Hyperion Gains Support from the University of Cambridge

Hyperion has become one of the first African social enterprises to be selected by the University of Cambridge Social Ventures Programme for a 12 month incubator programme. The Cambridge Social Ventures Programme seeks to “support a whole range of businesses that have positive social and environmental impacts.”

 

Cambridge University writes that “Hyperion Development is Africa’s first online course platform enabling aspiring programmers to learn the most desired tech skills, from human tutors, for free. Cambridge Social Ventures believes that the Hyperion model, already delivering huge social impact in southern Africa, has the potential to have significant impact where inequality exists.”

 

 

The programme further describes the impact that Hyperion as follows:

 

Across southern Africa, Hyperion is:

• Increasing accessibility to learning
• Improving career prospects for computer science students from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Improving national computer science education and standards

 

 

This established social enterprise has created a market for online computer science courses that enable undergraduates studying computer science to start from a more level playing field. The speed of its growth, coupled with its established USPs of ‘human tutors’ (when people register for a course they know they get support from a human tutor), and a delivery model that takes into account the limitations of bandwidth in the African market, protect that market share.

 

More information about Hyperion’s work with Cambridge Social Ventures can be read here:https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/entrepreneurship/programmes/cambridge-social-ventures/our-ventures/hyperion-development/.

 

Author: Riaz Moola

Date originally published: 26/05/16