USIU students develop an edutainment application for kids

Yunus and Hungai, developers of the Noun Hero Application.
Photographer: Githinji Mwai

Two United States International University students have developed an application that fuses games and learning to make learning interesting and fun.

The Noun Hero is an application that promotes educational games for children between 4 to 13 years to help students grasp basic concepts taught in school. The learning application was created by second year students – Juzer Yunus, an International Business Administration Major and Kevin Hungai, an Applied Computer Technology Major – and has proved to increase understanding of basic Mathematics and English concepts in children who tested the game.

The two partners founded Savana Media, a start-up that aims to promote a world where boredom does not prevent learning. They attribute some of their success to the guidance and support they have received through USIU’s New Economic Venture Accelerator- Africa program.

“Start a business, fail fast, gain experience and learn even faster. Think local but produce international quality,” Hungai said.

Kevin and Juzer advocate for more incubation centers in Kenya and challenge the government to invest and support local products that could help develop the economy even further especially against a backdrop of increased youth unemployment.

“The youth and students need a place to develop their ideas, get advice and to experiment,” says Juzer.

While the application is still at the prototype stage, the company’s goal is to seek partners to further develop it into a fully functional application, to acquire the necessary approvals and to test it in a number of schools, universities and in local companies for simulations through games.