Africa innovation and accelerator hub, Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) has announced the acquisition of Kenyan educational platform eLimu.

The acquisition, made through CcHUB’s Nairobi-based incubator, iHub, will position the educational platform to serve as a digital education arm for the company.

eLimu currently reaches 500,000 teachers and students through its online platform.

“The goal of the acquisition is to transform eLimu into the Digital Education Platform arm of the company. eLimu will continue to focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology to create interactive and engaging learning content customised to the African context which will be initiated using the existing apps. The acquisition will enable it to scale these apps beyond Kenya,” reads a statement from the CcHUB.

eLimu founder Nivi Sharma said the acquisition will see more learners from more African nations leverage digital learning on the platform.

Abiola Olaniran, founder of the Lagos-based game development platform Gamsole, is scheduled to take up the position of chief technology officer at eLimu.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the switch to online learning which partly informed the acquisitions, CcHUB said.

A survey carried out by eLearning Africa and EdTech Hub, show that many African educators are looking to digital tools to drive education beyond the pandemic.

“They believe that Covid-19 has served as a ‘wake-up call’, which will encourage greater use of blended learning and new forms of technology-assisted education and training in the continent’s schools, colleges and universities,” the survey stated.

Bosun Tijani, chief executive officer, CcHUB, added: “Education is the bedrock of healthy societies. As we continue to contribute to shaping the innovation ecosystem in Africa, accelerating the application of innovation and technology in improving education outcomes will be crucial to driving our overall agenda.”