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When Chido Dzinotyiwei moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa at the age of 8, she didn't realize how hard it would be to learn English and local languages.
"When I was young, I could grasp English and isiZulu at school, but it became difficult to speak Shona when I went back home to visit because my vocabulary and accent were off," the 25-year-old tells News24.
"Fortunately, I had old Shona books and started reading and reminding myself of the language.
Before I knew it, I was fluent in my home language again."
Dzinotyiwei went door to door to help kids learn the 12 African languages, but the project stopped after the Covid-19 pandemic.
That's when she teamed up with a fellow student who had experience teaching English online to create Vambo Academy, an app that teaches 12 African languages, including ChiShona, isiNdebele, Sesotho, and isiZulu.
Dzinotyiwei has since employed 16 language teachers.
Dzinotyiwei is the only South African finalist in the Organization 2022 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), a global competition for students who own and operate businesses.
The final rounds of nominations were held in Cape Town on May
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