EdTech Startup Henon Resumes Adaptive Learning Ambitions After Detour in School Management Systems

Five years after operating as a provider of school management platforms (SMS), Henon Edtech Solutions is circling back to its founding mission to be a premier hub for E-learning. The Ed-tech startup pivoted into school management systems when confronted with financial and operational hurdles in educational content creation. While the pivot turned out to be fortuitous with over 300 schools and 40,000 parents using the platform, the Startup is returning to its roots with new muscle.

Henon initially set out to develop an E-learning platform centered on adaptive learning which involves data-driven instruction to personalize learning experiences by adjusting content and pacing based on individual student needs and performance. Its Founder and CEO Michael Kahasay says they wanted to help in creating students capable of critical thinking, quick problem solving, and creative endowments.

“We wanted to radically improve educational quality in Ethiopian schools,” he told Shega.

Established in the early days of the pandemic, Henon aimed to introduce a gamified pedagogical approach to the nascent Ed-tech sector. However, when the Startup began creating content, they encountered two major hurdles. Nearly 40 million birr in investments would be required to finance their content objectives and they lacked sufficient information on their customer base for an effective product. Prompted by these setbacks, Henon went on to develop a comprehensive SMS platform that manages admissions, attendance, class schedules, facilitates parental communication and streamline school fee administration.

“This pivot has helped us build a huge customer base,” Michael says.

Over 300 schools across Ethiopia including in Tigray and Oromia Regional States have adopted Henon’s SMS including some located in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa City administrations. The SMS platform has even seeped into higher education with 20 colleges using it in the capital.

Henon’s strategic pivot has entailed partnerships with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Wegagen, and Lion Bank to incorporate payment solutions into the SMS. Around 1-billion-birr worth of transactions have been facilitated through the Startup’s partnerships with the three commercial banks, according to the Founder.

While several ed-tech startups have attempted to leverage technology in a bid to evolve Ethiopia’s education landscape, most struggle to make any significant headway. Even state-led efforts to ignite education upheaval with technology have faltered. The university entrance pass rates of less 5% in some years could even suggest a dip in education quality. Ed-tech companies have tried to bridge gaps in Ethiopia’s education with an assortment of digital tools, approaches, and delivery mechanisms despite prevailing constraints in infrastructure and digital literacy.

Henon has already produced 3,000 hours of content and demo-tested it in selected kindergartens as it looks to launch an app in the coming few weeks. However, financing remains a concern even with the revenue generated from the SMS platform to develop more innovative educational content.

Still, Michael remains optimistic about the prospects pinning accelerated progress on their acquired customer base, well-developed market understanding, and experience in automating several processes.

“If we are to think about an e-learning platform, we should first automate manual administrative processes,” Michael stated. “And now, with the automation and the number of users we have, we can easily bring back our adaptive learning,” he added.