By Tamasin Ford
BBC News, Ivory Coast
Thierry N'Doufou's three
eldest children tumble out of the car; the little one trips over her
school bag as she tries to work out what to do with her break-time
snack.
"We continue to go to school here as we went to school 100 years ago," says the 36-year-old entrepreneur.
"The same heavy backpack, the same blackboard with the same chalk."
And that heavy backpack is what Mr N'Doufou is hoping to
lighten by introducing a bespoke tablet computer made specifically for
schools in Ivory Coast.
Taking a tablet
Two years ago, he came up with Qelasy, Africa's first
educational tablet. "We thought about how to build a digital backpack; a
tablet that will replace books, textbooks, notepads."
The Qelasy tablet is pre-loaded with the entire school curriculum
The idea is simple; transfer a country's entire education
curriculum onto a digital format, along with sounds, animations and
interactivity, and you no longer need a satchel crammed with school
books.
The 36-year-old teamed up with a designer and then managed to find an investor to build a prototype.
This month his Qelasy tablet is going into schools for the first time. "This is a day I've been waiting for," Mr N'Doufou says.
The Ivorian government will be introducing the tablets to
5,000 students in public schools, while some private schools in both
Ivory Coast and Morocco will be running pilot projects.
They have also had interest from Ukraine, Macedonia, Senegal,
Nigeria and France. "My dream is to reach all the schools in the world
for a better education," he says.
The tablets will also be available in shops at a cost of $232 (£143), before tax.
'The brightest brains'
Qelasy's headquarters in an upmarket area of Abidjan, Ivory
Coast's largest city, are not quite Google but they are certainly
impressive. There is a built in sound studio along with a 3D animation
design suite, complete with the latest technology.
Thierry N'Doufou's education "tablet" is being introduced into schools this month
In the studio, two members of the team are busy recording the
Ivorian children's book, "Father Christmas loves attieke", a traditional
Ivorian dish.
"The idea is to make reading more fun, so we use funny voices
and music," says Mr N'Doufou. "We also do audio books because it helps
children with the pronunciation."
At the weekly meeting Mr N'Doufou introduces the Qelasy team;
"the brightest technology brains in the area," he says. It's not hard
to find tech savvy people in Abidjan; the Ivorian web community here is
strong.
People speak both French, the national language of Ivory
Coast, as well as English. "We're now looking to do an Arabic version
because we want to reach Mauritania, Algeria and Middle Eastern
countries," says Mr N'Doufou, adding they also want to do one in
Spanish.
The Qelasy team have international plans for their tablet
The team are discussing the details of the upcoming Qelasy
launch. Their dream is for every classroom in Ivory Coast to be using
Qelasy tablets.
"Children are struggling to get access to books," he says.
"With digital, schools in villages can access the best courses in the
world."
At the moment the tablets are all made and assembled in
China, but Qelasy's vision includes setting up a factory in Ivory Coast.
"It's our dream," says the entrepreneur.
"I'm passionate about education because I would like our
country, our continent to take the place that it should have in the
world and without education it's not possible."
'Very easy'
Back at Mr N'Doufou's children's school, some of the students are trying out Qelasy.
The BBC's business teams across Africa meet the continent's
entrepreneurs who are starting up new enterprises and seeking to create
big opportunities.
The entrepreneur stands at the front of the classroom demonstrating how the teacher would use the tablet.
"This tool is very easy. With one finger you can access
almost anything," he says as he displays how he has complete control
over every student's tablet, with the ability to see exactly what they
are doing.
"I love the tablet because actually we can learn lots of
things," says eight-year-old Olivera Daplet, who then goes on to read
one of the online books out loud.
"I prefer Qelasy because it's lighter and we don't need a big
bag," says Dominque Grah Thipourah, also eight, adding that it is the
music and the animations she loves the most.
"For Ivory Coast to be an emerging country it must have
children using technology," says school principal, Marie-Loure Kindo
Assandoi, who's considering introducing Qelasy into her school next
year.
"Technology is not the future," she says. "It's already the present."