is in a better position than it was five years ago. For this trend to continue national security needs to be reinforced.



The health measure has improved in 47 countries over the past ten years. Countries like Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso have taken great strides. This is thanks to improvements in several areas like the provision of antiretroviral treatment, a drop in child mortality and better management of communicable diseases. Maternal mortality rates have also stabilised and immunisation has become more common.



In spite of this progress, Africans are not satisfied with their governments’ handling of basic health services.



Where is progress slowest?



Gender is one area of concern. The 2018 report notes that gender representation in leadership had the largest improvement over the last five years. However, the empowerment of women in general registered the biggest slowdown. Gender representation therefore, must not be conflated with gender empowerment.



The data also shows that policies and representation do not always translate into action. South Africa, for example, continues to face high rates of femicide and patriarchal ideals within its judicial structures. This is despite its liberal constitution.



While the country shows great improvements under “women’s political participation” and “representation of women in the judiciary” there is a decline in “women’s political empowerment”. Women are well represented in the country’s cabinet, for instance, but there’s been a marked deterioration in how empowered ordinary women feel to participate in politics.



Such disconnects are concerning.



However, countries like Rwanda must be commended for their deliberate inclusion of women in places of influence. Interventions like these are still too rare on the continent.



Also worrying is the lack of progress under “sustainable economic opportunity”, the worst performing measure. Almost half of the continent’s citizens (43.2%) live in a country that’s seen a decline of sustainable economic opportunities in the last 10 years.



Why have African governments struggled to translate economic growth into improved sustainable economic opportunities for their citizens?



Trends indicate that transparency and accountability are vital for sustainable economic opportunity in the long term. Greater accountability and transparency is needed on national expenditure, for example. Protectionist systems that allow for the abuse of power and inhibit the levelling out of socio-economic disparities must be exposed. Only then can these systems be reformed to open up more opportunities for all.



Increasing access to sustainable economic opportunities improves human development. This in turn allows for innovation in health, technology and other spaces that increase the overall functionality of good governance.



What role can education play in improving governance?



The gaps in African governance are twofold: socio-economic inclusion and education. It is important to focus on both areas to bring about overall improvement. Although improvements have been recorded in the sub-category of “participation” in the last 10 years, student and youth resistance movements belie the progress.



The rise of populist movements coupled with the lack of voter registration within the youth dividend must not be misconstrued as political apathy.



In South Africa for example – where the 2018 index was launched – there is a critical skills gap that has not been adequately addressed. The quality of education in South Africa is worrying.



Also in South Africa, as well as the rest of the continent, youth enrolment in schools is improving. But “education quality”, “satisfaction with education provision”, and “alignment of education with market needs” are persistent causes for concern.



Education has a great bearing on sustainable economic opportunities because skilled workers feed the market. Africa is currently experiencing a skills gap deficit. With 27 countries registering deteriorating education scores in the last five years there is a further decline to already fragile sustainable economic opportunities. &#8211; The Conversation



 -David E Kiwuwa: Associate Professor of International Studies, University of Nottingham



-The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not reflect the opinions or views of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.



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SAFRICA-EDUCATION-REFUGEE-MIGRANTS-CONFLICTS-DEMOGRAPHICS

Education Quality and the Youth Skills Gap Are Marring Progress in Africa

Naledi-403

The Future In Her Hands

From the deserts of Rajasthan to the dunes of Dubai and the corporate dens of Africa, Rakesh Wahi has weathered the vagaries of life and business. When only 23, while serving in the Indian Armed Forces, he was electrofied and almost died. That early experience taught him to chase his dreams – and fulfil them, no matter what.
Wahi, founder of the Johannesburg-based ABN Group, including CNBC Africa and FORBES AFRICA, has been a leader in media, IT, telecoms and education. Also based in Dubai as Chairman of CMA Investment Holdings, prior to moving there, Wahi had served in the Indian army for about nine years, and for distinguished services to the country in peacetime, was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India in 1985.
Wahi has built companies in over 22 countries, employing a little over a 1,000 people. “Extremely passionate about education”, it is his vision to set up educational centers of excellence across Africa. His first university was launched in Ghana in 2013. He is also the co-founder of Murdoch University Dubai.
Here, Wahi talks about education, innovation, and his debut book, Be A Lion, which will be unveiled at the finale of the 2016 CNBC Africa All Africa Business Leaders Awards in Johannesburg on November 11.
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<h4>What is Be A Lion about?</h4>
It’s about people and the impact they have had on me. I think this entire journey I have made is about how people have influenced me. First, on your way up, it’s your parents who are your greatest influencers as that’s where you get your identity from; and then, over a period of your lifetime, it’s the people who come into your life and make an impact, some positively, some otherwise. And that is the greatest experience you can talk about.
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<h4>You own multiple businesses; what new innovative industries are you possibly looking at?</h4>
When it comes to innovation, the key is to focus on how the world is changing and how things are going to impact our existing businesses. You have to constantly think about how your consumers are reacting to your products and services, and constantly change and that’s what innovation is about; it’s about reaching your customers in a more efficient manner.
With regard to the education sector, it’s changing rapidly. The way children consume education is very different from our time. The traditional classroom environment is changing.
Now, is learning going to be classroom-based? Are holograms going to be the future of education? Can you superimpose a teacher sitting in New York into classrooms in core campuses across the world, and have concurrent teaching?  A lot is changing.
Online is a very important aspect of where education is going, but I don’t believe that is the answer to it; I think the hybrid kind of education is what is eventually going to come around. Face-time with teachers is critical, the social engagement with peers is critical, so therefore a lot of things are going to remain constant with education, and the rest of it will evolve in terms of where technology and innovation can be used to make it more efficient.
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<h4>What are your continuing goals for education in Africa?</h4>
We are setting up centers of excellence. In West Africa, with Lancaster University, we are going to be setting up an engineering college with strong laboratory-based learning. In East Africa, our focus is energy and a vast part of it will require simulators and modern training equipment, and we will be partnering with industry to make sure we get the best of breed. We will roll out energy programs in the rest of Africa, and encourage students from across Africa, Asia and emerging markets to come to Rwanda for instance, where we are partnering with the University of Aberdeen for our energy programs.
In southern Africa, we are looking to partner with one of the Scottish universities to set up a center of excellence for health sciences, including medical and nursing colleges.
We don’t want to bring in technology from the yesteryears just because it is cheaper, or because we think Africa is still an emerging market, we want to actually leapfrog and bring in the latest technical innovations into these centers.
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<h4>CNBC Africa turns 10 next year; what are the innovations in the media business?</h4>
The entire way in which people are going to view television is changing, so are distribution channels. What remains consistent is there will always be demand for high-quality content. Our focus on creating quality content, which stays with the values of CNBC globally, is going to be one of our core competencies, but how you distribute it is going to actually evolve in the next 10 to 15 years, particularly in Africa.
The viewing habits of consumers are changing, they are no longer watching channels; they are watching programs, and able to customize their own grids. What is relevant is you will be able to watch what you want, at the time you want, in a scheduled manner.
On the one side, we have to make sure we create best and compelling content; on the other side, we partner with distribution platforms able to cater to the needs of the consumers at an affordable price.
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<h4>How welcoming is the African economy today of innovation?</h4>
At conferences and workshops, people talk about innovation, but I am not very sure they are actually geared up for it. The practical elements of bringing innovation into your workplace, whether in government or large corporates, is about a change in mindset, when you have to change processes and the way you look at things. It’s about driving change, and also, the commitment of leadership.
You do find there are some leaders in Africa bringing about that change, and the one that I would single out is President Paul Kagame, which is why Rwanda is making strides the way they are. He has the ability to visualize the future. They also have restrictions in terms of the size of the economy, but when you are hungry, you are able to adapt faster.
Kagame has brought a culture of change in his country, and it is very visible in the way you do business in Rwanda. You can set up a company in six to 24 hours if you have your documents in order. Rwanda gives you the opportunity to adapt quickly.
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<h4>How do you balance profit and philanthropy?</h4>
I think these are closely related. There have been great leaders like Mother Teresa who have devoted their time towards a cause. And she has touched the lives of our family too – she was very close to my mother, and has been to our home. But eventually, even to enable what she was doing, required money.
Over time, our own CSR and philanthropy as a family has changed. When Saloni [Wahi’s wife] and I were starting out in our life, even when we didn’t have much, we were always engaged in making a contribution towards causes.
Over the years, we found we needed to have a cause of our own, and after we set up the ABN Education Trust, we rationalized what made sense to us as a family. We focused on financial journalism, and also, on helping destitute women and the girl child, a cause Saloni is very passionate about.
Money is an important contribution but you also need to make time. Saloni and I work as a team. The heart sits with her, while I become the machinery for generating the income.
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<h4>Your most prized possession is…?</h4>
Family. I am not a material person. If I were to pack my life, I could pack it all into one suitcase.
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– Interviewed by Methil Renuka; for the full text of this interview, visit www.cnbcafrica.com; All net proceeds from the sales of Be A Lion, published by Penguin Random House, will go to charity and  the ABN Education Trust.

Tag: Education

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA