S’pore edtech firm trialling in Africa, edible cutlery producer among winners in start-up competition

The Straits Times

Far-flung Kenya, Uganda and South Africa do not usually come to mind as test beds for a Singaporean start-up.

But local edtech start-up Edsy Bitsy saw opportunity in Africa, where poor Internet connectivity makes remote learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic unviable.

“As the entrepreneurs of a lean start-up, we want to validate our product where problems we address hurt the most,” said co-founder Edwin Ho, 29.

Mr Ho and co-founder Deevak Premdas, 26, approached teachers and principals in those three countries to offer a mobile app that lets teachers design interactive yet resource-efficient digital lessons, attracting around 350 users, mostly in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.

The Impact Start-up Challenge Grand Finale brings together the top teams from previous impact start-up competitions organised by SUSS.

The other judges were Quest Ventures partner Jeffrey Seah; Mr Kevin Moon, head of private investments at Lonsdale Capital; and Investigate VC co-founder Mikael Krogh.

Said Mr Seah: “Impact businesses do good in solving a problem and do well financially.”

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