In Africa, online education is gradually picking up with the rise of internet and smartphone penetration. Since the coronavirus pandemic, the continent witnessed a rapid development of edtech startups offering ever-interesting solutions.

Edves is an edtech solution developed by a Nigerian start-up. It allows schools to automate the entire student journey and make course delivery and school administration more efficient. 

“With Edves, Parents and Teachers can track and analyze Student journey using data on learning objectives and assessment to meet unique needs of the students. In addition to learning management capabilities, its features include; School Fees Payment (using USSD, Bank-to-Bank and Card payment methods) and other critical administrative activities,”  the platform indicates. 

From its web platform or its iOS and Android -downloaded more than 5,000 times according to Playstore data- apps, parents can keep an eye on their children’s progress. To do that, they need to set up their Edves accounts.  

“Edves [...] allows customization per School with unique URL, School Fees Billing Schedule, Fees Collection, Lesson Notes, Color Theme, Report Templates per the School specification. The same software is powering the variations in market demands,” the platform explains. 

The solution also makes life easier for teachers and school administrators. Like parents, teachers can monitor the students’ progress and apply particular measures when needed. It gives school authorities a global idea of performance and reports to parents when necessary. 

As of 2022, the edtech solution was claiming adoption by more than 1,400 schools (with 269,262 students), 145,053 parents, 25,021 teachers, and 20,997 administrative members. It is present in about 10 countries and, in 2018, it received the Best Educational Technology Award in Switzerland with a $50,000 grant from the Jacobs Foundation. The same year, it landed its first investment of $120,000 from Chinook Capital and GC Fund CChub. In 2021, it also raised $575,000 to improve its technology and support its development to become a Pan-African edtech solution in the years to come. 

Adoni Conrad Quenum