Africa is a global leader in fintech, but continues to struggle with education and edtech. Africa has the worst-performing education system globally – in some markets, 90% of children leave primary school without basic reading skills. Fintech captured 60% of all African venture capital last year, driven by a clear value proposition: faster, cheaper, better services. Remittances alone hit $56 billion in 2024. Africans were already sending money; FinTechs just made it easier.
Fintech: Clear Value, Rapid Growth
- Success Story: Fintech captured 60% of all African venture capital last year. That’s a massive share.
- Why it’s working: Fintech addresses a clear, urgent problem—Africans need better ways to send, receive, and manage money.
- Example: $56 billion in remittances flowed into Africa in 2024. Fintechs made these transactions faster, cheaper, and easier, riding on existing demand.
- In short: There was already a customer need. Fintechs just improved how it was met.
Edtech: Big Market, Poor Performance
- Market Size: The African education market is worth over $160 billion annually—almost 3x the remittance market.
- Crisis: Despite this, 90% of children in some African countries finish primary school without basic reading skills.
- Investment Gap: Only <2% of venture capital goes to edtech.
- Why? Because:
- Many African edtech startups are technology-first rather than problem-first.
- They’re building “flashy” solutions that look good but don’t solve the actual challenges of access, infrastructure, teacher training, or curriculum quality.
- In other words: they build tech looking for a market, instead of starting from the ground-level education crisis.
The AI Hype Warning
- Governments are starting to embrace AI in education without a solid strategy.
- Example: Nigeria plans to train 6,000 teachers in AI.
- Problem: If foundational education systems are broken, adding AI may be putting expensive paint on a crumbling wall.
- Without solving:
- Poor teacher training
- Lack of electricity/internet in rural areas
- Language barriers
- Outdated or irrelevant curricula
…AI tools won’t have meaningful impact.
- Risk: The hype around AI might lead to wasted resources, misplaced priorities, and repeat of past edtech failures.
What Needs to Change?
- Start with the learner’s real needs, not the tech trend.
- Invest in scalable, low-tech or blended solutions for early-stage learning outcomes (like reading and numeracy).
- Governments and startups must collaborate to build infrastructure, policies, and incentives that support real learning.
- AI should be treated as a tool, not a silver bullet.
A $100M investment without a business model reflects a common problem in African edtech: pouring money into flashy, tech-driven solutions without a clear plan for sustainability or real-world impact. Unlike fintech—where products solve urgent, well-defined problems—many edtech ventures chase hype (like AI) without understanding their users or how to generate revenue. The result? Big spending, little progress, and missed opportunities to fix Africa’s deep education crisis.
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