[Image: CoolStoryBru]
South African social media has been buzzing with pride over two underdog legends-in-the-making: Shibambu Marvel and Malunghelo Mathonsi, a pair of childhood besties from a tiny Limpopo village who built an entire educational app without formal training, fancy degrees, or even basic tech gear.
No trust fund. No mentorship. Just pure grit and Google.
Cue @CoolStoryBru, Cape Town’s go-to content creator for wild facts and proudly South African stories. In May, he dropped a post that sent the internet into collective goosebumps. It spotlighted the rise of Marvel and Mathonsi, who hail from Gumbani, a village so remote it barely shows up on Google Maps. These guys didn’t even own a computer. But with just R700 (yes, really), they bought a dusty second-hand PC and went full DIY on the coding game using YouTube tutorials and free online tools.
And what did they cook up? NOVAR: a sleek, no-nonsense educational app that’s now helping students across the country access free lessons, live virtual classes, AI features, bursary info, and a lot more. Just months in, it’s racked up 44,000 downloads. Call that a grassroots tech uprising.
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Their website is packed with options for folks who want in: ad space, premium learning hubs, private tutoring setups, even business partnerships. Basically, if you want to back a genius, here’s your chance.
Despite the massive success, the duo were still operating with that same old war-torn computer for some time. Operational costs were stacking up, and they were in desperate need of real funding to scale up. @CoolStoryBru made the call, and South Africans answered.
In fact, Mzansi rallied hard. Within just 24 hours, R80,000 was raised for the NOVAR developers.
He added that Marvel told him this money would literally change their lives. No PR spin. No charity facade. Just two guys who taught themselves how to code, who are now changing the future of South African education.
Since then? The money hasn’t stopped flowing. Their GoFundMe is currently sitting at $10,430 (just under R200,000), which is well over their $10K target to make NOVAR completely free for high school students by 2025.
Oh, and they’ve caught the attention of some serious players, too. According to @CoolStoryBru, the duo is now in talks with major partners that could take NOVAR to the big leagues. Marvel Shibambu, who serves as CEO and Co-Founder, dropped this mic-drop of a mission statement on their fundraising page:
“To provide free, high-quality education and help every learner reach their full potential no matter their background. Education should never be a privilege; it should be a right.”
From zero to coding heroes, these guys are writing their own Silicon Valley script, South African style. Watch this space.
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[Source: Briefly and CoolStoryBru]
