On Wednesday, 18th September 2024, the 2nd Edition of EdTech Players Night stressed the role of Public-Private Partnerships to accelerate EdTech innovation in Rwanda and beyond.
From the EdTechs’ standpoint, this edition created a great platform to dive into their challenges including lack of EdTech Policy that favors their boldness, unavailability of a position paper that highlights availability of EdTech solutions to avoid overlapping solutions, lack of a maturity assessment tool that can help in recommending local EdTechs for larger markets, etc. Despite all challenges, Abdulrahman Niyonizeye, CEO at Smart Class Rwanda who was featured on the panel representing EdTechs, highlighted that there is still that possibility to do business in the ecosystem. He said, “Willingness is there despite processes and systems that are not yet to favor our boldness.”
Addressing the challenges faced by EdTechs, Bella Rwigamba, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) said, “Building public-private partnerships is among sustainable solutions to address EdTechs challenges. Look… there was no existing framework established to work with local innovators before, and this hindered local companies from accessing public larger markets. As of now, things are improving, and the EdTechPolicy is coming soon to ensure a conducive environment for our local EdTechs.”
Placing an emphasis on Bella’s points, Docile Umurengezi who represented the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT) said that the government always aims at collaborating with local innovators in order to accelerate technology inclusion and expansion across the country. He concluded by saying, “Government really needs companies to bolster technology inclusion.”
Delivering his closing remarks, Alex Ntale, CEO at Rwanda ICT Chamber called EdTechs to advance collaboration in order to ensure their solutions’ boldness and readiness to serve larger markets in Rwanda and beyond.
The EdTech Players Night brings together key stakeholders from government, EdTech techpreneurs who are members and non-members of Rwanda ICT Chamber, and development partners to explore how public-private partnerships (PPPs) can be harnessed to enhance digital learning, improve access, and scale EdTech solutions, with a special focus on Rwanda’s context.Read more about the EdTech Cluster/Association at Rwanda ICT Chamber here
