Our MCM today is Trueman Hama Mabumbo, a young visionary and entrepreneur, as well as the founder of Dzidzo PaDen and EduTecx, both startups that make education more accessible for students. He was born on May 17, 2002 and went to St Ignatius Boys high school as well as St George’s Boys High.

At just 18 years old, Trueman Mabumbo made a mark as a social entrepreneur by partnering with UNESCO to establish Dzidzo Paden. This whatsapp chatbot provided students with exam preparation resources and learning materials, gaining recognition and praise in Zimbabwean media. In a time when online learning posed challenges due to data costs and lack of necessary tools for many, the initiative aimed to bridge the gap between students who could afford online resources and those who couldn’t. While the goal of completely eliminating this gap hasn’t yet been achieved, Dzidzo Paden has successfully provided learning materials to over thirty thousand students in grades 7, 4, and 6.

Inspired by a meme highlighting the disparity in access to online learning, Mabumbo conceptualized the idea to offer academic resources to students studying the Zimsec syllabi in Zimbabwe, particularly those from low-income families facing challenges due to Covid-19 and lockdowns.

The project was funded by UNESCO, with content provided by Amigo. Dzidzo Paden operates as a WhatsApp chatbot, differentiating itself from traditional online learning by functioning on WhatsApp bundles rather than requiring general data access for platforms like Google Classrooms. Users can download resources in PDF format for offline access.

He did not stop there. While studying in Ghana, he started EduTecx, a similar ed-tech startup with a user friendly website and chatbot to make educational resources easily available to students in Ghana. He also hosts a podcast called the ‘The Motus podcast by Trueman.’ We can’t wait to see what else is in store for this budding entrepreneur!