SMS tutor bridges learning gap

Namibian start-up Okaluli, an SMS-based study tool, has secured fresh funding to expand its reach, aiming to improve access to learning for disadvantaged pupils.

Okaluli, an artificial intelligence (AI) system that delivers educational responses via SMS, made a total of US$10 000 (M$182 000) combined at Co-creation Hub (Cc) Namibia last weekend.

This would allow more rural and disadvantaged teenagers to study from anywhere and at any time, the system’s developers say.

Founded to solve Namibia’s long-standing learning shortages, Okaluli enables pupils and students to ask a question and receive easy-to-follow, step-by-step answers within minutes.

It already has over 2 400 active users, with more than 80 000 SMSes received and more than 300 000 sent.

Its assisting WhatsApp channel – for feedback and community building mainly – has more than 700 subscribers and more than 35 000 messages.

“We designed Okaluli for the student with a 10-year-old phone and zero data,” founder Wilbard Lazarus says.

“Our youth are not short on ambition, but short on access. The SMS is the bridge. With Okaluli, a Grade 10 pupil in Kavango and a Grade 12 in Windhoek have the same chance to study a challenging subject – quietly, patiently and in their own language.”

The further finance, backed by Cc and the Seed Capital Fund of Namibia, will be ploughed into programmes with more resilience, more curriculum content and a concerted schools push.

Okaluli, according to Lazarus, will be upgrading servers to handle growing message traffic, adding high-demand science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) courses, and adding an outreach programme in underserved communities in a bid to increase 5 000 new students.

For the majority of students, the advantage is content and confidence.

The group recalls a letter from the Kavango East region from a student who studied history with Okaluli’s step-by-step guidance and obtained a B grade – her best mark to date.

“That ‘aha’ moment is the moment,” Lazarus says.

“We don’t tell them the answers; we teach the ‘why’ and ‘how’ so comprehension sticks.”

Okaluli’s model is inclusive, with 24/7 availability for studying after finishing chores or late bus rides, multi-language support in development so mother tongues become learning bridges, and repeatable, judgement-free explanations that match how teenagers actually learn.

The start-up was named Diamond Innovator at the eighth National Information and Communication Technology Summit (2024) and placing fourth at BoostUp in Botswana the same year.

Building on the success of Cc’s Seedr 2.0, Lazarus says Okaluli is targeting 15 000 local active users within 18 months and planning tie-ups with telecom operators as it gears up for pan-African expansion.

“In five years’ time, we want every child to text a question and get a personal tutor back,” Lazarus says.

“If we can simplify quality learning to sending an SMS, then we level the playing field for young people in Africa.”

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