A Lagos based edtech company, Data Entry Academy, has emerged winner of the United Nations Development Programme’s Get Ready 4 timbuktoo EdTech accelerator, walking away with a $10,000 cash prize after outperforming more than 1,400 applicants from across Africa.
According to TechCabal, the startup topped a field of 1,429 applications, with 1,099 startups eventually meeting the eligibility criteria for the programme. The company was founded by Chioma Ifeanyi Eze and beat out finalists from Egypt and Senegal during a pitch event held in Dakar, Senegal on July 1. Another Nigerian startup, Varsity Scape, also made the top 10, placing sixth overall.
Data Entry Academy runs a 30 day online training programme that teaches practical workplace software skills such as spreadsheets, cloud accounting, invoicing, inventory management and payroll tools. The startup, founded in 2020, says it has trained over 17,000 learners across the continent through courses delivered on Telegram and Teachable. Its target audience ranges from job seekers and entrepreneurs to employees being upskilled by their organisations, with only basic computer literacy required to enrol.
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The win came at the end of a rigorous 12 week accelerator process. UNDP said the programme drew close to 2,850 blind evaluations conducted by 19 independent experts before 50 startups were selected to participate. From that pool, 20 startups advanced to the final pitch stage, where 10 were eventually named winners, with Data Entry Academy taking the top spot ahead of startups from Egypt and Senegal in second and third place.
The accelerator forms part of UNDP’s broader timbuktoo initiative, a pan African programme first launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2024. The initiative has an ambitious target of mobilising $1 billion over ten years to support 10,000 startups and generate $10 billion in economic value across Africa. Timbuktoo currently runs six thematic hubs across the continent, has trained more than 3,480 innovators and operates 16 University Innovation Pods, with 12 more reportedly in the pipeline.
The victory highlights the growing weight Nigeria carries in Africa’s edtech space, particularly around digital skills training and workforce development. It also comes at a time when venture funding across the continent has become more selective, pushing many founders to lean on accelerator programmes for mentorship, product refinement and investor readiness rather than relying solely on traditional fundraising rounds. Programmes like timbuktoo and the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship have increasingly stepped into that gap.
For Data Entry Academy, the $10,000 prize adds to a growing list of validation points for its model of low barrier, skills focused digital training. With thousands of learners already passing through its courses, the recognition from a UNDP backed accelerator could open further doors to funding and partnerships as the startup looks to scale its offering to more workers and job seekers across Africa.
The result also cements Lagos as a hub for edtech innovation, adding to a string of recent wins and funding announcements for Nigerian founders working to close skills gaps in the country’s fast growing digital economy.
