ACES winner dials up literacy rates in Africa

A not-for profit organisation that helps increase literacy rates, SpellAfrica, is looking to the future. “Ten years from now, I see myself running one of Africa’s biggest educational organisations, making an impact on the lives of millions of youths,” said its founder, Elvis Austins.

With SpellAfrica, Austins has turned the mobile phone into an educational aid. “mVocabulary, short for mobile vocabulary, is a text messaging service that provides English lessons daily to over 50,000 subscribers in Benin city, Nigeria,” Austins said. “We help subscribers learn English by sending a word, its meaning and usage.”

The business potential is self-evident: alongside South and West Asia, sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest literacy rates in the world.

In practical terms, Austins plans to create the biggest database of mobile phone numbers in Africa. With smartphone use multiplying across the continent, he wants to develop a mobile app, which will reduce the cost of sending messages to customers.

Austins, who holds a diploma in data processing from the University of Benin, started the company with the help of friends, family and support from Action10 International, an NGO based in Sweden. Today, SpellAfrica has four full-time staff and over 120 student volunteers.

The company was awarded the inaugural Global Innovation Award at the 2014 Science|Business Academic Enterprise Award (ACES), held at the Technical University of Berlin earlier this month (7 October). “The award proves to me that I’m doing something very right,” said Austins.

The award, supported by ESASTAP Plus, saw two other finalists, both from South Africa, competing, Mellowcabs, developer of an electric taxi for short journeys, and Solar Plus Energy Investments, a producer of solar energy systems for private households.

The award is open to start-ups formed outside the European Union, the G8 countries and the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) associated countries.

Inspiration to learn

“At the age of 20, I still didn’t know how to spell my own name,” said Austins.  He found inspiration in the Hollywood film “Akeelah and the Bee” which told the story of an eleven year old girl who starts winning spelling bee competitions. With the aid of a pocket-sized dictionary, Austins began making piecemeal steps towards literacy: a word a day.

Success followed but Austins wanted others to benefit from his idea too. He thought about developing an app for smartphones but, given the relative abundance of standard mobile phones, the text message format struck him as more suitable.

To get things up and running, Austins went through his address book and pulled out names of family and friends. Before long they were receiving daily texts from him. After two weeks, the bulk SMS credits he had bought were exhausted, so he started the process of collecting initial feedback – which was overwhelmingly positive.

But the idea nearly did not go forward. “After visiting the company registration office of my country to share my idea with them and also to inquire into the cost of registering an NGO, I was really shocked to hear that it would cost about $1,000 (almost €800). It looked like the end of the road,” Austins said.

Looking for an alternative, Austins found himself one day browsing the website of the charity commission of New Zealand. He discovered that it was possible to register an NGO in that country without a fee.

There was an inevitable catch: the application form needed the endorsement of a New Zealander. Although he had never been outside Africa, Austins was resourceful enough to connect with a woman from New Zealand through Facebook. After two months of correspondence, he had built up enough friendship and trust to ask for her help. 

The rest fell into place: he received pro bono assistance with designing and setting up the website and SpellAfrica got off the ground.

In a sentence, the advice he offers would-be entrepreneurs speaks to his own experiences. “The road is not going to be easy; you will need passion, dedication and a resilient spirt.”