‘We want to have a strong share in Kenya’s online learning market’- AltSchool Africa on launching in Kenya

AltSchool Africa has finally launched its virtual academy in Kenya. This follows nearly a year’s worth of planning and organising geared towards the launch. With more than 60,000 learners across 105 countries, the school which has largely operated out of Nigeria and Uganda decided to take a further step into deepening its roots across the continent.

Speaking with Technext about the launch, Head of Growth and Partnerships Oluwanifemi Akinwamide said before now the edtech startup was not bothered by location, with tens of thousands of learners across more than 100 different countries doing well with virtual classes. But in all this, Kenya happens to be its second-largest market in terms of enrollments.

With a large population of enrollments coming from the East African country, the school deemed it necessary to deepen enrollment and have its operations there. According to Oluwanifemi, AltSchool’s project of training as many Africans as possible in in-demand skills is an Africa-wide project, so it only made sense that they had a presence in Kenya whose market is big enough, and the people ready to learn in terms of technical and non-technical skills.

“Kenya is AltSchool’s second largest market. On Coursera too, Kenya is doing better numbers in learning than even Nigeria on the ranking. That’s to show you how much learning is going on in that country and how receptive they are to online learning. That is what we have seen and that is why we are trying to deepen our operations there. We have always had people in Kenya. We have always had relationships and friends in Kenya. However, the real factor is that they are receptive to learning and we want to ensure we have a strong market share as quickly as possible,” he said.

Localising the AltSchool experience

Kenya is not the first East African country where AltSchool will be launching, as it already has a presence in Rwanda and having Kenya in the bag would help the startup grow its East African market on a large scale. This is certainly one of the major goals. Another goal is trying to localise the AltSchool experience which has largely seemed like a Nigerian affair.

According to Nifemi, the goal is not necessarily to create something new in Kenya but to ensure that with what the school is already doing, it has some localized content and activities in the country.

“With this launch, we will be able to do more for Kenyans and be able to offer a more localized curriculum. It doesn’t mean we are changing our current system, we are just going to be able to understand more about what’s going on in that market and do more in the market and that’s the way we are thinking about it. We are trying to replicate our Nigerian experience in Kenya and keep on growing to other African countries,” he said.

The school also said its entry into Kenya would also bring about a change in the payment process for learners in the country. Before now, learners used Stripe for their payment. But now, the startup is looking at the possibility of collecting local payments in the market. Thus, it is working on the possibility of collecting local payment via Mpesa and other local means thus ensuring that whatever the school is giving to the Kenyan market is also affordable because that is very important to the school.

AltSchool could pivot to physical campuses in the future

Kenya marks the third country in which AltSchool will have a presence. Being a completely online school, arguments might be made that there was no real need to be present in these countries. This is especially so, seeing as the startup has done well for itself, having trained more than 60,000 people across 105 countries without many issues.

Thus, is there a chance that the need to be present in these countries would signal a pivot, no matter how little, into the realm of physical classes? Is there a chance that we might have AltSchool campuses dotted across the continent one day? The Head of Growth told Technext that while this launch does not in any way signal a shift to physical classes, he however would not rule out the possibility in the future.

“We can’t say for sure what will happen in the future but nothing changes at the moment. We are still a virtual school and still do online. But as we deepen our roots in different markets, some of this might change. If we get to that point we will definitely communicate this to the public. It may not even be AltSchool, it might just be a classic M and A type of situation. But that will be much later if we get there. But for now, no major pivots or physical structure,” he said.

The school also said it has been able to grow fast across over 100 countries because it obtained a Certificate of Exemption from the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPE) board. This certificate allows it to offer its programs across the world. But despite this, the school is still looking to work with partner institutions in Kenya whose goals are aligned, just like it did in Nigeria.

Appointing Tabitha Kayvu to head Kenyan operations

AltSchool also announced the appointment of Tabitha Kayvu to head its operations in Kenya. Despite all the hard work she has put into the startup’s aspirations in the country, this is still by no means an easy task. She would be tasked with driving enrollment growth, making payments easier as well as bringing the experience to bear in that country.

Tabitha is not new to the company as she has been with them even before the school was started as a product of TalentQL.

She has been with us so long that some people forget that she is Kenyan. That’s how much she has been able to ingrain herself into our system. So if we are going to start anything in Kenya, it is a no-brainer to have Tabitha start because she has done an amazing job in helping us build a community here. With us trying to grow in Kenya, there’s no better person to start than Tabitha. She has everything it takes to help break grounds in Kenya and there’s so much that she will be able to achieve in the next couple of months.

See also: TalentQL launches AltSchool; Africa’s first certificate awarding institution for developers