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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

iCog lab’s iCog -ACC joins the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT and awarded a $40K grant to expand operation.
The Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) announced the first cohort of 12 EdTech Fellows, companies that will benefit from the Centre’s support to expand their operations and improve secondary teaching and learning across the continent.
iCog ACC is an initiative under Ethipia based iCog Labs and it is founded by Bethlehem Dessie. ACC which means Any one can code teaches young people between the ages of 8-18 in Ethiopia on how to code, develop website apps, programs, games and expose on how to program and control robots, lights and various displays.
iCog – ACC and 11 other African EdTech companies join the first cohort. The fellows include O’Genius Priority from Rwanda, HITCH from Nigeria, AkooBooks Audio, Chalkboard Education and Eneza Education from Ghana , M-Shule, Kytabu Co., and Litemore from Kenya, Siyavula Education and The Dr. C.L. Smith Foundation from South Africa , Instill Education from South Africa, and iCog Labs ( iCog – ACC ) from Ethiopia).
We’re very proud and excited to have this first group of leading African innovators in EdTech with us,” says Joseph Nsengimana, Head of the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT.
“These companies are working to expand the use of ICT to address some of the most pressing issues facing education in Africa today. We will give them access to the customized mentoring and financial support they need over the next year so that they can test, refine, and validate their products. With that, they can grow their businesses and help to improve learning outcomes throughout Africa.”
The Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning is a five-year initiative. It was launched in 2018 as part of the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy to enable 30 million young people, especially young women, to find dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
The Centre aims to spark innovation and promote promising practices in the use of information and communications technologies for teaching and learning, and to catalyze significant improvements in education across the continent.
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