CDL Group has announced that it will launch, The Walimu Co., a project that aims to empower every public school teacher in Kenya with a laptop. The teachers will also get access to internet, certified professional development and solar power for Ksh. 1800 – Ksh. 2500 per month.
The organization has partnered with global tech companies, regional banks and financiers (including RentCo & House of Procurement) in the program. Teachers will be able lease to own the bundled laptops for a period of 1 to 3 years.
The Walimu Co.’s goal is to make digital education accessible and affordable for all African teachers by leveraging funding from top brands like Microsoft and HP, as well as Intel and Dell.
The first phase of this project will be launching 3,000 devices in Kenya, with the aim of scaling to up to 200,000. The company has also partnered with Mirai Partners to provide teacher development programs and training, with Safaricom to distribute data bundles, solar power systems, and with Rentco.
Nyla Tariq, Founder of Casa da Louisa (CDL), Co-founder or Mirai Partners and Founder of Louisa said “I’m the daughter, god-daughter, best-friend of teachers and a teacher myself. Teachers do god’s work, yet so little of that work is ever recognized or acknowledged by the world. We’ve started The Walimu Co. so that teachers can use digital tools to grasp the same opportunities as everyone else, uplift their families and most importantly recognize their own power. There is no better solution to empower a generation than having informed, inspired and digitally informed teachers.”
The program will be rolling out across East Africa, including Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. The Mwalimu Co is an opportunity for growth for all teachers who need professional support with educational resources which are easy, accessible, and adorable. We believe that the future of our upcoming generations is in our hands, so we are committed to using every resource at our disposal to ensure that teachers are equipped with the essential tools to raise those generations.