Scaling Business Coaching and Support through Educate!’s AI Coach

Over the course of 2025, Educate! rigorously evaluated our livelihood bootcamp model in Kenya to assess impact on key economic outcomes for young people. These evaluations surfaced important insights into both the model’s strengths and areas for deeper impact. 

Through this process, a clear opportunity emerged: strengthening long-term economic outcomes — income, savings, and business resilience — through continuous coaching. The data revealed that many early-stage businesses falter over time, not because young people lack drive, but because they lack insight into business profitability as well as access to ongoing support.

In 2025, we began developing an AI-enabled business coach to support youth following the bootcamp experience.

Accessible via chatbot through high-use channels like WhatsApp and SMS, the coach offers always-on business guidance as they work to build and grow their businesses.

The tool is designed to be scalable and cost-effective, delivering real-time, personalized support that meets young entrepreneurs wherever they are.

Each day, young people log sales and expenses, and the tool calculates profit, flags missing costs, and suggests immediate next steps. It also provides practical guidance on common business challenges, from managing customer credit and negotiating with suppliers to identifying target customers and making smarter restocking decisions.

Every interaction begins with a clear prompt, with Educate!’s human-support advisors available as needed. Advisors provide escalation for more complex challenges, as well as monitor coaching quality and youth safety.

We are developing the AI Coach through a rigorous discovery process, conducting in-depth research with bootcamp alumni — both those with active businesses and those whose businesses had closed — to understand the real barriers to business survival.

We are now prototyping the model, and early results are promising: young people who received coaching and support on the platform saw incomes increase by 62% from before the bootcamp to after.

Carolyn, a tailor in Kenya, shared how the coaching she received through the platform helped strengthen her business:

"The AI coach’s guidance helped me better understand my business's financial health and identify complementary products to offer. In a short time, my profits doubled."

Watch Carolyn share her story below.