Injini, a Cape Town-based educational technology incubator, accelerator and think tank, has launched a startup creation and incubation programme centred on the use of Artificial Intelligence in education.
The initiative, called the AI for Education Venture Builder and Incubation Programme, will run for eight months and aims to support 12 teams in developing edtech solutions tailored to the needs of African classrooms.
According to Disrupt Africa, the programme is backed by philanthropic fund Coefficient Giving and is structured in two phases. The first, lasting five months, covers startup development through the Venture Build stage. During this phase, teams progress from problem validation and customer research through to solution design, the development of an AI-based minimum viable product (MVP), and the execution of a real-world pilot project. The objective is to gather data that allows for an assessment of each solution’s usage and practical value.
The second phase, Incubation, will last three months. At this stage, the five highest-performing teams will develop a market-ready product, strengthen their business model, define a go-to-market strategy, and receive support in Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL).
Each of the five teams selected for this phase will receive seed funding of US$25,000 with no equity requirement, in addition to business development support. Injini says the programme is designed to test AI tools capable of addressing the needs of African classrooms and to help the most promising solutions scale.
“We have spent years working with brilliant people across the region who deeply understand education problems but lack a team, capital, or a clear path to developing a solution,” said Krista Davidson, Chief Executive of Injini.
“Compounding this is the fact that Africa is significantly under-represented in the data used to train AI tools. If we do not develop our own solutions now, we risk adopting educational technologies that simply do not work in African classrooms. This venture builder programme aims to help close those gaps.”
Applications are open to small teams, with a preference for at least three co-founders. Applicants must be based in South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, or Zimbabwe. The application deadline is 27 September 2026.
Applications can be submitted at: https://www.injini.africa/ai-for-education.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=543982
