'Education can move the world'

Melvyn Lubega Co-founder, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Director, Go1

In 2021, just six years after its founding, eLearning platform Go1 became South Africa's first tech scale-up to be valued at more than $1 billion. This was thanks to the tenacity of its co-founders, South African Melvyn Lubega and Australian Andrew Barnes.

The last time FORBES AFRICA sat down with Lubega was when he made the 2018 FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list, and sitting down with him today he notes that the biggest change since then, rather than the unicorn milestone, was Go1’s exponential growth.

“In 2018, I think we had just over 100 people in the business, whereas today, we have over 700,” Lubega says. “But it's not only about hiring more bodies, but more so the depth at which [we are] able to understand the problem we are solving.”