30-year Old Teresa Mbagaya is Transforming Education in Africa
It is a known fact that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion, as over one-fifth of children between the ages of 6 and 11 are out of school, followed by one-third of youth between the ages of 12 and 14. According to the UIS data, almost 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are out of school. Without attempts to eradicate this, the situation may get worse.
Teresa Mbagaya, an educationist, is a lady who is passionate about education and has continued to push for the positive evolution of Education in Africa. Teresa is Zimbabwean however, she was born in Kenya in the year 1990.
Teresa packs a strong educational background, starting with an Arabic and Political Science Bachelors Degree at Yale University. She passed excellently and she received an Eagle Scholar Awards from the Institution for inspiring her classmates through kindness, dedication, and courage.
Teresa is dedicated to business, education, technology and innovation. She kickstarted her professional career at Google Inc. in the United States, where she served in various capacities.
Having amassed a vast range of experiences, Teresa took a giant stride in her career as the Co-founder at Econet Education and the youngest executive to found and lead the platform.
Since joining Econet, Mbagaya has launched 3 education services in Zimbabwe with further aims for international expansion.
Econet Zero targets 5 million Econet Broadband subscribers offering them free access to 50+ education websites including Coursera, EdX, Wikipedia, Codecademy and others; a global first for any Mobile Network Operator in scale. EcoSchool targets all tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe, an education platform that provides on-the-go, affordable, and reliable access to world-class educational content via the EcoSchool tablet. The Tablet gives students dependable access to school materials.
She was also at the forefront of the Econet Zero initiative, which gives over five million Econet Broadband subscribers access to more than 50 educational and learning platforms.
After a successful stint at Econet, she moved on to the position of ‘Education Lead’ at Microsoft, a role she still occupies today.
Teresa Mbagaya has contributed to many initiatives, she co-founded Bidii Children, a nonprofit initiative aimed at promoting education in Western Kenya in 2006, she seats on the board of VilCap Communities Africa and she is the Principal of Education – Investments at the Omidyar Network
She is a recipient of quite a number of awards in recognition of her positive impact on the society, she was listed among Forbes “30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa” in 2015, was nominated by Future Awards Africa for “Young Person of the Year” category and is a 2015 inductee to the African Leadership Network.
Teresa Mbagaya is the change we seek in the African educational sector, as she continues to be an inspiration to the average African youth.
