Jijali Learning

Jijali offers adaptive skills development by combining e-learning, virtual coaching and practical experience to support educators in providing holistic learning.

Due to a lack of access to education and quality of education, the youth unemployment in Kenya reached over 20% (Standard Media, 2018). Based on our research in 2016-2018, the number of university graduates increases rapidly, however, most of them remain unemployed or underemployed because of lack of practical skills, while the business sector is struggling to find qualified labour for white-color jobs. Although there is a high potential for entrepreneurship, very few youths have the skills to implement their ideas sustainably despite multiple efforts and a high entrepreneurship activity overall.

The formal education sector focuses primarily on memorisation and standardisation and educators have to deal with a large number of students per class, failing to adapt to a large diversity of knowledge levels, learning styles, speed of learning. This makes the process underwhelming and ineffective for the learners.  

Yusudi addresses the problem by initiating the development of the blended learning platform, Jijali,  focusing on adaptive skills development; it will serve educators and students by providing a complementation option to their formal education with personalized experiential learning.

The platform is being developed in three phases starting in 2018. Each phase includes interactions with focus groups and data collection and analysis, which is implemented in phases to ensure the final success of the project. It will result in the platform using machine learning to combine e-learning, virtual coaching, and practical experiences to offer customized skills programs for educators to use to complement and deliver their content. Educators will be able to add their vetted curricula online to integrate as a part of the customised journey. Jijali will combine the content with soft skills and entrepreneurship elements, that are essential for today’s labour market. For example, if someone does a course in accounting, they will go through a formal class, complemented by additional learning materials online, some practical tasks customized for their needs, and coaching sessions with a virtual coach to ensure the depth and practicality of their knowledge.

Through building Jijali, we are starting a journey in changing the way learning is done across the African continent. By the end of 2019, we aim to impact 2500 youth across Kenya by growing their skills and mindsets, with an income increase of 100% within 1 year of their graduation. After the pilot, we will launch to the general public through partnerships with educators in universities and high schools, growing exponentially across the African continent and beyond.

All of the content on the platform will also be available for youth from disadvantaged communities that could not join university. Enabling them to go through this adaptive, practical learning and start their career, like their peers. It will be more accessible and affordable than the usual immersive learning programs, and at the same time, more individualized and effective than other MOOCs. We envision the world where youth are given more opportunities to explore their potential using Jijali, to gain financial freedom and sense of professional growth and fulfillment.

Jijali is a platform that offers customized skills learning through technology and virtual interaction. Its' innovation lies in the blended learning approach and personalization of a learner's experience. The learning programs will be accessible through mobile devices and desktops; virtual coaches will support users' learning through phone or internet connection. Machine learning will enable the platform to create individualized user journeys based on the goals of the learner, their learning styles, and local realities. Educators will use Jijali to deliver or complement their curricula with a focus on practical skills, as well as to self-learn to improve their own skills.

Jijali has several aspects where technology is integral: the platform will be accessed by the users through computers and mobile devices where the e-learning part of the program will be hosted; machine learning will be used to make the experience highly customized and impactful for the users, which will set the platform apart from the usual MOOCs; virtual coaching will be delivered using technology to allow users in any location be connected, guided and empowered through human interaction. Technology makes Jijali possible as a scalable personalized learning solution.

In 2018, we will complete two pilot phases of Jijali with over 500 users. Thus we will test our initial assumptions about the platform, and collect user experience data. In the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2019, we will run the third phase of the project which includes developing the final version of the platform and expanding the user base across Kenya. Within this time, we will test the machine learning elements and the business model overall to ensure its’ effectiveness and sustainability. After possible iterations, we will continue growing the platform with the organic user base.

After the third phase of the pilot in 2019, we will have a complete platform and refined service of blended learning for youth in Kenya. Over the following 3 years, we are planning to continue creating high-quality learning content based on the market needs, and expand the user base beyond Kenya; we are planning to first enter several countries in Eastern Africa reaching 300.000 youth within 5 years. We will focus on creating strong partnerships with educational institutions and other e-learning providers to complement their work and increase our impact.

Yusudi has connections with Universities such as Nairobi University, JKUAT which will enable us ensure high retention rates as the program supports their curricula. In addition we will reach youth through our social media following, our database of more than 10,000 youth, and partnerships with NGOs across the country. In the current pilot, the virtual coaching contributes greatly to the high retention rates; we will also keep updating our content to offer extra value in the users’ professional progress even after completion of the program they signed up for.

We are currently 75% through the first phase of our Jijali pilot, where 118 young Kenyans have undergone two months of the program in Career or Entrepreneurship course. 68% of them are coming from underprivileged background. 88 of them filled a program survey giving a Net Promoter Score of 9/10, meaning they would recommend this program to their friends. Furthermore, they gave a coaching quality score of 4.5/5. 15 participants already reported a significant change in their career or businesses leading to financial gain thanks to the learning they received.

In 2019, we aim to impact 2500 youth (age 18-25, low and medium income) across Kenya by growing their skills and mindsets, with an income increase of 100% within 1 year after their graduation, measured through follow-up surveys. By 2022, we plan to have over 100.000 users from the Eastern Africa region on the platform. We estimated this by studying the number of applications, intakes of our previous programs and their post-training incomes, as well as national statistics and learning partners' data research.

Yusudi’s two co-founders have more than seven years of experience in creating and running youth programs across the world. They take the notion of resourcefulness to the next level, which is key in the creation of innovative social impact programs in the developing countries. We work with Antony Kalinde, an IT wizard with machine learning expertise, over eight years of experience in the startup and corporate world. We also have a team of ten local trainers and coaches with diverse expertise, that have undergone more than a year of constant improvement with Yusudi in youth skills development.

This project is developed to self sustain in the long-term. The initial funding will enable us to test and create the adaptive blended learning platform in-house. After the final platform is completed, it will become a self-sustainable business with organic growth through user base development. A monthly subscription of approximately USD 10 per month per user will be offered through a flexible pricing model depending on financial ability and learner’s needs. The learner will be able to customize the engagements with the virtual coach, and the intensity of the program which will directly impact the payment plan and the total fee. Besides engaging individual users, we will offer educators and other organizations to use the platform for their training purposes, for a price based on the base fee mentioned above. This will enable us to reach financial sustainability within 5 years of operations, and expand through both direct user base growth and development of the partnerships with other impact organizations.

The Solvers community will enable us to grow ourselves and support others. Solve can support us in the advancement of Jijali development through:

1) Access to the technical expertise in machine learning specifically, and overall learning platform development. We would like to be able to consult with the thought leaders in the ed-tech industry.

2) Network expansion to connect with more potential collaborators (educators, governments) and supporters (learning scientists, impact investors and other funding opportunities).

3) SOLVE fellowship to grow our entrepreneurial capabilities.

1. High initial investment for the platform development. As a young social enterprise, we find it challenging to seek funding in addition to our daily operations, which compromises the timelines of the project.

2. Quality of the impact created. It might be challenging to maintain high quality of every user’s experience in the initial testing stages when the most of iterations happen.

3. Traction. It requires a high number of users to confirm certain assumptions, and it can become a challenge to attract the required number of users early enough to have clear testing outputs.