Supports Education Innovation and Upgrade in African Countries
NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited (“NetDragon” or “the Company”, Hong Kong Stock Code: 777), a global leader in building internet communities, is pleased to announce that, the Company participated in the “Africa 2019” forum held in Cairo, Egypt on November 22-23, 2019. The theme of the forum was “Investment for Africa”.
NetDragon showcased its digital education products including Intelligent Classroom Solution, Virtual Laboratory and Promethean ActivPanel at the forum. His Excellency Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, visited and experienced Intelligent Classrooms and Promethean ActivPanel, products that are well suited for education in Africa.
During the event, Egyptian leaders including President Sisi, Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, and Minister of Education Dr. Tarek Shawki met with NetDragon’s management team which included Founder and Chairman Mr. Liu Dejian, Vice Chairman Dr. Simon Leung, CEO Dr. Xiong Li, and Senior Vice President Mr. Chen Hong. Based on the experience of past cooperation, the two sides furthered their discussion about the future implementation of digital education in Egypt. Mr. Liu Dejian introduced NetDragon’s innovations in digital education to President Sisi, and expressed his gratitude to be part of Egypt’s education reform with achievements seen in 2019. NetDragon will uphold its vision in education, so that all teachers and students in Egypt can enjoy the knowledge dividends brought by cutting-edge educational technologies. In 2020, NetDragon will be providing the Intelligent Classroom Solution for Egypt, which can ease the problem of insufficient classroom capacity currently faced by many African countries.
As a country along the “Belt and Road”, Egypt has actively pursued partners on a global scale since the implementation of its five-year education reform program in 2018. Strengths of NetDragon’s such as global coverage, strong technical capabilities and innovative design proficiency provide a solid foundation for Egypt’s education reform. Although the infrastructure of African countries like Egypt is constantly improving, quality educational resources are yet to be ubiquitous, and education equality still faces challenges. The Intelligent Classroom Solution was designed and created precisely against this backdrop. Intelligent Classrooms are equipped with high-tech software and hardware such as Promethean ActivPanel, Mobile Device Management, and Edmodo Classroom. Featured with modular construction and design flexibility, Intelligent Classroom Solution enables easy transportation, quick deployment and high scalability, such that developing countries and regions can easily materialize and popularize quality education at low cost.
Earlier this year, the Egyptian Government and NetDragon signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation. Egypt plans to complete the construction of 265,000 Intelligent Classrooms nationwide within three years and deploy NetDragon’s education technologies and equipment at the heart of the Intelligent Classrooms. In early 2020, the Company expects 100 Intelligent Classroom Solutions to be deployed in Egypt, and that it will cover more African countries in future. So far, 11,000 classrooms in Egypt are equipped with Promethean’s interactive panels, and 26,000 units will be deployed in the country next year.
In addition, NetDragon has launched in recent years “The Institute of Development and Education for Africa” (IDEA) under the “Belt and Road” initiative, and has received positive response from an increasing number of African countries. NetDragon is assisting Nigeria in building the “N-Power Project”. The Nigerian Government plans to purchase Intelligent Classroom Solution products from NetDragon, which are expected to cover 500,000 K-12 students in the country, and ultimately ease the problem of uneven distribution of educational resources in a fast, efficient and cost saving way, particular in remote areas. Meanwhile, NetDragon also assisted Kenya in developing digital education by building a public service platform for national education resources, a community network platform for national teaching, a training platform for national digital talent, and an experience center for national future education. In May of this year, NetDragon also signed a memorandum of understanding on digital education with the Government of Ghana, such that NetDragon will provide technical support for the development of future education in Ghana.
The “Belt and Road” initiative is unleashing enormous potential for China-Africa cooperation. Mr. Liu Dejian comments that NetDragon is willing to use “digital education” as the foundation to support Africa countries in achieving education innovation and upgrade. The Company will continue to seize market opportunities and deliver Chinese education technologies, products and services to more countries along the “Belt and Road”, in order to achieve its mission of “Building the World’s Largest Online Learning Community”.
About NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited
NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited (HKSE: 0777) is a global leader in building internet communities with a long track record of developing and scaling multiple internet and mobile platforms that impact hundreds of millions of users. These include China’s number one online gaming portal, 17173.com, and China’s most influential smartphone app store platform, 91 Wireless, which was sold to Baidu for US$1.9 billion in 2013 as the largest Internet M&A transaction in China.
Established in 1999, NetDragon is one of the most reputable and well-known online game developers in China with a history of successful game titles including Eudemons Online, Heroes Evolved and Conquer Online. In recent years, NetDragon has also started to scale its online education business on the back of management’s vision to create the largest global online learning community, and to bring the “classroom of the future” to every school around the world. For more information, please visit www.netdragon.com.
For investor enquiries, please contact:
NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited
Ms. Maggie Zhou
Senior Director of Investor Relations
Tel.: +852 2850 7266 / +86 591 8390 2825
Email: maggie@nd.com.cn
Website: ir.netdragon.com