The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship is an entrepreneurship acceleration program designed to support promising, African EdTech ventures. Implemented in partnership with innovation hubs and EdTech accelerators across Africa, the Fellowship provides select EdTech companies with critical business and financial support, as well as insight into the science of learning, preparing them for scale, sustainability, and impact. The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship was launched in 2019 by the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning and supported 12 African EdTech companies from seven countries in its first year, reaching over 800,000 learners. The goal of the Centre is to partner with 12 Tech Hubs to support over 400 EdTech companies and reach at least 1.8 million young people by 2025.
About MasterCard Foundation
The Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. All people, no matter where their starting point in life, should have an equal chance to succeed. We believe that with access to education, financial services, and skills training, people can have that chance. Our focus is helping economically disadvantaged young people in Africa to find opportunities to move themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty to a better life.... read more... continue reading
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Request For Expression Of Interest From Tech Hubs And Accelerators To Implement The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship
Aim and Benefits of Request For Expression Of Interest From Tech Hubs And Accelerators To Implement The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship
The Tech Hubs will work with the Foundation to identify and scale high-potential African EdTech companies focused on improving education at all levels.
Requirements for Request For Expression Of Interest From Tech Hubs And Accelerators To Implement The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship Qualification
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR
The Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning is seeking to partner with African Tech Hubs that have demonstrated the ability to incubate and accelerate startup companies, preferably EdTech companies. The Tech Hubs will work with the Foundation to identify and scale high-potential African EdTech companies focused on improving education at all levels, particularly for the most underserved communities, including out-of-school learners. In addition, the Tech Hubs will serve as centres of excellence bringing together EdTech stakeholders to advance EdTech products and solutions. It’s therefore important that the Hubs have an already established and healthy relationship with the Ministry of Education and other education stakeholders in their respective countries of operation.
WHAT YOU WILL DELIVER
The key objectives of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship are to:
- Recruit High-Potential EdTech Companies: Each hub/accelerator will identify and support 36 growth-stage EdTech companies over three years (i.e., 12 EdTech companies per year) to participate in the Fellowship.
- Deliver Quality Acceleration Support: Each hub/accelerator will provide selected EdTech companies with holistic support to scale their businesses, enhance the educational impact and inclusivity of their products, and improve their investment readiness and long-term financial sustainability.
- Enhance Learning outcomes: Each hub/accelerator, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), will train EdTech companies in the science of learning, helping them incorporate these evidence-based principles into their products and solutions to impact learning outcomes.
- Facilitate Market Access and User Reach: Each hub/accelerator will guide the selected EdTech companies in developing market-ready business cases and facilitate market access with the goal of expanding their impact by attracting at least 8,000 new end-users (learners) every year for three years.
- Foster Ecosystem Building and Collaboration: Each hub/accelerator will help to nurture the growth of the African EdTech ecosystem by cultivating engagements between EdTech entrepreneurs and key stakeholders including governments through line Ministries of Education and ICT and their implementing agencies. They will also capitalize on community engagements, fostering collaboration among key players, and building a vibrant network of EdTech enthusiasts.
- Provide Additional Support Services: Each hub/accelerator will support the selected EdTech companies with a range of support services such as co-working spaces, design labs, mentorship opportunities, funding avenues, and a vast network of relevant stakeholders.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:
Any hub/accelerator interested in partnering with the Mastercard Foundation to implement the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Duly incorporated, validly existing, and in good standing, under the laws of an African jurisdiction.
- Have its principal place of business in Africa.
- Demonstrate a proven record of effectively supporting technology companies in Africa.
- Demonstrate a proven record of working with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders in promoting EdTech.
- A minimum operational experience of at least five years.
- Must be African-owned and/or African-led.
- Possess a solid understanding of monitoring and evaluation methodologies, with the ability to collect and analyze data
Interview date, Process and Venue for Request For Expression Of Interest From Tech Hubs And Accelerators To Implement The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship
POST SELECTION NEXT STEPS:
o Provision of program proposal templates to the selected six (6) tech hubs: 25 Sep 2023
o Deadline for submission of full program proposals from selected tech hubs: 25 Oct 2023
o Review & co-design process of full proposals with the selected tech hubs: 26 Oct – 30 Nov 2023
o Final proposal approval by Mastercard Foundation: 4 Dec 2023
o Contract begins first quarter of 2024
EVALUATION PROCESS
Step 1: Expression of Interest
Submission Documents:
-
- Expression of Interest Response
- High-level Budget
- High-level Organizational Questionnaire
Step 2: Foundation Review & Approval
Evaluation Criteria (see below):
-
- Strategic Alignment
- Experience
- Program Design
- Program Implementation
- Budget
Step 3: Proposal Development
Submission Documents:
-
- Proposal
- Detailed budget
- Detailed Organizational Questionnaire
Application Deadline
August 27, 2023
How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to
MasterCard Foundation on mastercardfdn.typeform.com to apply
Interested organizations are invited to submit the following documents by August 27, 2023, here.
- An Expression of Interest response that addresses the above requirements (not exceeding five pages) submitted in Microsoft Word for review, collaborative discussion and must provide a single point of contact in your organization for all correspondence.
- A completed High-Level Budget reflecting the activities in the EOI. The template is accessible here.
- A completed High-Level Organizational Questionnaire and associated attachments. The template is accessible here.
For inquiries or clarifications, please write to [email protected]
For more details, visit Mastercard Foundation website.
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