A Practical Partnership: Injini and Mindjoy in Action
Injini is a key player in the EdTech ecosystem in Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing together research, partnerships and practical programs to help improve the quality, accessibility and relevance of education across the continent.
They work closely with educators, organizations and EdTech founders who are building solutions for real challenges on the ground, especially in under-resourced communities.
Injini first connected with Mindjoy when the team applied to its EdTech Fellowship Program. Mindjoy was supported by Injini through its acceleration program in 2024 and since then, the relationship has developed further.
This started with an online project management course launched and run by Injini and intended for education-focused NPOs in South Africa. Within the course, Mindjoy’s AI tutor provided personalized, on-demand support to participants. The collaboration was a great success, creating potential for more joint ventures in the future.
Together, Injini and Mindjoy are exploring how AI can make learning more accessible, more responsive, and better suited to the diverse realities of education across Africa - one step at a time.
The Challenge
In 2025, Injini implemented Mindjoy’s learning platform into its first ever project management course designed to assist education-focused NPOs in South Africa. Having worked with Mindjoy previously in a partnership capacity, Kelly Gifford was eager to introduce Mindjoy’s platform from the get go, expecting that a challenge they would most likely face with learners would be catering to a variety of very different course participants.
The course was designed for people working in grassroots education NPOs, many of whom were stepping into project management roles for the first time and came with very different levels of technical confidence, access and prior experience.
While Injini had strong course content, delivering it was, at times, difficult, for a plethora of reasons. Participants often studied outside normal working hours and needed quick answers to practical, context-specific questions. Without real-time support, there was a high risk of learners getting stuck, losing momentum and eventually dropping out.
“If we didn’t have Mindjoy, I anticipate we would have had a greater drop off rate.” - Kelly Gifford'
Providing that level of support manually would have required significant additional human resources, particularly for answering questions, marking assessments and supporting learners during evenings and weekends. This would’ve required a lot of personnel and, unavoidably, it would’ve been significantly more expensive.
Kelly noted that without a solution like Mindjoy, Injini would likely have seen higher drop-off rates and a much heavier operational and financial burden on the team and the organization respectively, making it challenging for this course to be as accessible.
Meeting Every Learner Where They Are: 24/7 Access and Reducing Language Barriers
Mindjoy was integrated directly into the online course by means of providing students with access to an AI tutor, supporting five self-paced modules alongside weekly live sessions.
The AI tutor was available to participants 24/7, offering instant, personalized responses based on each learner’s context, whether they were school leaders, youth development workers, or staff at rural or urban organizations.
Participants could ask questions freely and receive immediate guidance on how to apply course concepts within their own environments. Mindjoy was also used to review and provide feedback on assessments for around 70 learners, dramatically reducing the time and effort required from Injini’s team.
Importantly, the AI didn’t just support individuals; it also generated data on common learning gaps, which allowed Kelly and her colleagues to tailor live sessions more effectively and focus on areas where participants were struggling, rather than delivering generic follow-ups that would’ve had far less impact and utility.
Although some learners were initially sceptical about using AI, the Mindjoy team ran an introductory session that helped demystify the technology and reduce anxiety. Once participants became comfortable, engagement was high, with some learners interacting so frequently with the AI tutor that it became a core part of their learning process.
The Impact
The impact of Mindjoy was felt across multiple levels of the program.
For learners, the biggest benefit was accessibility. Having a safe, non-judgemental space to ask questions at any time helped maintain confidence and momentum, especially for those studying at unconventional hours or lacking formal academic support.
Kelly highlighted how valuable this was for participants who might otherwise hesitate to speak up or fall behind.
For Injini, Mindjoy significantly reduced the human resource load while improving course quality. Faster feedback loops meant learners stayed engaged for longer, and the real-time insights into learner progress allowed for rapid adjustments to course delivery. Rather than reacting to problems late (or even at the conclusion of the course), the team could address gaps as they emerged and make adjustments in real time.
More broadly, Kelly sees strong potential for Mindjoy in the African education context - now even more so, having seen the platform being used within her own organization.
The ability to adapt content quickly to different settings, support learners with varying levels of confidence and potentially overcome language and accessibility barriers aligns closely with Injini’s mission to improve the quality, relevance and reach of education across the continent.
