Jane Ngige

Kenyan education innovator bridging the digital divide for rural girls

Jane Ngige's Edify Africa Foundation has transformed access to education for 50,000+ girls in East Africa through its solar-powered mobile classrooms. Launching in 2016, her initiative provides converted shipping containers equipped with solar panels, computers, and digital learning tools to remote areas lacking electricity or internet. The program's 'Girls Tech Hub' curriculum combines STEM education with entrepreneurship training, recently achieving 92% high school graduation rates in partner communities. Ngige developed a proprietary offline learning platform storing over 10,000 educational resources, accessible via USB drives distributed to schools. Her partnership with Google's Digital Garage initiative expanded this to 12 countries. A 2019 World Bank study showed Edify participants earning 35% higher wages post-graduation compared to control groups. Ngige also pioneered the 'Teacher Tech Champions' program training 1,500 educators in digital pedagogy. Her 2021 book 'Rebooting Education: Powering Girls' Futures in Africa' details her model. The foundation's recent launch of a satellite internet constellation specifically for African schools aims to connect 1 million students by 2025. This MIT Solve Prize winner's work has been profiled in UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report and The Guardian's Africa series.