The demand for online education shot up during the pandemic, with billions of students unable to attend classes the way they used to before lockdowns. Apart from children who turned towards edtech platforms and virtual classrooms, professionals also sought out upskilling courses to improve their prospects.

With a larger audience available online than ever before, e-learning apps also started getting creative to gain traction among netizens, by offering features like mentorship. To tap into the increasing demand for online educational content, UAE-based Najahi events has launched its own edtech portal, which combines inspirational speeches with training sessions.

The newly launched iKew is available for smartphone users, and promises access to guidance from high profile motivational speakers, alongside academic content. The app developed by an event firm that roped in the likes of Alicia Keys and Tony Robbins for seminars, will also feature top speakers from the Arab world.

Currently iKew boasts of celebs like John Assaraf, Lisa Nichols and Jay Shetty in its line up, and also contains video lessons on public speaking, investment, trading, life hacks and spirituality. The minds behind this app realised that working people were exhausted from too much interaction via video conferencing, and hence scaled up convenience by providing courses packaged as on-demand videos.

The all inclusive digital edutainment product will also be rolled out for smart TVs, so that netizens can have a more immersive learning experience. Members can also interact with each other through iKew, and will be able to find videos translated to Hindi, Spanish, Mandarin and French in the near future.

Among other enhancements lined up for the app's evolution, virtual reality will also be added to the mix, to make online training and motivation more engaging.

The iKew app is one of several offerings including an upgraded Smart Labour app, which provides financial management knowhow and teaches Arabic as well as English to blue collar workers in the Emirates.