{"id":617991,"date":"2024-04-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/how-edtech-startup-sprints-is-addressing-the-tech-skills-gap-in-the-middle-east-and-africa\/"},"modified":"2024-04-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T00:00:00","slug":"how-edtech-startup-sprints-is-addressing-the-tech-skills-gap-in-the-middle-east-and-africa","status":"publish","type":"blackboard","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/blackboards\/how-edtech-startup-sprints-is-addressing-the-tech-skills-gap-in-the-middle-east-and-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"How edtech startup Sprints is addressing the tech skills gap in the Middle East and Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

How one startup is working to bridge the tech talent gap in MEA:<\/strong> Egyptian edtech startup Sprints<\/a> bills itself as the Middle East and Africa\u2019s (MEA) first edtech startup that offers hiring programs that assure employment. Amid mounting<\/a>investor<\/a>interest<\/a> in the concept, Enterprise sat down with co-founder and CEO Ayman Bazaraa (LinkedIn<\/a>) to learn more about the origin story of the company, the approaches it takes to make its students employable, and the uses it makes of artificial intelligence to transform the learning experience.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar? <\/strong>You may have read about the startup last week in Enterprise, when we reported on them<\/a> closing a USD 3 mn bridge funding round.<\/p>\n

What the company does:<\/strong> Founded in 2019 by Bazaraa and Bassam Sharkawy (LinkedIn<\/a>), Sprints works to bridge the tech talent gap in the MEA region by offering online training programs to software developers, as well as crash courses in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, and cloud computing, among others. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe name Sprints comes from the idea of an agile mindset,\u201d<\/strong> Bazaraa explains. Each learning journey is composed of any number of sprints where one sprint lasts one week and represents one deliverable that is tailored to one project and one customer, Bazaraa told us. \u201cCourses can last one sprint, two sprints, fourteen sprints, however many. It\u2019s a fast process, but it\u2019s iterative. This stimulates the business environment of any technology company.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a large gap between the Egyptian education system and the needs of employers:<\/strong> \u201cA high proportion of Egyptian youth receive an education, but many graduates end up unemployed, or working in something outside of their studies. At the same time, companies struggle to grow because of difficulties in sourcing talent.\u201d Bazaraa told us. Egypt\u2019s workforce is keen and companies want to grow, but \u201cthere is a mismatch between the two sides,\u201d Bazaraa added.<\/p>\n

The motto and business model for the company is learn, work, and pay later.<\/strong> Students gain access to the course initially at no cost and only pay for the course after securing a job. \u201cWe work at scale with thousands of learners, so of course we account for some learners not getting hired. However, our hiring rate is 86%,\u201d Bazaraa said.<\/p>\n

Sprints has also partnered with the ministries of communication and social<\/strong> solidarity to finance the programs:<\/strong> \u201cOnce Sprints has assessed and vetted a learner, the ministry covers the costs of the training,\u201d Bazaraa explained, adding that \u201cthe learner pays back the money at a zero-interest rate over three years.\u201d The company has also worked overseas, embarking on projects in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Germany, Netherlands, and the US.<\/p>\n

Private businesses are also an important part of their revenue streams: <\/strong>Sprints also receives money from businesses, \u201cwho pay Sprints a recruitment fee or finder fee when hiring our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI is crucial to all industries:<\/strong> \u201cIf a company says it doesn't need AI, it's wrong. I mean, even when setting up a kiosk on the street, I can give you use cases for AI,\u201d Bazaraa argues. \u201cAt Sprints, we help to identify all the possible use cases of AI within a company and we help companies and individuals deploy the technology most effectively.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sprints will hear from employers first when preparing educational programs.<\/strong> \u201cWe call ourselves market driven because we listen to the needs of businesses while developing our courses and content. So, if there were 1k applicants for a position and only five people got the job, we look for the reasons that the others got rejected,\u201d Bazaraa shared. \u201cThe problem with institutes and schools is that they don\u2019t listen to the needs of the businesses. Businesses are the customers here, not the parents of the university students.\u201d <\/p>\n

What are the biggest skills that are missing from the market in Egypt?<\/strong> Insufficient English language skills and communication skills, as well as critical thinking skills, are the biggest reason that people do not get hired in Egypt, Bazaraa said. \u201cThis is why we create our content around character building and people skills. There are 30 attributes or data points with which we measure the learners, and with which learners can track their own progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investors are seeing the potential in Sprints. <\/strong>The company has raised USD 5 mn so far from multiple investors including Disruptech Ventures, EdVentures, Falak Startups, and Cubit Ventures. \u201cWe\u2019ve also received help from multiple angel investors who have been present from the very beginning. They are possibly the most helpful people for us thanks to their networks and advice,\u201d Bazaraa added. <\/p>\n

The investments are fuelling big expansion plans. <\/strong>Sprints\u2019 community so far amounts to 25k learners and this year the company plans to target 60k new users in new markets, Bazaraa tells us.<\/p>\n

While mainly Egypt-based for now, Sprints is growing its global reach. <\/strong>\u201cSo far, we mostly operate from Egypt,\u201d but Sprints has \u201cpartners in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria, and through these partners we can acquire businesses, clients, and so on,\u201d Bazaars told us. \u201cOur first physical expansion happened around two weeks ago when we opened in the UAE, and we\u2019re also working to open in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Jordan.\u201d <\/p>\n

And Sprints\u2019 students are also heading overseas:<\/strong> \u201cWhen it comes to the global companies we want to hire our graduates, Europe and the US are the major markets that we work in,\u201d Bazaars said.<\/p>\n

Ambitious targets:<\/strong> The company wants to hire 200k students in ten countries, Bazaraa told us. \u201cWe also want to become the first company to fully utilize AI for the whole end-to-end journey, from our pupil acquisition, assessment, content design, content creation, deliverables, correcting assignments, personalizing the learning journey \u2014 all of it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sprints wants to educate 1 bn people in the next ten years.<\/strong> \u201cWe want to be present in every country in the world. When you ask anyone in tech where they got their skills and how they found a job, we want people to say they learned from Sprints,\u201d Bazaraa says. \u201cOr when you ask someone where they want to learn, they\u2019d say that I want to learn with Sprints.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

Your top education stories for the week:<\/strong><\/p>\n