Ubongo partners with Infobip for WhatsApp solution

Answers is the chatbot building platform of Infobip that utilises the most popular communication channels in the world and provides faster customer support at a lower cost. WhatsApp is ideally suited to Ubongo’s use case, with more than two billion monthly active users.

Ubongo creates localised and multi-platform education media that, through accessible technologies, reaches millions of families. Calling itself ‘the largest classroom in Africa’, the organisation delivers its programmes to millions of children across the continent via TV, radio, and digital channels.

Prior to the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Africa’s primary school enrolment rate was above 80% on average, with more than 250 million primary and secondary school children currently out of school in Africa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had a devastating effect on the continent’s education sector, and the closure of numerous learning institutions in many African countries continues to negatively impact the quality of education.

“We will use the chatbot to encourage smartphone users to essentially be champions of Ubongo and share our content with kids and parents who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it,” concluded, Stephen Boustred, head of digital products at Ubongo.

The WhatsApp chat application is used by the majority of Ubongo’s audience, so the company can leverage its reach and low data costs in three different languages, English, Swahili and Hausa, to get content for its users and drive deeper engagement. All users have to save Ubongo as a WhatsApp contact using the number + 1234 900 1234 and start a chat by sending the word ‘Hi’ in order to start consuming the educational content.

Olatayo Ladipo-Ajai, country manager at Infobip Nigeria, said, “This is a wonderful partnership that aligns with our goal of connecting the world. The project is something that we are proud of and want to keep working on to see how we can help Ubongo do more.