Improving education

Who is your ‘Fidel’ learning platform for?
It’s for secondary school pupils aged 14 to 19 in Ethiopia. In terms of numbers, education there has improved: 20 years ago there were 2.5 million schoolchildren, now there are ten times that number. The problem is quality: 80 per cent of tenth graders are underperforming by international standards.

What role did your background play in your idea?
I myself lived in Ethiopia until upper secondary school, just like my co-founder Amanuel Abrha. As students in Germany, we were determined that we wouldn’t just focus on the problems in Ethiopia but would also see the potential. The result was that we found some very talented programmers there who simply needed a chance to prove themselves.

CIM helped us build a network

What form did the cooperation with CIM take?
CIM not only provided us with financial support but also helped us build a network of contacts. After so many years in Germany, we naturally had to first reconnect with Ethiopia. We initially only wanted to launch a social project, but the advice we received opened our eyes to the possibility of starting a business.

Eskinder Mamo, Founder of the Ethiopian company AhadooTec, which offers an online portal for learning resources. He received support from the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), which is run jointly by GIZ and the German Federal Employment Agency.