Following an amazing 40 percent completion rate in its first year, the Nigerian skill-to-market platform AltSchool Africa has expanded its learning faculty to add creative economy and business schools. This comes after the platform achieved this success.
AltSchool is a Nigerian educational technology firm that was established in 2021 by Adewale Yusuf and Sultan Akintade. Both Adewale Yusuf and Sultan Akintade are also co-founders of another Nigerian educational technology company called TalentQL. AltSchool’s mission is to provide Africans with employability and tech skills that are in high demand so that they can begin successful careers.
The tech-enabled platform has, in the past, delivered courses that are directly tied to both in-code and no-code, which is an unconventional way to learn. In order to strengthen its push in the ed-tech industry, the startup has added content creation, sales, and the music business to its existing nine courses, and applications are now available for the first cohort of these new streams. The music business course will use Afrobeats as a case study.
In February of 2022, the company completed a pre-seed funding round that was worth $1 million USD. Over the course of the past two years, the company has supported almost three million hours of training for various technical professions, such as software engineering, data science, and product design.
The new programmes are aimed to give a comprehensive and hands-on upskilling platform for prospective learners who are interested in forging careers in other emerging industries. They are focused on non-traditional jobs outside of the technology area and have been designed to provide opportunities for those careers.
Read also: OpenLabs, AltSchool Enhance Digital Education In Africa
What AltSchool Africa’s executives say
“Our goal is to create a fun and communal learning platform for all Africans to develop their skills, regardless of their previous education or background. Our unique teaching methods have proven successful in helping our learners better retain information, demonstrating that we understand the complexities of how online education works,” said Yusuf.
“We are excited to announce the addition of these two new faculties, with qualified experts leading the courses. These industries were specifically chosen for their rapid growth, and we want to help people quickly enhance their careers in these fields.”
“In Africa, many individuals earn low salaries due to a lack of essential job skills training. However, our platform aims to make a positive impact by connecting individuals with the necessary skills for the job market, enabling them to grow and reach their full potential. By doing so, we aspire to contribute to a brighter future for the continent.”
Previous funding
AltSchool Africa successfully completed a pre-seed investment round in the amount of one million United States dollars in 2022. The company’s flexible educational curriculum is intended to alleviate the ongoing challenge of skills shortage in the technology ecosystem.
“After the launch of TalentQL, we noticed that there was very high demand and very little supply. And even with the supply, there was a huge employability gap. Although talents possessed good technical skills, they lacked some necessary foundational skills required to make the mark. AltSchool Africa emerged to address these needs,” Akintunde said.
Local investors such as Olugbenga Agboola of Flutterwave, Shola Akinlade of Paystack, Dr. Ola Brown, and entertainment stars, Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana and Akitoye Balogun, better known as ‘Ajebutter22’, participated in the round as well.
The investment will be utilised to strengthen the team that is working on the business as well as update the infrastructure that is already in place. In terms of its products, AltSchool Africa has plans in place to expand on the programmes it now offers. This is done in an effort to satisfy the demand from the millions of Africans who will need training or retraining in technological skills.
The mission of AltSchool is to assist young Africans in launching successful careers by providing them with employability and digital skills that are in high demand.