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Edtech Learning Tools & Platforms in MENA 2020
So far schools in Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, UAE, Saudi, Bahrain, and Kuwait, Morocco, Libya, Qatar are shut for at least two more weeks to a month (schools in Oman, Tunisia remain open), as COVID-19 locks down cities and countries whole.
We aggregated education tech companies from across MENA in a reference chart to help teachers, school management, parents and professionals with their remote-learning efforts and maximize their time.
We only covered products produced in the Middle East and North Africa in this table, I’m sure many use Coursera, EdX, Khan Academy, etc, however these platforms get enough coverage as is and do not necessarily cover the needs of the average student, teacher and parent that has to home-school and remote-teach over the next few month.
The most important note is that Arabic remains the dominant language of education in MENA and the most language parents and majority of professionals are comfortable with. While Dubai-dwellers, and workers in tech may feel otherwise, these are services that are currently needed by every household across MENA as a necessity and that forces us into the reality: Arabic is vital for mass, inclusive and equal reach.
Interesting observation:
- All Academic Distance Learning solutions in MENA are primarily in Arabic.
- 80% of Professional Distance Learning Solutions are in Arabic, the rest are English first.
- 9 of Distance Learning Platforms, Academic and Professional, are funded by governments in the UAE, Saudi, Oman & Jordan.
- All Early Learning Content is Arabic first, and 50% provide English content as well.
- 75% of all services are available in Arabic, while 49% of services are provided in English.
- Most of the solutions and services are headquartered in Saudi (22) and the UAE (21) of a total of 85 services listed
- 69% of solutions are geared toward empowering the Education sector (Academic Distance Learning, Teaching and Tutoring tools, eLearning infrastructure)
*this chart is compiled through hours of online research and some online recommendations, we are likely to be missing some services especially in Early Learning Content as that’s a space that publishing houses are increasingly involved in. We have also not included platforms that are no longer active and ones that are based heavily outside the region (UK is a popular HQ for Edtech companies it seems).
If you have questions about the graph feel free to tweet me or farah.
MENA’s Digital News, Week #49
A weekly round up of the top headlines from the digital sector in MENA, covering startups, corporate and the public sector.
Investments & Acquisitions
Teacherly, UAE-based edtech platform, raises funding from Shorooq Partners http://bit.ly/2kD8BNF
UPayments, Kuwait-based epayment provider, raises seed funding from Angel Investors http://bit.ly/2kGzDnm
Wahed Invest (Wahed), raises a “multi-million dollar investment” from Dubai Cultiv8 Investments Limited, a subsidiary of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Fund for SME (an integrated division of the Department of Economic Development) http://bit.ly/2lX2Muy
Investcorp, Bahrain, to acquire Italy-HQ ticketing platform Vivaticket which has more than “2,100 clients across 50 countries including Walt Disney World, Musee du Louvre and FC Barcelona” http://bit.ly/2m07jww
Etisalat, UAE, to acquire full ownership of cybersecurity firm Help AG’s businesses in the UAE & Saudi http://bit.ly/2mmKsLz
Sector News
Swvl expands into two new cities in Pakistan and launches engineering office in Karachi http://bit.ly/2kgQTiC
Halan, Egyptian tuk-tuk startup, to expand to Ethiopia https://reut.rs/2ksDJzh
Dubizzle, UAE-based Olx subsidiary, launches a new portal for listing off-line projects in the UAE http://bit.ly/2m0OusK
Ipsos shares stats on Subscription video on demand (SVoD) in Saudi Arabia for 2018 http://bit.ly/2lWFHs4
Fintech
DIFC FinTech Hive’s 2019 Accelerator Program accepts 31 Startups for their upcoming cycle. DIFC provides support for three month but no direct equity based investment http://bit.ly/2kJPgKA
National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) joins trade finance blockchain network Marco Polo, which has 22 members including Mastercard, BNP Paribas, ING & Standard Chartered http://bit.ly/2mfD3xF
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) launches blockchain-based trade finance http://bit.ly/2kMjywj
EmiratesNBD, UAE, to launch audio banking capabilities through Amazon Alexa http://bit.ly/2lTdkuH
Further Reading (Policy & Economy)
Egypt to start work on $2.4B telecom network for first phase of a new capital city https://reut.rs/2mfDqZ5
University of Bahrain (UOB) announced the launch of a new cloud computing degree program in collaboration with AWS Educate Cloud Degree initiative http://bit.ly/2lV9elW
Egypt Cabinet approves Ride-Hailing Apps Act, which will require companies and drivers to pay, registration, licensing, taxes and social insurance http://bit.ly/2kTdFNU Official Gazette (AR) http://bit.ly/2lZxDXp
Central Banks of UAE and Saudi lower interest rates after US Fed cut http://bit.ly/2mqvdBz
Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa, 2020 investment report says Egypt is still the most attractive country to invest in in Africa, followed by Morocco, then South Africa http://bit.ly/2mhUsFQ (full report will be available in Jan 2020 for non-RMB clients)
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