TED has financed South Africa’s Eduze to launch an innovative Wi-Fi based technology called CLOX or Cloud in a Box. This technology strives to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world.
CLOX wants to mitigate the frustration Internet users in most African countries face, such as slow speed and the high cost of Internet connection. The technology will enable users to connect to the Internet on a fast connection (without waiting and buffering) and at no data charges.
Eduze becomes the second African startup to receive funding from TED, after Kenya’s BRCK, which also strives at connecting the underserved Internet users on the continent.
TED’s Head of Media Distribution, Deron Triff said, “Eduze has pioneered something extraordinary thanks to its technology, for the first time, entire swaths of the global population will have the ability to connect and explore, to discover and learn. It’s exactly this kind of breakthrough in connectivity we seek in our work to spread ideas to the far corners of the world.”
With TED’s backing, Eduze will also highlight TED Talks to users in Africa and enable them to get inspiration and aspiration from TED’s lists of incredible and insightful speakers.
The startup has also been conducting dry runs with partner institutions like the Tshwane University of Technology, Amogaleng Buses and Maboneng. The partnership focused on facilitating users access education and entertainment content across schools.
Other than TED, Eduze has also partnered with other International and African content publishers to provide the best range of digital content to schools.
“We share TED’s vision; to provide users a digital experience that is compelling, meaningful and accessible. We aim to offer African content producers an innovative and commercially viable distribution channel. Initial pilots are underway, and we look forward to an exciting and progressive year,” said Charlie Beuthin, the MD at Eduze.
“We want to speak to learners in a fresh and inspirational way. It’s about a compelling content offering, provided in a convenient, affordable, fun manner that feeds from a student’s natural curiosity. Eduze will have offering launching across a range of school subjects with a particular focus on Math and Science, with future plans to launch across the continent.”