Originally posted by MET student aaron friedland on 21/01/2018
The Mwabu venture is certainly a compelling, mission-driven venture.
They are targetting elementary school education in African and are working to fix an educational system they believe to be “fundamentally broken.”
They recognize that by 2030, Africa will be short 2.1m teachers and is currently lagging in literacy and numeracy when compared to countries with similar rates of GDP.
However, I would not invest in the Mwabu venture. (Feel free to view their pitch deck here: https://mwabu.com/media/1215/introducing-mwabu.pdf)
There are three reasons that I would not invest:
- They claim to have solutions for the African continent when they have worked in 8 communities. I am wary of companies who claim to do more than they actually do. And while there work is certainly impactful, their wording and grandiosity unnerve me.
- Thus far, Mwabu solutions have been implemented in conjunction with large bilateral organizations such as the UN. This means that the projects are paid for through these contracts. While this is impressive and shows a competitive product, it does not show me an economic engine with a revenue model.
- Based on Mwabu clients and sales, it does not seem as if they have reached their primary clients. They appear to be targetting: Parents, Students, Teachers, NGO’s and Multinationals. They appear to have collaborated with the larger entities to run Randomized Control Trials (RCT’s) but it is not clear that they have gained traction just yet.For these reasons, I would not invest. However, in 2016, they were awarded a top 10 prize: Best in AppsAfrica so I’m hopeful for Mwabu and their impact.