By Juliet Awuor
The EdTech Summit 2024: Kenyan Edition, held on the 12th and 13th of September 2024, ended on a high note after two days of intense and insightful discussions. During the crowning ceremony to celebrate a decade of impact in EdTech, leveraging technology for education, in a room full of energy, the CEO and co-founder of EdTech East Africa, Jennifer Cotter – Otieno announced a board that will help chart the direction of EdTech East Africa towards the next 10 years.
Jennifer started by appreciating partners and stakeholders who have walked the decade-long journey together as an EdTech ecosystem. She reminisced about the reason behind forming the EdTech community. She recalled the first Nairobi EdTech Meetup in 2014, with 20 people keen on creating a professional connection among people working in the EdTech space in Nairobi.
“Three national and four regional Summits later, we have gathered what works and what needs improvement in building impactful teaching and learning through technology for the benefit of our learners,” she said.
Jennifer shared experiences and feedback from the regions of coast, western, and central Kenya, appreciating the good work that the different regions of Kenya are doing to support technology in education programs. She also asked the teams from the regions to share more feedback and positive stories of their achievements.
Jennifer also thanked the host of the national summits, the Center of Mathematics, Science, and Technology in East Africa (CEMASTEA), for their hospitality, sign language interpreters for making the event inclusive, Conference in a Box, their logistics partners, and her EdTech East Africa team for their hard work in putting this Summit together.
She thanked partners, the Mastercard Foundation, the Ministry of Education, and EdTech Hub, for their continued support of the Summits.
“At EdTech East Africa, we believe in the power of the ecosystem. That’s why we always involve a working group of different members of our EdTech ecosystem in curating the agenda,” she said. “This year, leaders in our ecosystem, from diverse organizations working on education and technology, co-created engaging conversations at the summit.” She added.
She highlighted that the members of the working group included: Mastercard Foundation, Directorate of Higher Education, MoE, EdTech Hub, Nairobi County, Akili Network, Mtoto News, Metis, Kenya Connect, Save the Children, Loho Learning, Nyansapo AI, The Action Foundation, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Safaricom Foundation, and EdTech East Africa.
Jennifer also appreciated the Global EdTech Testbed Network and AI for Education for playing a huge role in this year’s Summit.
Eliud Chemweno, the Head of the EdTech Ecosystem at Mastercard Foundation, attested that it was an amazing time for the EdTech community. “This is the third year we are gathering for the Summit, and listening to the great testimonials indicates that we are on the right path,” he said.
He highlighted some key points to consider moving forward. First, he discussed the need to design solutions with learners in mind, for this will make the programs more impactful. He also talked about intentionality by designing programs with learners with disabilities in mind. Eliud called upon the members of the EdTech ecosystem to engage more, continue with the conversations, and come up with more impactful ideas that benefit learners. Lastly, he thanked Jennifer for organizing a successful 3rd EdTech Summit and bringing partners and stakeholders together.
This was a unique networking moment for all, and the attendees are just a small representation of the entire EdTech community, which includes over 4,000 members.
The attendees were full of jubilation as they networked and toasted their glasses to the next decade of impact in EdTech’s work. Jennifer Cotter-Otieno, the CEO and co-founder of EdTech East Africa, used the occasion to introduce the new five board members, including Missy Mwendwa-Kago, her co-founder. EdTech East Africa’s board consists of:
- Missy Mwendwa, co-founder and board chair of EdTech East Africa and CPO at Educate!,
- Phoebe Khagame, Director at Oxygen Alliance,
- Joan Mwachi, the collective action lead at EdTech East Africa,
- Ciku Mbugua, Kenya Co-Lead at EdTech Hub and Innovation Manager at Brink,
- Isaac Nyangolo, co-founder and CEO at Zeraki.
In a pre-recorded speech, Missy Mwendwa said she was enthusiastic and excited to transition from her role as Chief Operating Officer at EdTech East Africa and take up this more strategic role to lead EdTech East Africa’s vision forward. Like her co-founder, Jenn, her speech was reminiscent of how the EdTech community started a decade ago, in November 2014, and the 10-year journey of collective growth.
She stressed the need for an inclusive community, more meaningful conversations, and the importance of data-driven approaches to education reforms. Missy stressed that EdTech East Africa’s mission is clear, and there is so much to do in the next ten years. “Our journey is far from over,” she said.
Wrapping up
“I believe this is just the beginning of meaningful conversations,” said Jennifer. She called upon teachers, parents, and stakeholders to engage in more meaningful discussions to promote tech-driven ideas that benefit all learners. The end of the EdTech Summit 2024: Kenya Edition was a time to reflect on the milestones achieved and focus on better ways to bring impactful change in education technology. She cautioned that this should not just be about meeting and feeling good about our community, but that every learning should be taken back to better our work in EdTech.
