20-year-old Gian Scottie Javelona’s claim to fame happened around two years ago when he developed a mobile portal for his own university. Now, as the president and CEO of Orange Apps, he continues to help the education sector through technology, this time with new online learning platform Khawna.
Launched this week, Khawna offers various courses to people who may need additional know-how in science, technology, engineering and entrepreneurship. The courses are presented in a tutorial video format and are taught by industry experts.
The name “Khawna” comes from the Filipino saying “ikaw na”, which literally translates to “you’re the one” in English. It’s a phrase usually told to an individual who has achieved a major accomplishment. The online learning platform aims to help individuals do exactly that.
Javelona says he hopes to help give Filipino students the sense of achievement that comes from learning. The broad workforce in the Philippines lacks certain STEM skill sets, which prevents young professionals from landing high-paying jobs. Khawana is Orang App’s attempt to help bridge this gap in education.
Mobilizing learning
Khawana currently has 16 courses that people can now enroll in for free. As time progresses, the team intends to increase the number of courses on the platform and implement some paid courses depending on market demand.
Since its launch last night, it already received more than 1,300 sign ups, which marks a good sign for the startup. To date, its course on Android development has gained the most number of enrollees, at around 240.
It’s also set to launch mobile apps for Android and iOS in the coming months for users to have access to tutorials on their phones. In the future, Khawna aims to reach out to companies and universities to make training and learning an easier task for both education institutes and students alike.
Indeed, Javelona has already gone a long way after he created that univeristy mobile app. In 2013, Philippine incubator Ideaspace Foundation saw his potential and provided Orange Apps with mentorship and seed funding to help grow the startup.
Looking forward, the young entrepreneur aims to continue tapping technology to improve education in the Philippines. Javelona envisions Orange Apps will eventually become “a global brand for education technology.”
Apart from Khawna, Philippine education startup Action Stack also launched recently to provide similar skill-oriented courses to Filipinos.
(Editing by Josh Horwitz)
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