About Baobab

Closing Africa's
education gap with AI.

Not as a replacement for teachers — but as a force multiplier. Free forever, funded by institutional partnerships.

Our Mission

Education is a right,
not a privilege.

Baobab exists to close Africa's education gap using AI. We believe every child on this continent deserves access to world-class, personalised education — regardless of where they live, what language they speak, or what their family can afford.

We are not building a replacement for teachers. We are building a force multiplier — an AI-powered platform that extends the reach of great teaching to every student who needs it. The platform is free forever, funded entirely by institutional partnerships, not by the students and families who use it.

Why Baobab?

The crisis in numbers.

Sub-Saharan Africa faces the world's largest education gap — and traditional solutions alone cannot close it.

100M+

Children and adolescents out of school across sub-Saharan Africa

9 in 10

Children cannot read proficiently by age 10 in low-income African countries

15M

Additional teachers needed across Africa by 2030 to meet demand

Building more schools alone won't close this gap.

The infrastructure deficit is too large, the teacher shortage too acute, and the population too young and fast-growing. AI-powered personalised learning can reach students that traditional infrastructure cannot — on the devices they already have, in the languages they already speak.

How We're Different

Three principles.
Non-negotiable.

Baobab is built differently because Africa's students deserve different.

🆓

Free, Not Freemium

There is no premium tier. No ads. No data selling. Every student gets the full platform. Baobab is funded by institutional partners, NGOs, and governments — not by the families who need it most.

🌍

Africa-Native

Built for the African context from day one — not adapted from Western curricula. Local languages, local examples, local curriculum alignment. Learning about compound interest uses Rands, not Dollars.

🔓

Open Source

Our curriculum framework will be open source. Education infrastructure should be a public good. Any organisation can build on, adapt, and extend what we create.

04 — Content Foundation

Standing on the shoulders
of giants.

Baobab doesn't reinvent education content — we curate, adapt, and personalise the world's best open educational resources for the African context. All content is licensed under Creative Commons, ensuring it remains free and adaptable.

MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT's entire curriculum, freely available. STEM courses, lecture notes, and problem sets adapted for African students.

CC-BY-NC-SA

OpenStax

Peer-reviewed, openly licensed textbooks used by millions. Mathematics, sciences, business — all free, forever.

CC-BY

Khan Academy

10,000+ video lessons and practice exercises. The foundation of our adaptive learning paths.

CC-BY-NC-SA

African Storybook

Reading materials in dozens of African languages. Building literacy with stories that reflect African life.

CC

Harvard CS50

The world's most popular computer science course, available free on edX. Core to our Technology track.

Free/Open

Siyavula

South African maths and science content aligned with local curricula. Built for the context our students live in.

CC-BY

Open Education Commitment

Baobab's curriculum framework is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA). We believe education infrastructure belongs to everyone. Our AI personalises the path — the knowledge itself is open.

05 — Validation & Standards

Credibility that
matters.

Baobab doesn't operate in isolation. We align with internationally recognised education frameworks and quality standards — because credentials mean nothing if institutions don't recognise them.

UNESCO Open Educational Resources

Aligned with the 2019 UNESCO OER Recommendation. Baobab contributes to and benefits from the global movement for free, quality education.

South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)

Our micro-credentials are designed to map to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), ensuring recognition by South African employers and institutions.

African Union CESA 16-25

Aligned with the Continental Education Strategy for Africa, which prioritises technology-enabled learning and teacher development across the continent.

Creative Commons

All Baobab content carries Creative Commons licensing. We are part of the global open education ecosystem — not a walled garden.

06 — The Team

Built by Imbila.AI

Baobab is an initiative of Imbila.AI, an AI strategy and implementation firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Founded by Craig Leppan, Imbila.AI works at the intersection of artificial intelligence and real-world impact.

Baobab represents our commitment to using AI not just for commercial value, but for social good. We believe the same AI capabilities powering enterprise automation can — and should — power education for the students who need it most.

Our Commitment

Baobab will remain free for every student, forever. This is not a growth strategy or a marketing hook. It is a structural commitment built into how the platform is funded and governed. Students are not the product — they are the purpose.

07 — Get Involved

Join us.

Whether you're a student, parent, educator, or organisation — there's a place for you in the Baobab community.

Join the Waitlist → Partner With Us