The 11th E-Learning Africa Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training jointly organized by the Egyptian Government, Oracle, African Union amongst other reputable global institutions took place from  May  24 – 26, 2016  in  Cairo,  Egypt ;  with  me  being  one  of  the  keynote  speakers  at  this  event to lead the Discussion on “Restarting Africa’s Education through Tech with Innovation and a Digital Revolution”.

I spoke on the basis of my experience as Founder of Passnownow.com – an internet website  that provides free, accessible, and easy-to-use educational  content  for  secondary  school  students  in Nigeria – on  how technology innovations can be successfully used to provide access to high  quality education to students across Africa, especially the educationally under-served. Beyond  talk, I showed “how numbers support such assertions, based on metrics from four years of continuous  operation.” with Passnownow.com itself owning its space as one of the most prominent and reliable online education destinations on the Continent.

Such is the objective of the conference, which remains the largest gathering of e-learning and ICT-supported education professionals in Africa, and aims to facilitate networking between  practitioners and professionals.

In this vein, the conference played host to other keynote speakers drawn from across  Africa with  varied strengths and experiences. Included, though not limited to this list are Foster Ofosu, Knowledge and Capacity Development Specialist at the African Development Bank, Toby Shapshak,  from  South  Africa,  who  has  written  and  spoken  on  media  platforms  like  CNN,  Forbes and  SXSW, H.E. Yasser Elkady, the Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology and HE Elham Mahmood Ahmed Ibrahim, the African Union Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure.

Following the report  from last year’s conference, which showed how participants were helped to  map the pace of change in technology use on the continent, and how their unique contributions  can accelerate that upward momentum; this year’s conference, aptly themed “Making  Visions  Reality” sought to achieve much more.

By bringing together decision makers and practitioners from across the education, business and  public sectors, the conference arrived at resolutions that will help make participants take action on  all the themes of the conference within their respective spheres of influence, while also acting as  evangelists of E Learning and Education Technology.

And in reaching out to Africa’s youth in this way – through access to education and empowerment  driven by innovative technology – I desire to see “how like a stone dropped into a placid lake, the  ripples of change will spread.”

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Passionately discussing the Role of Technology in the advancement of Education in Africa

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With Dr Harold Elletson, Editor of the eLearning Africa Report, UK

With Dr Harold Elletson, Editor of the eLearning Africa Report, UK

From Left to Right: Dr Harold Elletson, Editor of e-learning Africa Report, UK, Dr Maggy Beukes-Amiss, Director of Centre for Open, Distance and e-learning (CODeL) University of Namibia, Mr Foster Ofosu, Knwledge and Caacity Development Specialist at the African Development Bank Group, Ivory Coast, Dr Amany Asfour, President of the Egyptioan Federation of Business & Professional Women and Secretary General of the AFrican Society for Scientific Reasearch and Technology (ASSRT), Egypt, Dr Mor Seck, Organisation and Public Management Adviser within the Bureau for Organisation and Methods of the President Office, Senegal

From Left to Right: Dr Harold Elletson, Editor of e-learning Africa Report, UK, Dr Maggy Beukes-Amiss, Director of Centre for Open, Distance and e-learning (CODeL) University of Namibia, Mr Foster Ofosu, Knowledge and Capacity Development Specialist at the African Development Bank Group, Ivory Coast, Dr Amany Asfour, President of the Egyptian Federation of Business & Professional Women and Secretary General of the African Society for Scientific Reasearch and Technology (ASSRT), Egypt, Dr Mor Seck, Organisation and Public Management Adviser within the Bureau for Organisation and Methods of the President Office, Senegal

With Professor Moses Oketch, Professor of International Education Policy and Development University College of London Institute of Education

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Left: Victor Murage, Regional Director of Black board – West Africa and Right: Massimo Morigi, Manager and International PR of Black Board

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Delivering my Presentation

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With a Mwabu representative during a demo presentation of their interactive learning tab

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Responding to a Question from one of the Participants

 

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Left to Right (Behind): Dr Jerome Terpase Dooga, e/merge Africa Regional Coordinator for West Africa, e/merge team member, Engr. Adejare Amoo, Managing Director Corporatemind Associates Nigeria- Front: Misan Riwane, CEO/Founder West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE) and Mbala Lumpini Espoir, Founder Fondation Les Beatitudes

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Speaking to the media

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Engaging the Participants

With Dr Amany Asfour, President of the Egyptioan Federation of Business & Professional Women and Secretary General of the AFrican Society for Scientific Reasearch and Technology (ASSRT), Egypt.

With Dr Amany Asfour, President of the Egyptioan Federation of Business & Professional Women and Secretary General of the African Society for Scientific Reasearch and Technology (ASSRT), Egypt.

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With Rania Reda, Managing Director at Collie Tec

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Passnownow, Africa’s premiere eLearning website

With Dr Maggy Beukes-Amiss, Director of Centre for Open, Distance and e-learning (CODeL) University of Namibia and

With Dr Maggy Beukes-Amiss, Director of Centre for Open, Distance and e-learning (CODeL) University of Namibia and Mbala Lumpini Espoir, Founder Fondation Les Beatitudes

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With a WILEY representative

With other participants

With other participants

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With Mohamed Moneim, Director – International Business Development at SkillBuild

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Listening to another speaker’s presentation

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From Left to Right: H.E. Dr. Amr Ezzat Salama, Consellor of the American University in Cairo Egypt, Dr Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria Egypt and Toby Shapshak,  Journalist, Editor, Columnist and Strategist South Africa.

From Left to Right: H.E. Dr. Amr Ezzat Salama, Consellor of the American University in Cairo Egypt, Dr Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria Egypt and Toby Shapshak Editor, Columnist and Strategist South Africa.

From Left to Right: H.E. Dr. Amr Ezzat Salama, Consellor of the American University in Cairo Egypt, Dr Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria Egypt and Toby Shapshak Journalist, Editor, Columnist and Strategist South Africa.

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With Matthew Santaspirt, Sales and Market Development Director at Dubai Media City

 

 

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With Maha Bali, Professor at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

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With Misan Riwane, Founder and CEO of West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE)

With Misan Riwane, Founder and CEO of West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE)

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With Carla Aerts, Director of Futures University College London (UCL) Institute of Education

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Granting an Interview to the Media

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Giving my presentation

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With Mwabu Team 

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What is a School? – An interesting question for the Audience to ponder on

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With Foster Nicholas Ofosu, Capacity Development Specialist at African Development Institute

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With Rebecca Stromeyer, Founder of E-Learning Africa

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Sharing Passnownow.com as a case study

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At the E-Learning Gala dinner

Registration of Participants

Registration stand for Participants

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Cultural performance at the Gala dinner

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Cross section of Participants

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Participants listening to a speaker’s presentation