Edtech Ambani wins R1million prize at MTN Business App of the Year Awards

Local language edtech Ambani Africa has walked away with multiple top honours at the 2021 MTN Business App of the Year Awards.

The app received the titles of Best Gaming Solution, Best Educational, and Best South African solution.

It also walked away with R1 million in prize money for winning the title of Best App of the Year.

“Congratulations to Ambani Africa,” Chief Business Enterprise Officer of MTN Business, Wanda Matandela, said in a statement.

The app features games, series, and songs for learning for children aged two to eight.

“The combination of their innovative approach and the prize money should put them on the fast track to growth in their mission to solve the literacy gap faced by our country and encourage parents and kids to embrace their indigenous languages.”

The annual app awards attracted over 1 000 entries in 2021 with this year marking its tenth anniversary.

The winning apps ranged from small startups to established brands such as Takealot and Afrihost.

Ambani Africa offers language learning materials

Available as a mobile app, Ambani Africa is an educational learning portal that caters to children who speak South Africa’s indigenous languages.

The app features games, series, and songs for learning for children aged two to eight.

Children can learn several different languages including isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana, English, Sepedi, Tshivenda, and English.

In addition, Ambani Africa offers online tutoring with conversational classes for children aged six and older.

The Johannesburg-based company also offers a range of books that children can view through the app using Augmented Reality (AR).

In July, Ambani Africa founder Mukundi Lambani was declared the winner of the third cohort of the I’M IN accelerator.

Speaking to Ventureburn, Lambani said there was a lack of accessible digital resources for African language learning.

“Ambani Africa facilitates early learning by providing tech-enabled materials that help African learners in the primary school phase learn African languages,” she explained.

“Ambani is learner-centred and uses games to facilitate practice while helping parents and teachers to enable children to learn.”

The Ambani Africa app is available to download on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and Huawei AppGallery (isiZulu only).

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Featured image: Ambani CEO Mukundi Lambani (Supplied)