South Africa’s Inclusive Solutions, a supplier of assistive tech and education resources is developing a home-language learning tool for early years and foundation phase concepts, hoping to contribute to improving the literacy crisis in the country.
Founded in 2020 by a mom who started importing products for her disabled daughter, and since acquired and run by Lisa and Ed Ellis, who returned to South Africa after many years of experience working in the same industry overseas, Inclusive Solutions works in the special needs education and health sector, and also with private individuals who find themselves in need of supportive technology due to an accident or illness.
It offers products, assessments and training, and support to many schools, hospitals and families. For its new product, in the hope of contributing to improving the literacy crisis in the country, it is developing a home-language learning tool for early years and foundation phase concepts.
“The product is in development stage, though its predecessor has been used in South Africa for over 15 years in a wide variety of special needs schools. With the new translation and localisation, we hope to see better relevance and more value delivered to our local schools,” Lisa Ellis told Disrupt Africa.
A for-profit company, funding for this product was nonetheless awarded by the Injini Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship in South Africa earlier this year.
“They saw and agreed with the value of, and need for, our solution,” said Ellis.
Inclusive Solutions works mainly in government special needs schools, and intends to maintain focus there, with eventual growth into mainstream and ECD spaces.
“We import and distribute products for the educational special needs sector for profit. We are seeing growth year-on-year as awareness and need both grow,” Ellis said.
