Alef Education has developed a digital learning platform that aims to transform education for the 21st century learner.

It began in 2016 as a micro-school concept, with eight grade-six students (four of each gender). The Alef team designed and developed an immersive program that made them want to learn in an enjoyable and engaging way.

The program provides a holistic view of a standard curriculum, with every subject represented. It captures formative and summative assessments for each lesson in real time.

“Teachers can draw a relation about how students are doing between subject areas,” says Geoffrey Alphonso, the CEO of Alef Education. “By capturing that data, you can identify that, for example, if a student is struggling in math, it’s because they’re missing a concept through a lack of proficiency in English. Basically, it helps identify the gaps that students are facing in a class setting. The system is smart enough to recognise what those gaps are.”

Almost four years later, the program is used in 140 public schools in the UAE, servicing 50,000 students and 14 private schools. It has also been successfully deployed in four charter schools in the State of New York.

“In Abu Dhabi, you have access to resources, infrastructure, and talent from all over the world — not a lot of people can say they work in a company with 40 different nationalities,” says Alphonso. “It’s also a very stable place and there’s an appetite to do something different. Those are key ingredients for any startup.”