EduSphere XR

Redefining Education Through Immersive Technology

Education is the single most powerful tool for economic transformation, yet Africa's education systems face challenges that traditional approaches cannot solve at the speed or scale required. With 250 million school-age children and a teacher deficit of 17 million, the continent needs radical innovation — not incremental improvement. Eruba Group's EduSphere XR vertical invests in the technologies that will make world-class education accessible to every learner on the continent.

Historical Context: Education in Africa

Post-independence Africa made remarkable strides in expanding education access. Between 1960 and 2000, primary school enrollment across Sub-Saharan Africa rose from 36% to 60%. The Millennium Development Goals further accelerated progress, and by 2015, primary enrollment had reached 80%.

However, enrollment does not equal learning. The "learning crisis" identified by the World Bank in 2018 revealed a disturbing truth: 87% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are in "learning poverty" — unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10. The problem is not just access; it is quality. Overcrowded classrooms (average class size exceeds 60 in many countries), undertrained teachers, outdated curricula, and a severe shortage of learning materials have created a system where attendance yields minimal outcomes.

The first wave of EdTech in Africa, beginning around 2012, focused on content delivery — platforms like Eneza Education and Ubongo brought educational content to feature phones and TV screens. The second wave, which Eruba Group is investing in, leverages immersive technologies — virtual reality, augmented reality, AI-driven adaptive learning, and simulation-based training — to fundamentally transform how learning happens.

The Present: Technology Meets Learning Science

Africa's EdTech market is valued at approximately $5 billion, with projections to reach $20 billion by 2030. The sector has attracted over $1 billion in venture funding since 2019, with standout companies demonstrating that technology can deliver measurable learning outcomes at scale.

Our portfolio company LearnSphere is pioneering the use of extended reality (XR) in African classrooms. Using low-cost VR headsets and smartphone-based AR, LearnSphere delivers immersive science and vocational training experiences. A student in a rural Ugandan school can perform virtual chemistry experiments, explore the human circulatory system in 3D, or practice welding techniques in a safe simulated environment.

Early results are extraordinary: students using LearnSphere's XR modules score 40% higher on assessments compared to traditional instruction, and retention rates improve by 60%. The platform now serves 200,000 students across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Nigeria.

The Need: Africa's Education Emergency

The urgency cannot be overstated:

• Teacher Deficit: Sub-Saharan Africa needs 17 million additional teachers by 2030 to achieve universal primary and secondary education. Training them through traditional channels would take decades.
• Skills Mismatch: 60% of African employers report difficulty finding workers with the right skills. Curricula focused on rote memorization are failing to develop critical thinking, creativity, and technical skills demanded by modern economies.
• Vocational Training: 90% of African workers are in the informal sector. Most have never received formal vocational training. Immersive simulation can deliver practical skills training without expensive equipment or facilities.
• Gender Gap: In many regions, girls' enrollment drops by 50% between primary and secondary school. Digital and remote learning can help bridge this gap by offering flexible, culturally sensitive education options.
• Language Barriers: Education is often delivered in colonial languages that students don't speak at home. AI-powered translation and multilingual content delivery can dramatically improve comprehension.

The Problems We're Solving

EdTech in Africa is not simply about digitizing existing curricula — it requires reimagining education for the African context:

• Offline-First Design: Our portfolio companies build products that work with limited or no internet connectivity, using local content caching and progressive web app (PWA) architectures.
• Low-Cost Hardware: We invest in companies creating affordable XR hardware designed for African conditions — dust-resistant, solar-chargeable, and built for shared use in schools.
• Localized Content: AI-powered content generation and translation tools create learning materials in local languages, aligned with national curricula across multiple countries.
• Teacher Augmentation: Rather than replacing teachers, our investments augment their capabilities. AI teaching assistants handle grading, provide personalized feedback, and identify struggling students early.

Our Impact by the Numbers

The Future: Every Classroom, Connected and Immersive

By 2035, Africa will have more school-age children than any other continent. The education systems we build today will determine whether this represents a demographic dividend or a demographic challenge. We believe immersive technology is the only approach that can deliver quality education at the scale Africa requires.

Our roadmap includes:

• Expanding XR-based vocational training to target 1 million informal sector workers by 2028
• Partnering with ministries of education in 10 countries to integrate XR modules into national curricula
• Deploying AI tutors that provide personalized instruction in 20+ African languages
• Creating a pan-African digital credentials platform that enables skills-based hiring

How Far Are We from Our Goal?

We set an ambitious target in 2020: reach 2 million students and demonstrate measurable learning improvements across 10 countries by 2030. With 200,000 students across 4 countries, we are at 10% of our student target and 40% of our country target. LearnSphere's partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Education — which will deploy XR modules in 500 schools — alone could add 300,000 students by end of 2026. We are confident in reaching 1 million students by 2027.