Mwabu and Onyx Connect have joined forces to locally produce the Mwabu e-learning tablet. The partnership will allow Mwabu to locally produce e-learning tablets which will enable easy distribution of their e-learning content and aid them in actively entering the e-learning space in South Africa.
Mwabu, an education technology company focused on improving the educational space in Africa through their content for teachers and pupils and Onyx Connect, a privately backed startup that is the first company ever to manufacture smartphone devices in Africa are commited to bettering education in Africa.
The incorporation of e-learning in the African education space has seen fundamental impact in transforming and improving learning outcomes among pupils in Africa. Mwabu, which was first implemented in Zambia, has been subject to rigorous impact evaluations comparing improvements between Mwabu and similar schools selected for control purposes. Results have shown that Mwabu schools consistently show significantly higher improvements in learning outcomes.
Onyx Connect plans to tap into China’s strengths by sourcing circuit-board designs and raw components from China, but designing the rest of the phones and building them from the circuit board up. The plastic cases will also be produced locally, and Onyx has its own research and development capability.
“We are talking to companies to manufacture handsets, laptops and possibly Android TV boxes,” said Andre Van der Merwe, sales director of Onyx Connect, in an interview at the time when Onyx Connect was launched. Onyx Connect is licensed to load Google software, like Android and Chrome, onto devices sold under its own brand or products it makes for others. They have also raised R150 million in setting up their local plant and will begin production in the first quarter of 2017.
Staff Writer
