Zaio: A Platform that Teaches Coding and Gives Learners Paid-for, Practical Experience
Meet members of the Zaio team — Ntuthuko Mpaku, the Internal Tech Lead and Akhil Boddu, Co-Founder and Client Relations and Project Manager. They are part of Zaio’s team of five, all of whom are final year students at the University of Cape Town.
Founded in Cape Town, South Africa, Zaio is a platform that teaches people how to code for free and gives them paid-for, practical experience.
Ntuthuko and Akhil have just completed Phase 1 of the Injini Incubation Programme — a 6-week period during which the startups are connected to a network of experts in education, tech, business development and EdTech entrepreneurship and have the opportunity to further develop their business.
Find out more about Zaio’s journey leading up to their selection into the Injini Programme, as explained by their Co-Founder and CEO, Mvelo Hlophe.
What traction do you have so far?
We have recorded over R500 000 in revenue and completed 10 projects. We are a Red Bull Amaphiko social enterprise and have also created 70 part-time jobs and have 2000 sign-ups. Currently, 60 people have gone through and completed our developer learning journeys.
What is the story and inspiration behind starting Zaio?
Zaio, originally called something else, was conceived during a conversation between myself and a friend in November 2017. He needed practical experience to apply for an internship at a big tech company. His academic marks were great, but he had never used what he had learnt at university practically. At the same time, we realized that there were many entrepreneurs who needed access to affordable software development services. So we decided to connect students with the same issue as my friend, with these entrepreneurs.
Over time, we saw the need to teach the students industry-relevant coding languages on top of the ones they are taught in college. We noticed a growing need for people to equip themselves for future jobs, though this material is not easily accessible. We, therefore, decided to focus on democratizing the access to learning this skill which was the basis for our current business model.
Zaio exists as it is today because learning essential skills is highly commercialized. We want people who otherwise would not have access to learning how to code, able to do so for free. With these skills, they can make a better living and prepare themselves for the 4th Industrial Revolution — in a country like South Africa and in the rest of the continent, it will see many losing their jobs. This is a link for the pitch Zaio gave at the Injini Launch Event.
What is the unmet market need or challenge that Zaio is addressing?
- Lack of affordable, quality junior developers that enter the labour market
- Startups fail to attract talent from larger companies
- Large companies also spend huge amounts of money to get subpar talent
How does Zaio solve the proposed problem?
Zaio is a gamified platform that allows anyone to learn how to code for free. They go through theory-based learning journeys and get part-time work experience opportunities at the end of their gaming journey. We are also growing the pool of talent on the African continent so recruiters and innovators have relatively lower costs in acquiring this talent.
Why did you want to join the Injini Incubation Programme?
We are an EdTech Solution first before anything else. We want to align ourselves with their offering and for Injini to help us get our learning journey more robust and accredited.
