Edtech incubator Injini opens applications for second cohort

Cape Town-based edtech incubator Injini has opened applications for its second cohort.

It is looking for eight edtech innovations from across the continent to participate in Injini’s five-month incubation programme it announced in a press release.

The second cohort is set to run from July until December, interested innovators have until 3 April to apply.

In a bid to drive applications and meet edtech entrepreneurs from around the continent, Injini will hold events across six African cities, with the first event to be held next week Tuesday (6 March) in Lagos, Nigeria.

The other events will be held in Accra (13 March), Nairobi (14 March), Dar es Salaam (19 March), Kampala (26 March) and Cape Town (28 March).

Selected startups will each receive $50 000 (R600 000) in direct funding.

The incubation programme will entail workshops and mentoring aimed at developing disruptive edtech products and building businesses capable of scaling across Africa.

Injini will hold edtech meetups across six African cities to meet edtech entrepreneurs and to promote application for the second cohort

Programme participants will be provided with office space, accommodation and flights to Cape Town as well as a stipend.

In addition, the selected startups will get access to events where they can network and interact with edtech investors and institutions from around the world.

Read more: Edtech incubator Injini launches, unveils the eight tech startups in its first cohort

“Our first cohort was the manifestation of a big argument about the future of education in Africa – that though business as usual has failed and the system is badly broken, young entrepreneurs from across the continent can bring big ideas to scale that can change education and allow Africa to realise its huge potential for growth in the twenty first century,” said James Martin, Injini’s co-founder.

“In our second cohort we will aim to improve on the first – refining our programme, increasing our funding and utilising our bigger network to bring both cohort one and cohort two companies to scale across the continent.

“We are expecting hundreds of applications from nearly every country in Africa, big ideas from talented entrepreneurs right across education stages that will change the future not just of education but of a whole continent,” he added.

The incubator is supported by the Western Cape Government, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and UBS.

Successes of first cohort

Wondering how the first cohort fared?

South Sudanese startup Yo Books, a participant of the incubator’s first cohort, has gone on to expand in Uganda since joining Injini.

Another participant, South African language learning platfrom Uthini has won a contract to train Wits University medical students in Zulu, while Tanzanian offline artificial intelligence search engine Mtabe is on the brink of a deal with a telco which could see the startup reach one million students.

“We believe that Injini cohort one is proving that agile, tech savvy entrepreneurs are likely to be the best antidote to a stodgy outmoded education system and supporting more of them is the key to unlocking and supporting these emerging solutions,” said Ian Merrington, CiTi CEO, whose organisation is a partner of the incubator programme.

Featured image: Members of Injini’s first cohort (Supplied)