Tutorbot AI Among 12 Start-Ups Selected for Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship

When Peter Chege founded TutorBot AI, he set out to close a gap that many learners with hearing impairments face every day: the gap between being present in a classroom and being able to participate fully in learning.

He understood that the barriers often extend beyond the classroom itself. Teachers who understand sign language may not always be available, and learning materials may not be presented in accessible formats.

In addition, in the remote and underserved areas, poor internet connectivity can also place digital learning beyond the reach of many students.

This is the reason why Chege created Tutorbot AI to help learners access educational content, prepare for examinations, and communicate more easily. It is designed particularly for learners with hearing impairments, including those who rely on sign language as their primary form of communication.

“Our goal is to use artificial intelligence to address some of the learning challenges faced by people with hearing impairments. Through Tutorbot AI, learners can prepare for examinations, access educational content, and communicate more easily through sign language and chat,” said Chege, Founder of Tutorbot AI.

Through the platform, learners can interact with study material from tutors and receive support as they learn, therefore reducing time wastage. The platform also supports sign language learning, helping learners, teachers, and other users communicate more effectively and understand one another. Its chat function provides another simple channel through which users can exchange information and seek learning support.

For Chege, the value of the platform lies not only in the technology behind it but also in its ability to give learners greater confidence and independence.

“We have seen an encouraging response from learners. This design is helping to reduce the learning gap by giving users another way to access content, communicate, and learn at their own pace,” he said.

The platform also addresses one of the most persistent challenges facing digital education in Africa: limited internet access. Tutorbot AI can operate through offline artificial intelligence models, allowing learners to access and generate educational content without depending on a continuous internet connection. This makes the platform relevant to schools and communities where connectivity may be unreliable, expensive, or unavailable.

Its offline capability also strengthens data protection by allowing users to access information securely through their devices. According to the Tutorbot AI team, the platform has been trained using relevant educational data so that it can respond to learners’ needs while helping reduce the accessibility and technology barriers that continue to affect education across the continent.

“We developed the platform to work offline because many learners in remote areas do not have reliable internet access. The offline AI model also allows users to keep their information securely on their devices while accessing the learning support they need,” Chege said.

This game-changing platform was selected for Cohort 4 of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in Kenya, implemented by iHUB in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

The latest cohort brings together 12 early-stage Kenyan startups developing education solutions for learners who have often been excluded from technology-enabled learning. Their work focuses on four priority areas: learners living with disabilities, refugees, displaced and underserved communities, and girls and young women.

The selection marks an important step for Tutorbot AI. It gives the team an opportunity to strengthen the platform, test its solution with more users, and expand its reach to learners in different parts of the country. For the fellowship, the AI platform also represents the type of innovation Cohort 4 was designed to support, simply a locally developed solution that places learners who have historically been excluded at the center of its design.

“Innovation has the greatest impact when it begins with the learners who have historically been excluded. Cohort 4 reflects that belief. These founders are tackling some of the most persistent barriers to equitable education through solutions designed with inclusion at their core. Over the next 18 months, our role is to help them test, refine, and generate evidence for their solutions while building sustainable businesses that can scale their impact. Through this support, we are working to ensure no learner is left behind and that these solutions contribute to more inclusive education systems and Africa’s long-term prosperity,” said Nissi Madu, managing partner at iHUB.

The Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship is an entrepreneurship acceleration program that supports promising African education technology companies. It provides participating startups with financial and business support, technical assistance, and insight into the science of learning, helping them prepare their solutions for scale, sustainability, and impact.

Cohort 4 differs from earlier editions of the program. Previous cohorts focused on growth-stage companies through an eight-month acceleration period, while the new cohort will support early-stage startups over an 18-month journey, giving founders more time to test, refine, and build evidence around their solutions.

During this period, each startup will receive up to US$100,000 in equity-free funding. The founders will also receive tailored support in product development, business strategy, communications, and evidence generation through a dedicated pilot framework. They will gain access to iHUB’s network of ecosystem partners, as well as media readiness and stakeholder engagement support to help them validate and scale their solutions.

For Chege, the Fellowship is not simply recognition of what Tutorbot AI has already built. It is an opportunity to turn the platform into a stronger and more widely accessible learning solution and create African solutions to solve African challenges.

“Being selected for the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship gives us an opportunity to improve Tutorbot AI and take the solution to more learners across the country. The support will help us strengthen the platform and address barriers that continue to prevent many learners from benefiting from technology-enabled education,” he said.

Since its launch in Kenya in 2023, the Fellowship has supported 36 education technology companies. Together, these ventures have reached more than 700,000 learners, empowered over 11,000 educators, and partnered with more than 2,100 schools. They have also extended access to learning for more than 6,000 learners with hearing and visual disabilities.

Tutorbot AI’s journey shows what inclusive education technology can look like when it begins with a clear understanding of the learner. Its tools are built around sign-language users. Its content can be accessed offline. Its design reflects the realities of learners who may have been overlooked by conventional education systems.

As TutorBot AI begins its 18-month fellowship journey, its work points to a wider opportunity for education across Africa. Artificial intelligence can do more than digitize existing learning materials. When designed around real barriers, it can help learners communicate, study independently, and participate more fully in education.