Young female developer wins Best Educational App for 2021

With the world facing a global pandemic over the last two years, education around the world has been turned on its head, most notably with the rise of e-learning and use of digital platforms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education dramatically, most notably for the rise of e-learning and use of digital platforms, both in South Africa and across the globe.

The winner of the Best Educational Solution for 2021 is Ambani Africa, a free gaming appfor foundation-phase learners to help children learn African languages in a fun way.

This award, sponsored by EWSETA in partnership with 4IR-AquaTech, was one of 14 winners announced at the MTN Business App of the Year awards ceremony held virtually late last month.

Ambani Africa features 6 languages with various themes and games for practicing African languages. The app also links to an augmented reality app, which works with a set of learning books to bring this learning to life. 

Category sponsors EWSETA in partnership with the 4IR-AquaTech, are also partners on the 4IR-AquaTech Business Accelerator programme, which aims to capacitate young entrepreneurs to identify, develop support, fund and upscale a new generation of 4IR enabled solutions to address food – energy – water challenges. A particular focus of this programme is the crisis playing out in the Eastern Cape currently.  This partnership seeks to fast-track sustainable solutions through skills development and training as well as the empowerment of youth and women through increased participation in the emerging Green Economy (GE).

“The promise of educational apps lies beyond its use as an e-learning platform, but rather a tool that allows Africans to preserve their language and pass on generational wealth through creativity and innovation,” says Mr. Lucky Litelu, the Chief Executive Officer for 4IR AquaTech.

“We believe Ambani Africa as an educational platform will quickly become a catalyst in the e-learning sector, especially at the backdrop of Covid-19. That said, the real value behind this app is in many ways its ability to allow an African child to embrace their being without being left out in the fourth industrial revolution”, he adds.

“We congratulate and celebrate all our winners, this momentous occasion certainly brings mixed emotions,” says CEO of EWSETA, Mpho Mookapele. “It is heart-warming and humbling to witness such talent unleashed from our African soil. Africa, especially black South African youth, have been excluded from such opportunities for decades and endured hardship as a result. Today our youth have certainly changed the narrative and continued to put our country on the map”.

Not only did Ambani Africa win Best Educational Solution this year, but developer Mukundi Lambani also won Best South African Solution and Best Gaming Solution and walked away as the overall MTN Business App of the Year winner, with R 1 million in prize money.

Category sponsor EWSETA & 4IR Aquatec co-sponsored this R1 million grand prize along with MTN Business, the biggest prize money to date in this competition.

According to Ms Mookapele, the MTN Business App of the Year Awards has offered young developers a field of intensive innovation for a decade now. Ever since its establishment, it has sought to stimulate this innovation and to promote best practices and knowledge transfer. In this spirit, Ambani Africa itself represents the importance of passing down knowledge and innovation for the benefit of society.

When asked what winning all these categories as well as the overall App of the Year means to the team at Ambani Africa, Lambani says “Everything! Building anything is not easy and you have to learn to put it out to the world even when it’s not perfect. So, all of the wins are a big nod to the work that we do to encourage us to keep going and doing more and more.”

Lambani and what she describes as a fantastic team across development, education, entrepreneurship, and production wanted to make learning African languages fun for young children.

“Our languages are generally digitally underrepresented, and we don’t often associate African languages and culture with technology, we wanted to change that,” she says.

Submissions in The Best Educational Solution were all judged according to strict criteria, assessing whether they were a solution that focuses on solving the education challenges in Africa.

This year saw an unparalleled 1 274 entries into these awards, with this category once again attracting some ground-breaking locally developed solutions within the educational space.

Where to from here for Ambani Africa?

“We have a big update coming up where we’ve added animated content and short video lessons. We’re also expanding into other languages and someday soon, as well as into other subjects,” she says.

Lambani’s message to other developers who have a dream app they want to see come to life, is to take advantage of support programmes that can help. “From the beginning of your journey, apply, apply, apply for all of those. Then find like-minded people who believe in the goal to make your team and don’t wait until everything is perfect to put it out,” she says.

The MTN Business App of the Year Awards play a vital role in elevating local entrepreneurs and showcasing exciting new innovations within the ICT industry in South Africa. Given the escalation in all things digital over the last 18 months, this platform continues to celebrate local talent, reward out-of-the-box thinking and continues to recognise new technology start-ups and the innovative solutions that they are building.

Featured image: Mpho Mookapele from EWSETA announces Mukundi Lambani from Ambani Africa as the winner of Best Educational App, at the MTN Business Of the Year Awards.