Silabu (formerly SmartClass Tanzania) is a peer-to-peer learning platform that lets youth learn their peers online and off-line, attend live group classes from the top 1% tutors with a fee being 10x cheaper, and can request the top tutors on-demand.
Region:Â East Africa
Sector:Â Education
LinkedIn: Silabu - The social learning app
Instagram: @silabuapp
Twitter: @silabuapp
Due to the introduction of free primary and secondary education by Governments in East Africa combined with the perceived loss of quality in public education, parents across East Africa have either resorted to private schooling or private tuition to supplement their children's learning to improve learning outcomes and reduce inequality in learning. The current methods for sourcing tutors are inefficient and can be cost prohibitive for low-income families.
Due to the increased demand of private supplementary tuition driven by the desire to supplement school curriculums and upskilling children in co-curricular subjects, Silabu has created a platform that helps students from all walks of life to access top tutors on demand. The Silabu Team aims to create a peer to peer learning platform that allows the team to create a social network for learners and tutors to learn from each other.
Silabu has built a peer-to-peer learning platform that maintains strong monthly retention rates for both students and teachers, with 87% of customers indicating they are unable to find a good alternative to Silabu.
Acumen’s funds will initially be used to actualise the product development roadmap set out by Silabu to transform the web-based platform into a mobile app to connect around 12M students and tutors to the app in Tanzania hence improving the quality of learning at primary and secondary school levels. EdTech investments in East Africa are still nascent, and Silabu has demonstrated a strong command of consumer needs in building a valuable product.
