- A case study of Ashesi University and Most Holy Heart School
The phrase ‘new normal’ is here to stay as the world struggles to live with the ever mutating COVID virus before a cure is finally discovered. It’s been two years and counting, and all we can rely on is innovation to stay afloat. Among business sectors severely hit by the pandemic, the education sector took quite a hit with several schools in certain countries being shut down for months. In comparison, Uganda recently opened up schools after 2 years due to the impact of COVID.
Though the education sector was hit hard, an opportunity for innovation was created and online schools, digital payments of school fees, and virtual classrooms are services whose demand skyrocketed. In Africa, Ghana specifically, many schools, both private and public had to innovate or risk losing both pupils and teachers.
The Transition
Some schools had already begun tapping into the innovation technology brought to education before the pandemic hit, making the transition less strenuous. Ashesi tapped into Edutech with their versatile website and digital collection of fees long before the pandemic hit. DreamOval was at the forefront of this by simplifying collections for Ashesi through Billbox. Billbox offered Ashesi the opportunity to collect fees via different channels i.e bank accounts, visa/mastercards and mobile money without opening an account with each of these channel providers. Billbox equally offered a platform that simplified reconciliation from these various channels with minimized errors.
Ebenezer Buckman, Director of External Relations & Special Assistant to the President at Ashesi University had this to say about the innovation DreamOval provided, ‘As Ashesi University has continued to grow, the University’s technology needs have also evolved and now span an ecosystem of tools and resources. DreamOval has been a key stakeholder in this ecosystem, overseeing the management of a broad set of websites and technology services for Ashesi.’
Different Channels, 1 Platform
Most Holy Heart school, one of Ghana’s oldest primary schools, equally sought a solution to collecting fees after resuming from the COVID break. Previously the school collected via various channels, however, reconciliation remained a headache as all the channels did not have a unified back office system. Billbox provided a unified backend office that enabled Most Holy Heart to collect across many channels with a simple back office and reconciliation system.
Mr. Emmanuel Parker, General Officer at MHH, had this to say, ‘The DreamOval team offered a solution to our collection needs with a back office system that gave us the flexibility to share roles and permissions as needed. Previously, we collected fees via mobile money and faced a herculean task when it came to reconciling across all the channels we received from. Billbox has come to provide a solution to that.’
Though COVID ruffled the world, it gave us all an opportunity to be innovative in our respective industries and roles.
