Facebook’s Nigeria team testing Sabee educational app to support online learning

Charles Abuede

Sabee, a new educational app targeted at learners across West African countries is ready to be launched by Facebook’s Nigerian team with the aim to connect learners and educators in an online community to make the teaching and learning process more accessible.

This comes after the social media giant disclosed last year that it plans to open an office in Lagos, Nigeria as part of its investments in the African continent while its Nigerian team has been involved in the development of new products, and including other apps like CathUp, a calling app which never survived long enough to become a mainstream product. Emeka Okafor, Facebook’s Product Lead, revealed that Sabee is still a small test designed to help them understand how to build communities that can make education accessible.

In his revelations, Sabee, unlike other apps, is tied to Facebook’s strategic goal of empowering communities across Africa which is hoped will become part of its user base. He also said Facebook’s team is also working to ensure the product supports 2G offerings, serving groups that have a harder time connecting to the Internet.

A bigger picture into the latest development from Facebook points to the fact that the rise in online learning on the back of the

coronavirus will see a boost in Nigeria and across the continent as edtech startups are now seeing bigger boosts in fundings and also helping to reduce the rate of outof-school children in Nigeria.