The internet offers a plethora of e-learning platforms of all shapes and sizes, but very few are specifically geared towards African content creators. Nigerian startup Kobocourse is looking to fill that gap.
Formed last year, Kobocourse is a course-hosting platform built for the growing community of content creators and coaches across Africa, which founders Keno Alordiah and Eva Alordiah believe are badly served by existing options.
“There are more and more creators and coaches looking to add an extra stream of income online and selling their own online courses is a step in the right direction,” Alordiah told Disrupt Africa.
“We realised that the number one problem most African creators and online business owners face is having secure payment systems and course-hosting solutions. Sites like Teachable, Kajabi or Kartra are not inclusive of the African creator.”
Kobocourse has created a complete solution for coaches, content creators and entrepreneurs to host and sell their online courses, e-books and memberships without worrying how they will get paid.
The self-funded startup, which charges creators a percentage of any sale made through its service, has seen accelerated growth over the course of the pandemic, and now has over 13,000 registered users and creators on its platform. Alordiah said creators had reacted incredibly well to the platform.
“In a short time, we have surprisingly recorded thousands of hours of online training uploaded to the site, significant of the fact that they have been waiting for a solution like this all along,” he said.
“Africans are ready for a future that is digital, where e-learning is at the epicentre of education. Kobocourse has come to bridge the gap between the creatives and their online students and made the possibility of having a real online e-learning business a reality.”
When it launched in April 2020, Kobocourse was focusing on the Nigerian market alone as it tried to understand how the local market wanted to be served and what reiteration was needed to make it work optimally.
“We have since gone on to open up Kobocourse to creators in South Africa, Kenya and Ghana. This has come mostly because of a high demand by the creators themselves and this goes to further emphasise our mission to empower creatives in Africa to grow the online business of their dreams,” said Alordiah.
“Kobocourse is always looking to expand, but our focus right now is serving and satisfying the creators across Africa who currently host and sell their courses on the platform.”
