Star Cloud, a tech-based education publisher, is one of the Estonian private sector entities expanding into Kenya through collaborations with local educational partners.

These partnerships aim to modernize learning delivery at early childhood, primary, and secondary levels in alignment with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) through digital libraries.

“Assisted by Estonian honorary consul Ms Kadri Humal-Ayal, we identified the challenges in Kenya’s education market and realized the significant potential for our product and expertise here,” said Antii Rammo, founder of StarCloud’s Kenyan subsidiary, Opiq.

Opiq, which established its Kenyan office last year, has successfully digitized CBC-approved textbooks from various local educational publishers onto its cloud-based learning platform.

The company has onboarded 50 schools onto its platform, accessible nationwide, with individual students also subscribing.

In an interview, Ms Humal-Ayal mentioned that Estonia’s ride-hailing app, Bolt, was expanding partnerships with local entities to enable drivers and riders on its platform to acquire electric vehicles.

“This partnership aims to benefit both parties through the acquisition of new skills and increased earnings,” she explained.

Enterprise Estonia, which established its Nairobi offices last year, has played a crucial role in connecting Estonian businesses with Kenyan entrepreneurs and facilitating public sector entities to attract new investments, including in education.

During the event attended by nine edutech companies from Estonia in Nairobi, Estonian Deputy Minister for Economic and Development Co-operation, Mariin Ratnik highlighted her government’s establishment of a public-private sector partnership forum, Enterprise Estonia, to support Estonian businesses globally and attract foreign investments.

“Estonia recently sponsored 20 Kenyan students for information technology and communication training in Estonian universities and companies. Upon their return, they will localize popular Estonian game apps to suit local tastes and cultures,” noted the Deputy Minister, showcasing the positive outcomes of the two-year agreement between Kenya and Estonia.

Organizations represented at the event included Education Estonia, Estonian ICT Cluster, Triumf Health, Star Cloud, ADM Interactive, Nortal, AdoptoMedia, Wisercat Software, and Digiotouch.