SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 26, 2022– Engageli, a purpose-built comprehensive learning environment designed by educators to foster active, collaborative learning, and deeper peer-to-peer connections, announced that it will be supporting Industry Immersion Africa (iiAfrica), a pan-African organization enhancing STEM graduate employability and entrepreneurship. Bringing together more than 100 learners in five African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa, and industry experts from Europe, US, and Canada, iiAfrica enables Africa’s top mathematicians and STEM graduates to become industrial innovators and entrepreneurs to drive economic self-sufficiency for the continent. The program combines competencies from ESMT Berlin, one of Europe’s leading business schools, and the University of Victoria in Canada, to develop business links between graduates and multinational businesses operating in Africa through internships and post-graduate employment.
The Industry Immersion Program (IIP) offers qualified and industry-oriented STEM graduates from the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and Strathmore University a fully-funded 20-week residential business and personal development skills-based employability program. A three-month experiential work-integrated learning internship then follows the program.
“With Engageli, we have a more natural environment that has helped us create a connected and inclusive program, where candidates from different countries interact in-person and digitally, without ever meeting each other, and effectively work on projects together, and interact with their instructors,” said Dr. David Attipoe, Managing Director of iiAfrica. “The program allows for international collaborations, including participants who launched a consulting firm out of Uganda, with one person in Uganda, one in Saudi Arabia, and one in Kenya. This was once unimaginable in Africa, especially spontaneously, but the virtual nature of our collaboration, enhanced by Engageli, makes it possible and has allowed us to serve twice as many students as before.”
Building the university of the 21st century, iiAfrica will utilize Engageli’s platform pro-bono to equip Africa’s brightest science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learners with always-on, inclusive, secure virtual classrooms that deliver high-quality, collaborative experiences.
“An essential part of Engageli’s mission is to promote inclusive global classrooms that foster collaboration and focus on outcomes. It is encouraging to see this next generation of innovators creating a strong network for social and economic growth in their local communities, said Dan Avida, CEO, and co-founder of Engageli. “We were introduced to iiAfrica through our relationship with ESMT Berlin, a top-ranked, triple-crown accredited international business school. We're honored to support them on the industry immersion program, promoting their incredible impact and growth across the African continent.”
The organization leverages Engageli’s unique virtual table seating arrangements and integrated interactive tools, including quizzes, polls, and content sharing, to drive active learning and build community between the continent’s strongest professors, researchers, students, and partners. With Engageli’s data-driven insights, iiAfrica optimizes learner experiences in real-time to achieve their ultimate goal of helping them build critical, independent thinking and problem-solving skills to tackle global challenges.
Dr. Attipoe, who transformed the program during the pandemic, initiated the IIP redesign at AIMS because of COVID travel restrictions that prevented students across Africa from traveling to South Africa for training. Success was based on connection, which had previously required significant in-person peer-to-peer and student-instructor interaction.
“When we look back at the curriculum we built during COVID, it was very innovative and interactive. Not only were we able to get a lot of students to participate, but online collaboration and virtual teams were still critical after the in-person program restarted and iiAfrica is growing as a result.”
About Engageli
Engageli is advancing the education industry globally by improving virtual teaching and learning experiences. Its premier cloud-based, multimodal digital learning technology creates flexible, inclusive, secure environments optimized for learner connections and active learning. Recognized for these innovations, Engageli was named to the 2021 HolonIQ EdTech 200 list, highlighting the most promising education technology companies in North America, awarded Best Higher Ed Solution in EdTech Digest's EdTech Awards 2022 ahead of 19 other finalists, and earned honorable mention in the 2021 Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award program, which honors companies and initiatives that inspire better and more equitable learning. Founded in 2020 by Dan Avida, Dr. Serge Plotkin, and Dr. Daphne Koller, Co-Founder of Coursera and Insitro, Engageli has raised over $47 million in funding. To learn more, please visit www.engageli.com.
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