How Ethiopian edtech start-up SINQ is tackling the skills gap between training and work
In Ethiopia, a young girl with dense hair and a bare-headed boy walk together through the rain. As it falls, the girl’s hair traps the water, while the boy’s head lets it wash away. The message: vegetation helps prevent soil erosion.
For agricultural extension workers tasked with translating research into farming practices, the image formed part of an animated training experience developed by Ethiopian edtech start-up SINQ. The analogy immediately resonated. Workers began joking about “bald farmland” that needed planting, and the phrase became part of the language they used in the communities they served.
For SINQ founder Dina Yacob Seifu, moments like this demonstrate what effective learning can achieve.
“We didn’t just teach a concept; we changed how they think, talk, and work. That’s the power of Learning Experience Design: knowledge that sticks, transforms and spreads,” she says.
The World Bank has identified skills mismatch as a continent-wide challenge, noting that education systems often struggle to keep pace with how quickly economies are changing, leaving graduates short on the practical experience needed to transition successfully into work.”
SINQ was created to help tackle that disconnect.
Using its ABLE (Adaptive Behavioral Learning Engine) Framework alongside Learning Experience Design (LXD) principles, SINQ turns traditional, lecture-based material into practical, self-paced learning experiences designed around application and real-world performance.
“Graduates spend years in education but can still struggle to translate what they know into work. Engineering graduates can understand the theory but struggle to apply it in practice. As engineers ourselves, we know that gap firsthand,” Dina says. “We use Learning Experience Design to turn passive lectures into hands-on, self-paced training that builds real competency.”
Falling in love with the problem
A mechanical engineering graduate who is currently pursuing an MSc in Thermal Engineering, Dina had always wanted to use her technical skills to create meaningful impact.
But entrepreneurship proved more complicated.
Two earlier start-up ideas stalled during implementation. The experience taught her that being able to design a solution was very different from being able to build a sustainable business around it.
“Engineering gives you the ‘what,’ but business gives you the ‘how,'” she says. “Every failure built the resilience I needed to make SINQ work.”
Her introduction to ALX Africa came through its Virtual Assistant programme. Later, when a teammate invited her to participate in the ALX Founder Academy as part of a team, she saw an opportunity to approach entrepreneurship differently.
“When SINQ brought me to ALX, I realised this was my chance to build differently, with a committed team, real mentorship and practical training,” she says. “Looking back, the ALX Founder Academy opened doors and gave SINQ the structure we desperately needed.”
During the Founder Academy, the team sharpened its mission, mapped out its minimum viable product and established clearer roles based on each member’s strengths.
But Dina says the most important shift was more fundamental: they learned to fall in love with the problem rather than their own solution.
“We had to let go of our original ideas and truly listen to users,” she says. “That made SINQ more sustainable, user-centred and competitive. ALX didn’t just restructure our business; it restructured our mindset.”
For a team made up largely of engineers accustomed to systems thinking, that required developing a more human-centred approach.
Learning alongside other founders helped bridge the gap.
“Peers in the Academy shared their failures and wins openly. We learned from each other’s mistakes,” Dina says. “Finance-savvy teams helped us with numbers; we offered engineering expertise in return. It was a ‘growing together’ culture.”
Practical exposure to financial modelling, legal structures, sales and business strategy helped the team connect its technical capabilities to a viable commercial model.
“ALX Founder Academy made me a founder who happens to be an engineer, not the other way around,” she says.
The shift has translated into commercial traction. SINQ has since worked with seven organisations and generated more than US$35,000 in revenue, moving from an early-stage project into a revenue-generating business.
The Founder Academy sits within the broader ALX Ventures entrepreneurial ecosystem, which supports African founders with practical tools and programmes designed to help them build, launch and grow ventures.
Building learning for the world of work
For Dina, the broader lesson extends beyond entrepreneurship.
Technical knowledge remains important, but she believes young professionals also need the ability to apply what they know, solve problems, understand users and continue learning as the demands of work evolve.
“Technical skills alone won’t build a business; I learned that twice,” she says. “You need sales, marketing, finance and legal knowledge. You need a community that shares mistakes and solutions, mentors who hold you accountable and peers who lift you up.”
SINQ is now applying that philosophy to its next stage of growth.
The company is expanding beyond agricultural learning into areas including finance, engineering and technology. It is also exploring subscription-based models as it works to build more predictable and sustainable revenue.
At the centre of its next phase is ABLE, an AI-driven platform being developed to transform raw educational content into interactive learning modules. The vision is for educators to upload their materials while learners receive more personalised learning pathways built around engagement and practical application.
SINQ ultimately plans to take the model beyond Ethiopia into East Africa, with the longer-term ambition of contributing to a broader Learning Experience Design ecosystem across the continent.
For Dina, however, scale is meaningful only if the learning itself changes what people are capable of doing.
“Revenue proves our business works, but impact proves our vision and purpose matter,” she says. “When a farmer prevents erosion because of our training, or a graduate finds a job with skills we built, that’s why we wake up every day.”
And for other technically skilled young Africans whose first ideas have not worked, she has a simple message.
“Don’t see stalled ideas as failure; see them as tuition,” Dina says. “Problem-solving gets you started; an entrepreneurial mindset keeps you alive. The right programme can turn your technical brilliance into lasting impact.”
Dina concludes, “SINQ is composed of four co-founders, four different backgrounds, but one shared dream. Our best strength isn’t our technology, our methods, or our revenue; it’s the unshakeable belief that together, we can transform how Africa learns. We’ve weathered financial storms, client delays, and the weight of building something from nothing. But when one of us stumbles, the others lift. When one doubts, the others believe enough for all of us. We’ve learned that true impact isn’t built by individuals, it’s shaped by a team that refuses to let go of the vision, even when the path is unclear. That’s our power. “
About The Author
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
