From Grade 1 to Doctorate.
Your learning companion,
available 24/7.
Whether your child needs help with Grade 3 maths tonight, or you are preparing for your doctoral colloquium at midnight — Akili is there. In your language. At your level.
Up and running in five minutes
No app to download. No device to buy. If your family has WhatsApp, you're ready.
Enrol online
Enrol your family in five minutes at akili-africa-education.co.za. Choose the programme for each learner in your household.
Your child asks a question
Your child sends a WhatsApp message or voice note with their homework question — in any language, any time of day or night.
Instant, curriculum-correct answer
Study Buddy responds immediately in your child's home language. Parents receive a Weekly Progress Report every Sunday.
Akili Study Buddy
Think of Akili as the knowledgeable aunt or uncle who happens to be available at nine o'clock at night when your child gets stuck on homework. Patient, warm, and curriculum-correct — in your child's home language.
Study Buddy lives in WhatsApp. No app to download, no account to create. Your child sends a message or voice note — and gets a clear, encouraging answer within seconds.
Foundation Phase
Grade 1 – 3
- ✓Voice-note support in home language
- ✓CAPS-aligned explanations designed for ages 6 – 9
- ✓Interactive Classroom videos
- ✓Weekly Parent Report every Sunday
- ✓Patient, warm tone — never condescending
Intermediate Phase
Grade 4 – 7
- ✓Full homework support across all subjects
- ✓Image upload — photograph your homework question
- ✓Examination preparation and practice questions
- ✓Classroom video library
- ✓Study schedules and time management support
Senior Phase
Grade 8 – 9
- ✓All subjects covered
- ✓Formal examination preparation
- ✓Practice questions with step-by-step solutions
- ✓Personalised study schedules
- ✓Concept reinforcement and revision support
Matric
Grade 10 – 12
- ✓Intensive NSC examination preparation
- ✓Past-paper practice with detailed marking
- ✓Subject-specific coaching: Mathematics, Physical Science, and all others
- ✓Timed exam simulations
- ✓Mark improvement strategies by subject
From first year to final viva voce
Four dedicated products supporting every stage of the higher education journey — from an undergraduate student facing their first essay to a doctoral candidate preparing for their viva voce defence.
Akili Study Buddy
Undergraduate
University is a different world. Lecturers move fast, assignments pile up, and academic writing standards jump sharply from school. For many students — especially first-generation university students — there is no one at home who has been through this before.
Akili Study Buddy Undergraduate is the knowledgeable companion who fills that gap. Available at midnight before a deadline. Patient with a concept explained for the fifth time. Available across every subject and every faculty.
Especially designed for first-generation university students who have no one at home who has navigated university before.
Akili Study Buddy Undergraduate
All disciplines · All faculties · 24/7 WhatsApp
R149
per month
What Akili Undergraduate does
- ✓
Academic writing development
Essay structure, argument construction, paragraph development, referencing, and academic tone — from first-year basics to fourth-year depth.
- ✓
Research skills
Source evaluation, literature searching, academic integrity guidance, and citation management across all referencing styles.
- ✓
Exam preparation
Past-paper practice, timed writing, mark-scheme understanding, and personalised revision planning by subject.
- ✓
Lecture comprehension
Complex lecture content broken down, terminology explained, and concepts reinforced in plain language at any hour.
- ✓
Assignment planning
Scoping, timeline setting, and breaking large tasks into manageable steps so nothing is left to the last night.
Akili Research
Companion — Masters
A Masters degree lives or dies in the research process. Getting the question right. Closing the literature gap. Defending the methodology to a sceptical examiner. The Research Companion for Masters is the critical thinking partner available at every one of those moments.
It holds your complete research proposal, maps your progress, and prepares you for the colloquium with a realistic, multi-persona mock examination. You write. Akili challenges, questions, and sharpens.
University-specific guidance
Full Africa Research University (ARU) support is built in — assessment criteria, submission processes, and examiner expectations. Students at other universities are guided to share their institution's guidelines so Akili can calibrate its support to their specific requirements.
Core Research Companion Functions
- ✓
Research question refinement
Sharpening focus, testing scope, identifying original contribution
- ✓
Literature gap analysis
Identifying what the literature has not addressed and why your study fills it
- ✓
Proposal architecture review
Structure, internal consistency, and examiner-readiness of the full proposal
- ✓
Methodology guidance
Research design, sampling logic, analytical approach, and justification
- ✓
Chapter assessment
Structured evaluation across six dimensions: argument, evidence, methodology, literature, presentation, and contribution
Mock Colloquium — Three Examiner Personas
The Methodologist
Interrogates your research design, sampling logic, and analytical approach.
The Literature Critic
Challenges your sources, identifies gaps, and questions your theoretical framing.
The Practical Sceptic
Questions feasibility, timeline, resource requirements, and real-world validity.
Akili Research
Companion — Doctorate
A doctorate is the most demanding intellectual undertaking most people will ever attempt. It is also one of the most solitary. The Research Companion for Doctorate is the critical partner who goes the full distance — all 22 stages of the doctoral journey, from the initial research question to the viva voce defence.
Everything in the Masters Research Companion, plus the full five-persona mock colloquium, a complete mock viva voce simulation, support for articulating original contribution, and the full 22-stage doctoral journey map.
The financial case for R199 / month
A doctoral registration year in South Africa typically costs between R15,000 and R40,000 in fees alone — before living costs. If the Research Companion helps a student complete their doctorate one year earlier, the saving dwarfs the cost of the subscription.
R15k–R40k
saved by finishing one year earlier
R199
per month — the cost of Akili
Full Mock Colloquium — Five Examiner Personas
The Methodologist
Interrogates research design, sampling logic, and analytical approach.
The Literature Critic
Challenges sources, identifies gaps, and questions theoretical framing.
The Theoretical Challenger
Probes the philosophical foundations and paradigmatic consistency of the work.
The Ethical Scrutineer
Examines ethical clearance, consent processes, and data handling.
The Practical Sceptic
Questions feasibility, timeline, resource requirements, and real-world validity.
Doctoral-only features
- ✓
Mock viva voce defence simulation
A full rehearsal of the real examination — questions, follow-ups, and panel dynamics.
- ✓
Original contribution articulation
Helping you define, defend, and communicate what your study adds that no study has done before.
- ✓
22-stage doctoral journey mapping
From initial research question through to post-viva corrections — every stage mapped with Akili guidance.
Akili Supervisor
A supervisor's time is finite. The intellectual work of a good supervisor — challenging ideas, shaping arguments, mentoring the researcher — cannot be delegated. But administrative tracking can.
Akili Supervisor gives you a complete real-time view of every student's research journey, chapter submissions, Research Companion interactions, and progress against the 22-stage doctoral map — without requiring a single additional check-in.
Akili Supervisor does not replace supervisors. It frees them to do the high-level intellectual work that only a human expert can do.
Akili Supervisor
Per supervisor · Unlimited student portfolios
R199
per month
Supervisor dashboard features
Student portfolio management
Full view of every student — activity logs, chapter submissions, Research Companion interactions, and progress notes in one dashboard.
22-stage journey tracking
Each student's position on the doctoral journey is visible at a glance, with supervisor guidance notes at every stage.
Six-dimension chapter assessment tool
Structured assessment across argument, evidence, methodology, literature, presentation, and original contribution — with supervisor override.
University-specific calibration
Assessment criteria calibrated to your institution's guidelines, ensuring Akili's feedback aligns with your examination standards.
Research Companion visibility
See the questions students are asking Akili, the feedback received, and patterns that indicate where a student is struggling.
Submission queue & supervision notes
Track what is waiting for review, add private supervision notes, and manage your student portfolio across the full academic year.
Higher Education & Postgraduate
Ready to register?
Register for Research Companion (Masters or Doctorate), Akili Undergraduate, or Akili Supervisor. Set up takes minutes.
Register now →Akili for Teachers
What is currently an evening's work becomes an hour.
- ✓Photograph marked student work
- ✓Akili reads the handwriting, applies your rubric
- ✓Draft marks and structured feedback produced instantly
- ✓Teacher reviews and confirms — you stay in control
- ✓Launching with Afrikaans opstel marking
Price
R149 per teacher / month
Photo-to-Mark Workflow
Photograph
Teacher photographs the marked student work on any phone
Read & Apply
Akili reads handwriting and applies your specific rubric
Draft Output
Marks and structured feedback produced in seconds
Review & Confirm
Teacher approves — full professional control retained
Akili Match Game
A free, CAPS-aligned matching game for Grades 1–12. No download needed — plays instantly in any browser on any phone.
▶ Play Akili Match FreeWorks on any phone · All 25 levels · Grades 1–12 · Completely free
Four equal languages
South Africa's children should not have to learn in their second or third language. Akili speaks the language your child speaks at home.
19%
of South African Grade 4 learners read at grade level.
The research is clear: children learn better in their home language. Akili is the first tutoring platform built around this truth.
isiXhosa
First-class language
Eastern Cape variety · Click consonants · Full CAPS support
isiZulu
First-class language
KwaZulu-Natal variety · Full curriculum coverage · Full CAPS support
Afrikaans
First-class language
Cape & Northern Cape varieties · CAPS-aligned · Opstel support
English
First-class language
South African English · All grades · Academic writing coaching
Why Akili students finish ahead
Every student has the same hours in a day. Akili students use theirs differently.
Support at 2am
Your Research Companion never sleeps. When your deadline is tomorrow and your supervisor is unavailable, Akili is there — on WhatsApp or on the web, any time of day or night.
Feedback before submission
Upload your chapter before you submit it. Akili evaluates it against your institution's criteria, identifies weaknesses, and gives you the chance to fix them — before your supervisor sees it.
A map through the journey
Most students don't know what comes next. Akili maps your 22-stage research journey from your first research question all the way to your viva voce defence — so you always know where you are and what to do next.
Examiner-ready writing
Akili knows what examiners look for. Every piece of feedback is calibrated to the expectations of your specific institution — not generic advice, but targeted, precise guidance that helps you write at the level examiners expect.
Your supervisor — amplified
Akili doesn't replace your supervisor. It amplifies them. Your supervisor gets daily alerts about your progress, in-text comments on your documents, and structured tools to give you better feedback faster.
In your language
Research in your home language. Akili works in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, Zulu, and Sesotho — with more African languages coming soon. You think clearest in your mother tongue. Now your research support does too.
Faster turnaround
Students who use Akili don't wait weeks for feedback. The moment you submit a document, Akili begins evaluating it. You can act on feedback the same day — not after the next supervision meeting.
A thinking partner
Stuck on your research question? Struggling with your methodology? Akili engages with your ideas the way a brilliant colleague would — asking the hard questions, challenging your assumptions, and helping you think more clearly.
The cost of not finishing
Every year a postgraduate student doesn't finish costs them tens of thousands in living expenses and lost income. Akili costs R199 a month. The return on that investment — finishing your degree — is measured in hundreds of thousands.
The students who finish are the ones who had support.
Akili is that support — available every day, in your language, calibrated to your institution, and connected to your supervisor. For R199 a month, you get the edge that most students never have.
Register for Akili Research CompanionVoices from the classroom and the lab
As a teacher I see every day how much children struggle without support at home. Akili gives every child a patient knowledgeable companion in their own language — something no school can provide alone.
Helena Grigor
Pedagogical Co-Founder and Foundation Phase Teacher at Balmoral Primary
The Afrikaans opstel marking tool saves me hours every week. It understands the nuances of Afrikaans writing that generic AI tools miss completely.
Name withheld
Afrikaans Teacher (Pilot Tester)
I built Akili because I know what it feels like to be a postgraduate student with no support. Every feature comes from real experience of what researchers actually need.
Pierre Grigor PhD
Operational Founder
Simple, honest pricing
Less than the cost of a single private tutoring session. Available every night of the year. In your child's language.
School learners
Tertiary & Research
Household discounts
Second family member
On the same programme, save R10 per person per month.
Three or more members
10% off your total household subscription.
No other platform does this
isiXhosa & isiZulu as first-class languages
No other tutoring platform treats isiXhosa and isiZulu as primary languages — not translations or afterthoughts.
Grade 1 through PhD — one family subscription
Your 7-year-old, your Matric student, and your Masters candidate can all be on one household plan.
WhatsApp-native — no app to download
Akili lives in WhatsApp. If your family has WhatsApp, they already have everything they need.
Voice-first for young children
Foundation Phase learners who cannot type can speak their question as a voice note and receive an answer in their language.
CAPS-aligned for every grade
Every answer is checked against the South African national curriculum. No generic content. No international mismatches.
Built in the Eastern Cape
Akili was built by South African educators, for South African families. We understand the context because we live in it.
Built in the Eastern Cape, for South Africa.
Akili was founded by South African educators with decades of classroom and community experience. We built Akili because we saw what the absence of after-hours support in home languages was doing to children in our community.
We are not a Silicon Valley company selling a product to Africa. We are South Africans building for South Africans.
“We believe every child deserves a patient, knowledgeable helper available at any hour, in their own language, for less than the cost of a single tutoring session.”
We'd love to hear from you
Questions about enrolment, pricing, or whether Akili is right for your family? Reach us on WhatsApp or email — we respond within one business day.