This year, the Africa Prize Alumni Programme offered Train and Teach grants that support alumni to attend key conferences and share their expertise with Africa Prize alumni and their wider network.
We hear from Dr. Esther Gacicio, CEO of eLearning Solutions and Africa Prize 2018 shortlist, who used this grant to attend the Innovation Africa 2025 Ministerial Summit on Education, ICT, and Skills in Addis Ababa on Wednesday 30 April. At the summit, she unveiled her latest innovation—ElsatHub's 21st Century Soft Skills Programme — reimaging education for a 21st-century Africa.
The Beating Heart of Africa's Education Revolution
Over three packed days, Addis Ababa became the beating heart of Africa’s education transformation. Ethiopia’s Minister for Education opened the summit with a powerful truth: “Africa’s future is not tomorrow. It is what we choose to build today, in every classroom, with every learner.”
Panel after panel revealed the depth of Africa’s challenges: outdated curricula, digitally unprepared teachers, rural schools without electricity, and youth graduating into unemployment. But within those cracks, one thing kept shining through — opportunity.
From Uganda’s Vision 2040 roadmap to Senegal’s inclusive education policies, from South Sudan’s teacher mentoring to Malawi’s digital labs in rural villages, stories of quiet revolutions filled the halls.
In one breakout session, Kenya’s CEMASTEA shared how inquiry-based learning is reshaping STEM classrooms. In another, Ethiopia showcased how over 700,000 students were taking online courses, with plans to introduce AI-assisted examinations. The message was clear: Africa is not waiting; it is evolving.
What's Holding Africa Back? Reflections from the summit
The delegates didn’t shy away from the harsh truths. In Sudan, electricity and devices are still dreams for many learners. In tertiary education, too many graduates leave school with degrees but no practical skills or jobs. Girls are still left behind in STEM across most of the continent. Teachers: the frontline of change, remain undertrained in technology.
But alongside each problem came a solution. Digital Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers. Soft skills embedded in Technical and Vocational Education (TVET). Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) mentorship programmes for girls. EdTech solutions for learners with disabilities. The room wasn’t filled with complaints; it was bursting with solutions.
ElsatHub: Powering Africa's Future with 21st Century Soft Skills
Against this backdrop of challenges and opportunities, Esther delivered a presentation to unveil our new contribution to the solution: ElsatHub’s 21st Century Soft Skills Programme.
This transformative platform is designed to equip Africa’s youth with the human-centred skills necessary for a thriving knowledge economy. Far beyond offering workplace readiness, ElsatHub aims to shape well-rounded individuals who can collaborate, adapt, and lead. Delivered online, the programme blends self-paced modules with interactive journals, group forums, and mentorship. Topics include personal management, Interpersonal relationships, decision-making, managing health, leadership, citizenship, financial literacy, and preparing for the world of work.
ElsatHub reinforced a key summit takeaway: soft skills are the soul of 21st-century learning. As Africa builds digital and technical capacity, these human-centred skills will ensure sustainable, inclusive progress. Esther called on governments, universities, and industries to collaborate in scaling ElsatHub’s impact through licensing, institutional subscriptions, and direct-to-learner access.
Technology evolves. Industries shift. But soft skills endure, enabling our youth not only to find jobs, but to create value, build communities, and transform nations.
Lessons from the Conference: What Africa Must Take Home
Beyond the Ideas and handshakes, Innovation Africa 2025 left participants with hard-earned insights and commitments, including:
- Local Context is Everything: Imported solutions without adaptation will fail
- Partnerships, Not Projects: Real change comes from long-term, shared collaboration.
- Beyond Tech, Building Whole Humans: Innovation also means nurturing soft skills.
- The Time Is Now: The tools and talent are here, we can't wait for perfection.
The conference reinforced a crucial insight: innovation means more than just devices and apps. It’s about building emotionally resilient, socially intelligent young people. Organisations like eLearning Solutions under its ElsatHub programme, were spotlighted for offering African-centric soft skills training like communication, teamwork, resilience that are designed to complement digital fluency and entrepreneurship.
The conference ended, but the work has only just begun. Africa’s educational future will not be built in ministries alone. It will be shaped by innovators, teachers, coders, content creators, and young people who refuse to accept that where they were born determines how far they go.
So to every young African with a dream to teach, to build, to code, to create — your time is now.