Yiya Solutions is a Ugandan EdTech organisation re-imagining EdTech to expand educational access to last-mile communities.

In Uganda, over 70% of youths don’t join secondary school, and 4.2 million young people are not in Education, Employment, or vocational Training.

Through Yiya AirLearning, Africa’s first OFFLINE Edtech platform, Yiya delivers interactive STEM, entrepreneurship, and financial-literacy education using Airtel-enabled technologies such as USSD, voice, and basic feature phones, complemented by radio.

The model gives young people a voice in their education, even from very far—using technology and infrastructure that are already widely accessible: radios and feature phones. Learning is high-quality, interactive, and project-based, designed for rural youth and delivered without the internet or smart devices. Teachers respond directly to learners through an online dashboard, while data analysis enables quick, flexible, and data-driven program development.

Since 2020, Yiya has reached nearly 40,000 out-of-school youth across underserved regions of Uganda, with 140,000 unique users, 52% female participation, and 57% of learners out-of-school or NEET. With a 77% course completion rate—far above global MOOC averages—Yiya has demonstrated proven improvements in problem-solving, creativity, resilience, and income generation.

Yiya has been recognized by CNN Inside Africa, Global Partnership for Education, and New Vision, and has won MIT Solve (2020), the Jacob’s Foundation Grand Innovation Prize (2021), the African Union Innovating Education Prize (2021), and the Global EdTech Startup Awards Africa, representing the continent at the BETT Show in London.