Tanzanian edutainment startup Ubongo has announced its Ubongo Kids in English is to launch in Kenya, teaching mathematics through fun, animated stories and songs.
Ubongo aims to simplify the teaching of mathematics to children through fun video stories in Swahili, and allows participation via SMS. It is watched by over 1.4 million viewers in Tanzania and is available in over one million more households across East Africa.
The first Ubongo Kids in English will go live in Kenya on Saturday, March 14 at 10am, retaining that slot going forward.
“We’ll be releasing a new episode every Saturday morning,” Ubongo co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Nisha Ligon told Disrupt Africa.
“We want to help kids see math in a new way, through fun stories that they can relate to and enjoy.”
Ligon said the startup was excited to bring this new way to learning to children in Kenya.
“This is just the first step, and we’re also working on partnerships to bring more Ubongo fun learning products to Kenya, including Ubongo Mobile – which allows families to pull quizzes and educational songs to their mobile phones) -, e-books and interactive educational radio.”
Disrupt Africa reported in January Ubongo had received US$75,000 in seed funding in order to help it scale after coming through a six-month incubation programme organised by learning firm Pearson in collaboration with Village Capital.
The startup, alongside Nigeria’s Lekki Peninsula Affordable Schools, beat off competition from other educational companies to take home half of the US$150,000 made available by the programme.
