Transforming the education sector one startup at a time

Faith Ngogoyo-Mwangi is a trailblazer in the world of education technology across Africa. She is the Director of EdTech ventures, a company that helps break barriers to quality education among children in Africa.

Faith leverages digital tools and hardware such as computers and tablets to deliver educational content and skills to children.

She believes that technology has the power to leap-frog geographical barriers, and that it is possible to offer the same quality of education to children across the country, regardless of their background. 

Faith has helped several new businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa to establish systems to allow sustainable delivery of groundbreaking educational content in local and national languages.

One of her latest projects is with Injini Africa in South Africa. On this project, she sought to provide specialised coaching to startups that focus on technology based education in the region. 

Her journey started when she completed her undergraduate degree in banking and finance at African Nazarene University, where she graduated with honours.

“I was born and raised in Nairobi, and went to a public school. However, as a child, I wasn’t excited to be in school despite my academic capabilities. I was always among the top performers in class,” she says.

The main reason for this, she reveals, was that there was a lot of bullying at her school.

“To date, I feel very passionate about creating safe spaces for learners. I strongly believe that the key stakeholders in the education value chain must be accountable for the well-being of our children. The bullying that went on in school was largely ignored by the teachers, and that perpetuated the vice,” she adds.

One of the most memorable moments of Faith’s life was delivering the valedictorian speech on her graduation day.

Throughout her education, she dreamed of being either a journalist or a lawyer.

She says her desire to someday read the 9pm bulletin with the late Catherine Kasavuli was so great that her father used that as an incentive to get her to finish her meals while she was a child.

“We had a big analogue TV set, and my father would always ask me to finish my food quickly so that he could open the TV box for me to get inside and read the news with Catherine Kasavuli.”

When she completed high school her family felt that a course in business would give her a chance at a lucrative career.

“While I thrived in finance, I knew that my personality and interests could not be contained in that field and by the grace of God, I got an opportunity to join the world of technology,” she adds.

Her passion grew steadily, especially around 21st-century life skills that include the training and upskilling of learners, educators, parents and other stakeholders on critical thinking, effective communication, and self-awareness.

She notes that in her tech-based career, she has overcome a number of challenges.

“Often, a parent will first pay for pens, books, school uniform, and other primary educational needs before they can consider technology-based education items. Most parents view ed-tech as a luxury.

Faith is a strong advocator for partnerships, especially in elevating the lives of the less privileged.

“I have had the privilege of setting up and growing West-African-owned businesses in the East African market and this involves a lot of interaction with different stakeholders, among them governments and their agencies. 

“I strongly believe in the power of technology and the leveraging of partnerships to drive sustainable growth for businesses in the continent. With education being a state function in African countries, partnerships with governments for scale must be critical,” she adds.

Faith notes that currently, the quality of education a child can access is dependent on the capacity of their guardians to pay.

“But we cannot ignore the massive number of our children in public schools, or those in low-cost private schools,” she says. 

She emphasises on the importance of partnerships with government and other stakeholders.

“While I have championed the access to EdTech across the countries we have worked in, it is the governments in those countries that have set up an enabling environment for our success. The government is responsible for infrastructural development and policy-making to support our work.

Faith has been recognised in the continent as a female leader in technology, and has driven thought leadership on various platforms including at the South African Innovation Summit, 2023, as part of the recognition towards her contribution as a female leader in technology in Africa.

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