Education
Africa’s $50bn Private Higher Education Sector Set for Accelerated Growth
By Dorian Maillard
The world is hurtling headlong into a digital future, and one crucial resource is in short supply: tech talent. Projections paint a stark picture. By 2030, the global tech talent shortage could soar to 85 million, translating to $8.5 trillion in potential lost annual revenue, and there’s no viable solution at scale to fill this looming deficit.
Yet, amidst this intensifying scramble for tech talent, a paradox unfolds. Africa, a continent brimming with potential, stands as a vast, untapped, and overlooked goldmine of tech talent that will be home to over 200 million digital natives by 2030. While the reasons for Africa’s underrepresentation in global tech are complex and multifaceted, innovative solutions are emerging, countless initiatives are underway, and the potential for further progress is enormous.
Navigating critical challenges in Africa’s higher education
Quality of education
African universities face challenges in delivering high-quality education, impeding the development of tech talent. Outdated curricula often fall short of meeting the dynamic demands of the tech industry, leaving graduates with skills misaligned with practical job requirements and the latest technologies. In addition, inadequate infrastructure and resources hinder hands-on training, limiting students’ ability to acquire necessary expertise.
Access to education
Ensuring broader access to higher education is imperative. Doing so involves tackling challenges related to affordability, enhancing infrastructure, and facilitating access to online education, which has gained heightened significance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite notable strides in extending education across all age groups and internet access and smartphone penetration exceeding 80% in most developed African countries, many individuals struggle to access education. Over 20% of primary-age children and nearly 60% of youth aged 15 to 17 remain excluded from education, whether in the digital realm or the physical world.
Affordability is a primary barrier. Soaring tuition costs, coupled with constrained financial resources, often prevent talented individuals from pursuing advanced studies. This burden disproportionately affects students from low-income households, who struggle to afford basic tuition fees, let alone additional expenses like accommodation, textbooks, and transportation. The scarcity of financial aid and scholarships exacerbates the problem, leaving many deserving individuals without the means to pursue their educational goals.
Inadequate infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, poses another significant obstacle to educational access. Shortages of classrooms and libraries hinder the learning process, limiting opportunities for higher education. Furthermore, insufficient technology resources, such as computers, internet connectivity, and educational software, contribute to a widening digital divide that intensifies educational disparities and prevents individuals from meeting the demands of the 21st-century tech workforce.
Economic, political stability, and industry engagement
A robust and stable economic and political environment is the cornerstone for fostering a thriving tech talent ecosystem. It provides a fertile ground for businesses to invest in R&D, creating opportunities for tech professionals to learn, innovate, and refine their skills. This fuels technological advancements, propelling the sector forward and attracting further investment.
Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) like the World Bank, IFC, BII, Unicaf, DEG, SwedFund, Norfund, IDC, and OPIC, in collaboration with governments, universities, and businesses, have a vital role to play in fostering a more prosperous business environment, which directly and indirectly benefits the education sector. These organisations can identify skills gaps, develop training programs, and catalyse new partnerships to generate employment opportunities for graduates.
Governments and DFIs have already made notable achievements by implementing sound policies. Seychelles now ranks among the top 50 education systems globally, surpassing countries like Ukraine, Hungary, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. The country has achieved an impressive 99% literacy rate among its 15-24-year-old population by implementing free, mandatory education and partnering with DFIs to help fund infrastructure expansions, enhance teacher training, and develop innovative programs.
Tunisia is another success story. Despite grappling with political and economic instability, the country has positioned itself as an educational leader in Africa, boasting the second-best education system on the continent. This achievement can be attributed to the Tunisian government’s allocation of 12-20% of GDP to education.
These examples, drawn from two small countries with a combined population exceeding 12 million, provide compelling evidence of the transformative potential inherent in effective policymaking and collaboration. Implementing similar policies in larger countries like Nigeria, Egypt, or South Africa would amplify the impact, potentially addressing a significant portion of the global shortage of skilled tech workers.
The time to make a strategic bet on African edtech
Africa is home to the world’s largest untapped pool of potential talents capable of addressing the growing global shortage of tech workers. Given the rapidly evolving nature of technology and the continent’s complex operating landscape, realising this potential will require a concerted effort from governments, DFIs, and the private sector.
Despite its considerable size, the market for specialised tech higher education is primarily controlled by entities in developed countries, creating an artificial barrier for tech talent in developing nations. However, forward-thinking companies are beginning to break through these barriers, garnering support from reputable private equity investors.
As global markets rebound, we expect Africa’s $50bn private higher education sector to accelerate. Industry leaders are poised to emerge, capitalising on the continent’s affordable supply of teachers and real estate and advancing AI-driven tools to speed up content generation and performance assessments. These factors will create a virtuous cycle of growth whereby lower costs fuel innovation, which attracts more students and investors, leading to further expansion and cost reduction. This will give rise to “high-risk, high-reward” opportunities that offer above-market returns in an environment constrained by demographic challenges in developed countries.
Dorian Maillard is the Vice President of DAI Magister
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An organisation known as Jesin Games on Monday, April 7, 2025, launched a new educational game, AfriTrivia, in Lagos.
The trivial game was designed to promote facts about the African continent, improve awareness about Africa, even among Africans themselves, and to better connect the African Diaspora from all over the world to their continent of origin, according to the chairman advisory board of Jesin Games, Professor Soji Adelaja.
It was stated that AfriTrivia would amuse and challenge everyone with a host of intriguing questions for beginners and experts.
The game will also be launched in Marrakech at the African Heritage Concert and Award Ceremony this weekend, while that of United States launch will come up in few weeks to come.
“Many Africans know little or nothing about the rest of their continent, and many people in the diaspora have little opportunity to learn what they lack about their continent because they are left relying on books written by historians or other means of learning not presented by Africans,” Mr Adelaja stated.
He described AfriTrivia as more than just a trivia game but an educational tool that can be used to “discover all the cultural and historical diversity in Africa through different topics.”
The chief executive of Jesin Games, Mr John Esin, on his part, said, “AfriTrivia is a game that challenges you to test your knowledge on some of the most interesting categories like Quotations, History, Sports and Entertainment, Arts and Culture, Government and Politics, and People and Places about some of the historical sites such as the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela, to The Great Pyramids of Giza.
“It is meant for families to play together, friends to play with each other, and classrooms to become “creative centres of learning about our world.”
A former Governor of Cross Rivers State, Mr Donald Duke, while speaking at the unveiling of the product, praised the organisation for the initiative.
“AfriTrivia Jesin Games will fill the void of lack of knowledge about the African continent,” the former presidential candidate remarked, urging the developer to make it available for schools in Nigeria so that they can know more about Africa.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Nigerian students interested in getting funds for their tertiary education can now apply for the scholarship programme of MTN Foundation.
In the past 15 years, MTN Foundation has awarded 14,728 scholarships worth over N3 billion to students as part of its ongoing investment in education.
The scholars have been given platforms to acquire relevant skills and practical knowledge to thrive in today’s evolving job market.
This gesture has been done by the organisation to encourage excellence in academic pursuit, deepen diversity and inclusion by empowering blind students in Nigeria.
The main objective is to strengthen the development of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the country.
The scholarship is in three categories, the Science and Technology Scholarship (MTN STS), which is for all 300-level Science and Technology students with a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.5 (Second Class Upper or its equivalent); the MTN Scholarship for Blind Students (MTN SBS), which caters to the educational needs of blind students in 200-level with a minimum CGPA of 2.5 or its equivalent; and the Top 10 UTME scholarship for top 10 scoring candidates of the UTME, as announced by JAMB.
The application process is straightforward and conducted online, making it accessible for students nationwide. Eligible candidates are encouraged to visit mtn.ng/scholarships/ and apply before the application deadline on April 25, 2025.
Awardees are given N300,000 annually for three years until graduation, provided they maintain the minimum grade point requirement.
“Education is the backbone of national development, and at MTN Foundation, we are committed to ensuring that no bright mind is left behind due to financial constraints.
“This scholarship is not just about funding education; it is about investing in Nigeria’s future leaders, innovators, and problem-solvers,” an Executive Director of the MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Berkeley-based startup, SigIQ.ai, has emerged from 18 months of stealth with $9.5 million in funding to transform education through personalized AI tutoring that delivers elite-level instruction at affordable cost.
SigIQ.ai’s AI tutor came into consciousness when it took India’s UPSC civil service exam last June and achieved the highest score in the exam’s history, beating 1.3 million human candidates in under 7 minutes.
The seed round was co-led by House Fund and GSV Ventures, with participation from Duolingo, General Catalyst India (Venture Highway), Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), Calibrate Ventures and angel investors, such as Mr Andy Konwinski (Co-founder, Perplexity), Mr Christian Storm (Co-founder & CTO, Turnitin), Prof. Trevor Darrell (Berkeley AI Research, UC Berkeley), Prof. Jitendra Malik (Berkeley AI Research, UC Berkeley), Prof. Srini Devadas (MIT), Prof. Sharad Malik (Princeton) and others.
According to a statement shared with Business Post, the investment will accelerate hiring top talent, enhancing AI models, and scaling platforms to educational systems worldwide.
SigIQ.ai’s technology directly addresses “Bloom’s Two-Sigma Problem” – the research finding that students receiving one-on-one tutoring perform two standard deviations better than those in traditional classrooms.
According to the company, this educational disparity has persisted for decades, with personalized tutoring remaining a luxury reserved for the privileged few. The company’s revolutionary approach shifts the cost of personalization from human labor to AI computation, making world-class instruction accessible at unprecedented scale.
“We’re at a pivotal moment in education where modern GenAI can provide a personal 1:1 tutor to every student and reduce the cost of one-on-one learning from hundreds of dollars an hour to the cost of computation,” said Dr Karttikeya Mangalam, CEO and co-founder of SigIQ.ai noted.
“We’ve started by first creating a tutor that itself can ace the very exam students are preparing for. This is a necessary step to ensure accuracy and quality in teaching delivered. And will set a new benchmark in personalized education, making the highest-quality education accessible to everyone, regardless of geography or socioeconomic status, at a fraction of the traditional cost,” he added.
The company was founded in July 2023 by Dr Karttikeya Mangalam and Professor Kurt Keutzer, a distinguished Professor in the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab.
Growing up in Muzaffarpur, Bihar – a region where educational opportunities are limited – Dr Mangalam experienced firsthand the stark divide between small-town India and elite Western academic institutions. After completing his education at IIT Kanpur and then at UC Berkeley, he founded SigIQ.ai to democratize access to world-class education globally.
In just 18 months, SigIQ.ai has launched two products with remarkable traction. PadhAI, focused on UPSC exam preparation in India, has attracted over 200,000 learners in just six months. On June 16, 2024, moments after the actual 2-hour UPSC Prelims exam had finished, PadhAI’s AI tutor solved the entire paper in a live demonstration in under 7 minutes at The Leela in Delhi. It achieved a score of 175/200 – not just the highest score in 2024, but the highest score ever achieved in UPSC prelims history, far exceeding the typical qualifying score of 100/200. This historic achievement was covered by over 70 news outlets across India, including The Hindu and The Times of India.
The company’s newer offering, EverTutor.ai, designed for GRE preparation in the US market, has already gained more than 10,000 users since launching three months ago.
“SigIQ.ai isn’t just a regular EdTech startup — they’ve built an AI system that publicly demonstrated its ability to outperform both humans and leading commercial AI models on one of the world’s most challenging exams. This redefines what’s possible in personalized education,” said Mr Jeremy Fiance, Managing Director of The House Fund.
The company said SigIQ.ai is different from other educational AI tools in its approach to personalization. Unlike basic conversational AI that offers scripted or limited interactivity, SigIQ’s systems are highly interactive, responsive to follow-up questions, and capable of personalized instruction and feedback – not just chat.
Sharing some results, it said the technology replicates the behavior of a real tutor. Students using the platform report a 30-40 per cent increase in effective study hours while improving performance by 18 per cent in the first month, with over 75% feeling more confident tackling difficult topics within just three weeks.
Looking ahead, SigIQ.ai plans to expand its reach with EverTutor, supporting more GRE takers in the upcoming spring and fall and beyond standardized tests, SigIQ.ai envisions a future where their technology transforms education broadly, creating a new era where high-quality learning isn’t limited by geography, language, or economic status.
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