BAG Innovation: Revolutionizing Ed Tech In Africa
BAG Innovation
Rwanda’s economic growth continues to soar, yet the challenge to combat youth unemployment persists. From its inception, BAG Innovation has been trying to tackle issues that contribute to youth unemployment, mainly; the lack of preparedness of students upon completion of university and the lack of employment opportunity during their time in university to equip them with adequate work experience to enter the workforce. BAG Innovation’s objective is to strengthen the capacity of the University students and higher learning institutions in Rwanda using the latest and most innovative approaches such as gamification. BAG has developed an online system to complement theoretical learning with practical experience before they graduate. We provide a virtual internship system that bridges the gap between the academic and business environment in Rwanda.
BAG Innovation is a for-profit organisation, created four years ago which aims at increasing its impact in Rwanda and East Africa by providing an experience-based learning model to students across the region. This is achieved by extending the experience-based learning model to all University students in Rwanda and East Africa, which would reach more than 4,000,000 students and recent University graduates. The team at BAG has extensive knowledge and understanding of student development at universities and this has placed us in a unique position to help graduates match their skills to roles and companies.
The primary beneficiaries of this innovative project are university students and postgraduates in Africa. BAG innovation partners with the University of Rwanda which is the biggest university in Rwanda to roll out the developed technology with all their students starting in May 2021.
BAG is revolutionising EdTech by integrating augmented reality and machine learning on its platform in an innovative way by introducing gamification capabilities. The platform works by introducing students to real-life business challenges in the form of cases, these business challenges are based on collaboration with private businesses that have encountered these challenges and are looking for solutions. The platform is categorised based on the different University faculties with a concentration on soft skills, however, some basic technical skills are also included. Students solve cases that add skills to their overall profile rating. Upon submission, students receive actionable feedback, which is consolidated into a skills-based profile to highlight skills acquired that are then marketed to employers.
BAG Innovation has a number of employers which they have partnered with to connect students; when a student has been connected to an employer, the BAG innovation team conducts follow up calls and surveys to obtain feedback from the employers.
BAG is incredibly honoured to have been recognised by the African Union as the best Education Innovation in Africa. Today BAG has impacted over 8,000 young people in Rwanda and assisted 600 to get meaningful employment opportunities with an 80% success rate. The goal is to reach over 10,000 new users by the year's end and to expand to students in the rest of the African region by 2022.
- Over 8,000 students connected, meaning the student’s profile which showcases skills and attributes has been exposed to employers in Rwanda.
- 160+ Businesses started
- 600 Job placements
- 15+ Universities partnered with
- While no political support has been directly given, BAG has engaged in conversations with the ministry of youth, REB (Rwanda Education Board), ministry of education and RDB(Rwanda Development Board) on developing the workforce of Rwanda.
Challenges/Barriers
The current challenge BAG is facing is far greater than any technological advancement but changing the culture around youth unemployability and empowering the youth to believe in themselves and what it takes to be employable. The other challenge which BAG has encountered is bridging the gap between universities' lack of resources in career development. These challenges are mitigated through empowering the youth via workshops, discussions, on-campus awareness, and internship opportunities through BAG.
Moving Forward
BAG Innovation’s sustainability plan is to offer a white-label platform which is a learning management system that can be rebranded to any organization's name. This way, universities all over Africa can license the platform, rebrand it, and curate content how they see fit. Universities can also use the platform to integrate their traditional curriculums with modern and real-life case studies and examples from businesses. This would further help universities digitize their career development centres, increases post-graduation employment, university ranking as well as reputation and enrolment.
Resources
https://rw.linkedin.com/company/baginnovation.
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2019/this-innovation-is-prepping-students-to-enter-the-workforce/
https://medium.com/edtechx360/editors-pick-bag-innovation-ee260a0da5a1
Contact: team@bag.rw
