Ugandan startup, Fundi Bots which uses robotics training to create and inspire a new generation of students and innovators, is among nine African organizations that will benefit from African Visionary Fund’s $1.5m in funding.
Founded in 2011, Fundi Bots works with schools and communities in Uganda to provide hands-on and project-based STEM education in classrooms. They aim to accelerate equitable science learning in Africa, especially for children in rural and underprivileged areas.
African Visionary Fund says the $1.5m funding commitment is in line with its dedication to supporting African-led organizations “with unrestricted funding has been invigorated by the results that our inaugural cohort has yielded in maximizing entrepreneurial spirit and accelerating impact”.
Fundi Bots and the 8 other organization will be supported over the next three years.
“Our grantmaking process has illuminated a rich, yet untapped talent pipeline that goes underfunded on the continent. There is no shortage of high impact African organizations to support,” said Katie Bunten-Wamaru, co-CEO of African Visionary Fund in a statement.
Solomon Benge, the Founder and Executive Director of Fundi Bots said this funding will be a powerful catalyst for their goal of reaching 1 million students by 2030.
The work the @FundiBots team does to transform and accelerate learning is incredibly important, especially for Africa's underserved youth, so it's always exciting when new partners see the potential and pledge their support!
— King (@solomonking) December 15, 2021
Thank you @TheAVFund for believing in our work.
Benge created the robotics training center to inspire a generation of practical minds that will be problem solvers. In the process of teaching kids how to build robots, they also learn electronics, computer programing, mechanical engineering and life skills like leadership, discipline and project management.
As of 2019, some 4,500 students in Uganda had been reached in a network of 75 schools with 2 regional centers.
The other beneficiaries from the African Visionary Fund funding are; ACADES which provides a platform for smallholder farmers to engage in agribusiness in Malawi; AkiraChix, which bridges the global gender gap in tech by providing high-potential African women with market-ready technology skills; Friendship Bench, which provides sustainable mental healthcare rooted in Zimbabwean communities.
Others are Kajo-Keji Health Institute, a South Sudanese startup that addresses the severe shortage of medical personnel by educating high potential health care workers; Kidame Mart, which empowers rural female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia to provide last mile distribution for fast-moving consumer goods that enhance people’s standard of living; Msichana Initiative, which envisions a Tanzanian society where the rights of girls are safeguarded and advanced through empowerment, advocacy, and policy reform.
Also to benefit is This-Ability, a social enterprise focused on advancing Disability Rights and Inclusion in Kenya, and WAVE, which tackles youth unemployment by getting young people work-ready through skills development and helping employers find untapped talent for their business.
The African Visionary Fund is a pooled grantmaking mechanism that channels unrestricted funding to high-impact African social changemakers, transforming development across the continent while simultaneously tackling inequities, injustices and power imbalances in grantmaking.
