A Nigerian startup, Ribara Analytica, has stated that it aims to close the growing gap between the skills universities teach and those employers demand, as it secured the backing of the Mastercard Foundation.
According to a statement, the labour market intelligence platform for higher education emerged among 12 early-stage companies selected for the fourth cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in Nigeria.
Ribara Analytica uses labour market data to map the skills employers seek against university curricula, track graduates’ outcomes after leaving school and provide institutions with evidence to improve their programmes.
The startup also connects graduates with employers through its Ribara Talent Bridge platform, where companies can search for verified graduates, assess candidates using diagnostic skill scores and match them with available jobs.
The initiative seeks to give employers a clearer understanding of graduates’ abilities beyond academic certificates while helping universities align their curricula with workplace requirements.
CcHUB, which runs the fellowship in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, selected Ribara Analytica and 11 other startups based on the strength of their products and their understanding of the communities they serve.
“Cohort 4 was designed around the belief that the most important decisions about inclusion are made at the earliest stages of innovation. Our role is to help them test, refine, and generate evidence for their solutions while building sustainable businesses that can scale their impact,” a managing partner at CcHUB, Nissi Madu, said.
The fourth cohort includes startups working across education and workforce data, disability inclusion, access to learning for underserved and rural communities, displacement-affected populations, and opportunities for girls and young women.
The other selected startups are TrainDTrainer, Talktu, Dawn AI Study, Efiwe, Ileemore Technologies, Skillup Africa, Lena, Heels and Tech, NursePadi, Skilladder AI and Lalitah.
Ribara Analytica was co-founded by Prof. Ada Peter, a Harvard University graduate who has held several leadership positions at Covenant University.
She also chairs the African Higher Education Curriculum Conference, an initiative of Ribara that brings together vice chancellors, directors of academic planning and heads of career services with senior professionals from consulting, oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, telecommunications and fintech.
The conference seeks to promote continuous and evidence-based curriculum reforms that can make higher education more responsive to changing labour market needs.
Under the fellowship, each participating startup will undergo an 18-month programme and receive up to $100,000 in equity-free funding.
The programme will also provide technical support in product development, communications and business strategy, alongside access to CcHUB’s sector network and a framework for documenting the impact of the startups’ solutions.
Ribara Analytica’s selection comes as Nigerian employers continue to seek graduates with practical and specialised skills that can meet changing workplace demands.
By combining employer demand data, graduate outcomes and university curriculum information, the startup aims to provide institutions with the evidence needed to identify skills gaps and improve the transition from the classroom to the workplace.
