UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 (IPS) – “Sometimes the best way to understand a concept is to understand it,” says Chris Folayan, co-founder and director of Luma Learn“is to learn it in your native language.”
Seventeen-year-old South African Simphiwe is one of more than 10,000 students already using Luma Learn, an AI-powered teacher platform. For him, artificial intelligence is not an abstract idea: it is a personal teacher who is patient, consistent and always online.
When he’s on his phone, he’s not always chatting with a classmate or scrolling through social media. He often studies physics with Luma Learn, who answers immediately, even in IsiZulu, his native language.
In various countries on the African continent, innovators such as Folayan, Nthanda Manduwi and Anie Akpe are reimagining what education can look like: localized, practical and accessible to anyone with a phone or connection.
Together they are building a new learning ecosystem: an ecosystem in which AI does not replace teachers, but increases their reach.”
Nthanda Manduwi: Transforming digital skills into interactive ecosystems
“I have always believed that technology can democratize opportunity,” says Nthanda Manduwi, founder of Digital skills for Africa (DSA) and Q2 Corporation. “AI gives us a real opportunity to overcome the barriers that have slowed Africa’s progress, from infrastructure gaps to unequal access to training.”
Her journey began with Digital skills for Africaa platform designed to equip young people with practical technical competencies, from AI and automation to no-code tools and digital marketing.
“Our courses such as ‘Effective Use of AI’ or ‘AI and the Future of Digital Marketing’ are created to help students not only understand AI, but also actually apply it,” she explains. “You leave with real, marketable skills that you can use to build something or get hired.”
But scaling that vision revealed a challenge that many edtech startups face. “We realized that enthusiasm alone doesn’t pay the bills,” she says. “There was a low willingness to pay for courses, even at institutions, so we had to rethink how we could make digital learning sustainable.”
That reconsideration has led to Q2 companyher new venture that links learning to livelihood. Under the umbrella of Q2 Kwathu farms– an innovative gamified farming simulator where users learn to manage farms, predict supply chain issues and test business models before investing real money.
“AI makes learning immersive,” Ms. Manduwi explains. “Through simulations, students can see how weather or market shocks affect yields, and how small decisions impact entire value chains. It turns agriculture into a classroom. And a business laboratory.”
Behind these simulations run Q2’s proprietary engines, NoxTrax and AgroTrax, which apply AI to real-time logistics and resource management. “It’s about showing that AI isn’t just for programmers,” she says. “It’s for farmers, small businesses and anyone who wants to think and plan more intelligently.”
Ms. Manduwi’s mission remains rooted in access. “For Africa to truly benefit from AI, it cannot be an elitist tool. It must live where people already are: on their phones, in their communities, in local languages.”
Anie Akpe: Creating spaces where AI meets human creativity
Where Ms. Manduwi builds ecosystems, Anie Akpe builds spaces. Through her work with African women in technology (AWI) and Lumo hubsMs. Akpe has spent more than a decade helping innovators, especially women, turn curiosity into competence.
“At AWIT I started organizing conferences across the continent,” she recalls. “We created safe spaces where women could connect with mentors and learn skills not taught in schools: digital literacy, entrepreneurship, coding, design.”
Soon, even male students began asking to participate. “Then I realized it wasn’t just about women in technology. It was about us (Africans) finding a place in a digital world that was rapidly changing.”
The next step came naturally. “When AI started to disrupt industries, I saw that we couldn’t just talk about skills. We had to create environments where people could use those skills,” she says. “That’s how Lumo Hubs came into existence.”
Each hub combines education, creativity and entrepreneurship. “In one room you might find a student learning AI-assisted graphic design, a seamstress using AI to plan production, and a young podcaster recording a show in a studio powered by the hub,” Ms Akpe explains. “The model is hybrid, physical and digital, so even small towns can host a Lumo Hub.”
She is also consciously concerned with sustainability. “Community members pay; students pay less. It’s important that we don’t rely solely on subsidies,” she says. “That balance keeps the hubs alive and the learning continuous.”
The core of Lumo Hubs lies in mentorship. “You cannot separate technology from human guidance,” Akpe emphasizes. “AI helps scale learning, but mentorship builds trust.” Her approach remains rooted in empowerment. “AI, if used properly, can create a level playing field. A young person in Lagos or Uyo does not have to wait for opportunities. They can create them.”
Chris Folayan: A teacher who never sleeps
For Chris Folayan the idea behind it Luma Learn came from a simple observation: “The continent doesn’t just have an access problem. It also has an education gap.”
According to UNESCO, Sub-Saharan Africa will need 15 million new teachers over the next five years to meet demand. “With classrooms sometimes having more than 100 students per teacher, no one can give every child the help they need,” says Mr. Folayan. “That’s where Luma Learn steps in.”
Luma Learn is an AI tutor that runs on WhatsApp, not a separate app.
“We chose WhatsApp for a reason,” he explains. “It’s already on most phones, it lets you send messages for free, it runs on low bandwidth and it keeps data safe with encryption. That means a child in a rural area can learn without worrying about internet costs or app installations.”
The platform adapts to the level, curriculum and preferred language of the student. “Whether you need algebra in English or history in Swahili, Luma Learn can teach, quiz and explain at your level,” he says. “It teaches how you learn.”
Mr. Folayan shares two powerful testimonies. In Durban, a mother named Happyness wrote that after years of illness, seizures and missed schooling, her son caught up with the rest of the class with the help of Luma Learn.
“Every time Vuyo wants to know something about school, we just ask Luma! The great thing is that Luma explains it in our native language, IsiZulu.”
In another case, Simphiwe, a Grade 11 student from KwaZulu-Natal, sent more than 1,200 messages to Luma. “Luma Learn was not just a study aid,” he said. “It became the personal teaching assistant I so desperately needed.”
Shared goals: One vision, many paths
Three innovators. Three different models. One common goal: making AI work for African students, and not the other way around. Several topics stand out in their stories.
First, access: from WhatsApp tutors to open learning hubs to gamified ecosystems that teach real-world problem solving.
Second, localization: learning in local languages, within familiar tools and around community realities.
Third, empowerment: each model directly links knowledge to opportunities.
From Ms Manduwi’s gamified farms, to Ms Akpe’s creative hubs, to Mr Folayan’s WhatsApp teacher, the classrooms of the future are already here: decentralized, digital and deeply human.
As Ms Manduwi puts it: “We need to stop treating AI as something imported. It is a tool that we can adapt to our own systems.”
Ms Akpe echoes that sentiment: “Africa does not lack talent. It lacks platforms that meet students where they are.”
And Mr. Folayan completes the picture: “No teacher wants their student to be left behind. With AI we can ensure that no one is left behind.”
At the end of the day, a student in Durban learns physics through Luma. A young designer in Uyo experiments with AI tools in a Lumo Hub. A farmer in Lilongwe tests market scenarios at Kwathu Farms. Each represents a different face of the same revolution – a continent using intelligence, both human and artificial, to learn without borders.
As Ms. Akpe says, “The vision is simple: a generation that not only survives the AI disruption, but thrives because of it.” And as Ms Manduwi concludes: “AI is not a threat to Africa. It is our greatest opportunity to catch up. And lead.”
Anie Akpe and Chris Folayan were participants at the Global Africa Business Initiative (GABI): Unstoppable Africa2025, held in New York City on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September. The platform helps promote networking, exposure to potential business partners and garner support for their initiatives.
Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations
IPS UN Office
© Inter Press Service (20251119070031) — All rights reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service
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