The @iBizAfrica incubator at Nairobi’s Strathmore University will on July 10-12 host a Startup Weekend event dedicated to finding solutions to challenges in the education sector.
Tickets for the event cost KES1,000 (US$10), with teams provided with meals and access to mentors and coaches. Winning teams will gain access to incubation at iBiz as well as other prizes.
Startup Weekend is a local grassroots movement of entrepreneurs learning the basics of founding and launching successful ventures. The education-focused event in Nairobi is aimed at producing new ventures with solutions that improve the delivery of education.
The event will start with a networking event on Friday, July 10, with guest speakers John Temba, head of ICT at Kenya’s Ministry of Education, and Kago Kagichiri, co-founder of local educational startup Eneza Education.
“Our event transcends the traditional Startup Weekend style; we will focus on bridging the entrepreneurial startup spirit with youth and educator informed issues. Through design thinking, innovative business strategies, relentless hacking and designing, this weekend will produce new ventures that are poised to create high calibre outcomes for local education entrepreneurs,” the organisers said.
Groups will work together over 54 hours to create tech tools addressing a concern either in a school or in a student’s community, with solutions ranging from a mobile apps to online learning tools.
“We believe that a wide range of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, passion, talents, technical knowledge and skills are needed to create ventures that have the highest potential for lasting impact,” the organisers said.
Startup Weekend Education is seeking innovators, developers, designers, teachers, students, and other educational stakeholders to come together to form teams to develop solutions at the event.
Areas of focus include using education technology to increase access to and distribute quality learning materials, taking advantage of open education technologies to improve education, how to use education data and education technology to measure impact, and how to ensure education technology and education initiatives lead to youth empowerment and development.
1 Comment
I hope this experiment will be successful for Nairobi because this program is a chance to find new ideas and solutions for individual entrepreneurs and for ventures. The potential of young people could improve economic education and situation in the whole country.