Twelve Ghanaian owned EdTech startups selected for the 2025 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship, implemented by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST Africa), have concluded their acceleration with a nationwide learner reach of 74,060 learners and 1,152 educators.

After six months of acceleration, the EdTech Fellowship program culminated with a Demo Day, where the cohort presented the advancements in their solutions and showcased the profound impact they were making on education.

Through the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship, the Founders benefited through mentorship, strategic business development support, access to a strong network of industry experts and investors, enabling them to refine their solutions and scale their impact across Ghana while addressing the country’s education challenges with both online and offline, technology-enabled solutions.

“We are incredibly proud of the dedication, innovation, and resilience demonstrated by each of the twelve companies in this second cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship," said Angela Ankomah Duho, Senior Programs Manager, MEST Africa.

Their commitment to leveraging technology to improve educational outcomes is truly inspiring. This program is designed not just to build businesses, but to build a sustainable and impactful EdTech ecosystem in Ghana, and this cohort has exemplified that mission."

The event drew stakeholders from government, education, and investment communities, underscoring the fellowship’s alignment with Ghana’s vision for a digitally skilled, future-ready workforce.

The achievements and milestones of the Second Cohort have been remarkably significant, with a strong focus on both technical innovation and sustainable growth.

The EdTech Fellows' solutions [add the 12 selected solutions' names & hyperlinks here] have made substantial strides in developing and refining their EdTech products and services, successfully enhancing the user experience and expanding feature sets to meet the needs of learners and educators better.

This foundational work directly enabled considerable market expansion and user growth, empowering these companies to achieve widespread penetration and reach more students, teachers, and educational institutions across Ghana. Crucially, the 2025 cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship focused intensely on impact and sustainability.

Through expert guidance, the companies optimized their business models, which ultimately led to increased learner reach and scaling of their product offerings.

A final, notable outcome of the Fellowship has been the cultivation of invaluable strategic partnerships. These collaborations have been instrumental in fostering a more collaborative and supportive EdTech ecosystem within the region.

The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in Ghana commenced in 2024, in partnership with MEST Africa, as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s EdTech ecosystem and increase access to inclusive, relevant education beyond the classroom through affordable, technology-enabled learning for all.

Through EdTech, young people, including learners with disabilities, those in refugee and displaced persons' settlements, as well as marginalised communities, have the opportunity to learn through locally developed solutions that address the education challenges faced by the country’s young learners.

Beyond Ghana, the EdTech Fellowship is being implemented in eleven other countries across Africa. In 2026, MEST Africa will accelerate the third cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship. Applications are open here.

About MEST Africa

Established in 2008 as the non-profit arm of Meltwater, the Meltwater Foundation drives job creation and economic growth in Africa through software entrepreneurship.

Headquartered in Accra, Ghana, the Foundation’s Entrepreneurial Support Organisation - MEST — delivers a full-time, in-person intensive tech-entrepreneurship training to emerging talent from more than 22 African countries and provides early-stage investment to promising ventures.

To extend this impact, the Foundation launched MESTx, a suite of collaborative programs designed and delivered with like-minded partners to expand digital-skills training and startup acceleration across the continent.

Since inception, the Meltwater Foundation has trained 2,000+ entrepreneurs and invested in 90+ startups across the continent, fueling innovation, creating jobs, and shaping Africa’s next generation of tech entrepreneurs.
Visit www.meltwater.org to learn more.

About the Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation is a registered Canadian charity and one of the largest foundations in the world. It works with visionary organisations to advance education and financial inclusion to enable young people in Africa and Indigenous youth in Canada to access dignified and fulfilling work.

Established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company, the Foundation is an independent organisation separate from the company, with offices in Toronto, Kigali, Accra, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Dakar, and Addis Ababa.

Its policies, operations, and program decisions are determined by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and leadership.

For more information on the Foundation, please visit www.mastercardfdn.org

About the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship is an entrepreneurship acceleration program designed to support promising, African EdTech ventures.

Implemented in partnership with innovation hubs and EdTech accelerators across Africa, the Fellowship provides select EdTech companies with critical business and financial support, as well as insight into the science of learning, preparing them for scale, sustainability, and impact.

The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship was launched in 2019 by the Mastercard Foundation through its Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, to partner with 12 Tech Hubs and support over 250 EdTech companies, aiming to reach at least 1.8 million young people by 2025.

For more information about the Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, visit: https://mastercardfdn.org/all/centre-for-innovative-teaching-and-learning-in-ict/ or contact: edtechfellowship@mastercardfdn.org