For decades, millions of young Africans and Muslims worldwide have struggled to access quality, structured, and engaging Islamic and Arabic education.
The learning model in many traditional settings has remained largely analog, limited by geography, resource constraints, and a lack of modern teaching tools.
For learners balancing education, work, and faith, the journey to proficiency often ends prematurely due to inflexible systems or poor access to credible mentors.
This pressing educational void is what IBN Network seeks to address.
In this edition of Techparley’s Drive100, we spotlight IBN Network, an emerging edtech venture that’s reimagining Islamic and Arabic education through technology, collaboration, and accessibility.
Founded by Zulqarnain Olayinka Adelaja, the platform merges centuries-old knowledge traditions with digital transformation, offering structured, scalable, and relevant Islamic learning experiences for a new generation.
“We saw a void in how Islamic and Arabic education is taught and accessed, particularly among young people who crave flexibility, relevance, and structure,” says Zulqarnain, the founder of IBN Network.
“Our vision is to make Islamic and Arabic learning accessible, engaging, and professionally rewarding.”
What You Should Know About IBN Network
IBN Network operates as a tech-powered educational ecosystem focused on Arabic and Islamic studies.
It provides a digital space where learners can access curated courses, connect with instructors, and engage with communities that share similar interests and goals.
The platform combines live and recorded classes with structured mentorship, ensuring that learners not only gain knowledge but also internalize the discipline and ethics that define Islamic scholarship.
Learners can explore language mastery, Quranic recitation, and Islamic jurisprudence, all from their devices, eliminating traditional barriers like distance, cost, and time.
IBN Network’s curriculum design is also informed by pedagogical rigor. Each course is broken down into accessible learning modules supported by audiovisual materials and guided assessments.
The approach blends academic precision with spiritual immersion, helping learners balance understanding with practice.
“We want to empower users beyond learning, to help them translate knowledge into leadership, teaching, and global contribution,” Zulqarnain explains.
How IBN Network Operates
IBN Network’s operations reflect a hybrid learning model that blends flexibility with accountability. Users can register online, select preferred courses, and progress at their own pace while being paired with expert tutors.
Through the platform’s learning management system (LMS), students receive real-time feedback, mentorship, and progress tracking.
Beyond structured lessons, IBN Network fosters community-driven interaction.
Students can join group discussions, attend webinars with Islamic scholars, and access mentorship sessions focused on life application, making the platform more than a classroom; it’s a living network of intellectual and spiritual engagement.
From an infrastructure perspective, the startup is also investing in data analytics and content personalization to improve learner outcomes.
It monitors engagement patterns, learning speed, and content retention to refine both course design and teaching methods. This data-driven feedback loop ensures that no learner is left behind.
Progress, Traction and Milestones
While still in its early phase, IBN Network’s progress is both steady and strategic. The platform has successfully onboarded learners from various parts of Nigeria and beyond, illustrating its continental potential.
Early feedback from users highlights the ease of access, structured teaching format, and mentorship quality as standout features.
The startup has also started to attract interest from educational partners and community organizations keen on digitizing religious and language education.
These collaborations have positioned IBN Network as one of the few platforms taking Islamic education into the digital mainstream.
Furthermore, the platform has been developing a repository of Islamic knowledge, digitizing classical Arabic texts, lecture series, and resources for self-paced learners.
The goal is to build Africa’s largest accessible database of verified Islamic content powered by technology.
Meet the IBN Network Team
The success of IBN Network rests on the passion and professionalism of its team, a blend of educators, engineers, designers, and Islamic scholars.
Founder Zulqarnain Olayinka Adelaja brings both vision and leadership to the initiative, leveraging his academic expertise and community experience to guide product development.
The team includes curriculum experts who ensure academic credibility, developers who design the tech infrastructure, and scholars who maintain the authenticity and accuracy of the content.
Together, they represent a new generation of African innovators who see faith and technology not as opposites, but as complements in shaping a more informed, ethical, and connected society.
“It’s not just about teaching Arabic, it’s about nurturing identity, confidence, and intellectual empowerment,” says Zulqarnain.
Challenges and How They’re Overcoming Them
Building a digital Islamic learning platform in Africa comes with its fair share of challenges.
Among these headaches are limited funding, digital literacy gaps, and community skepticism toward online religious instruction.
Some learners still prefer traditional madrasah-style education and are slow to adopt digital models.
To overcome this, IBN Network has focused on trust-building through community engagement.
The team collaborates with respected Islamic scholars to validate its curriculum and leverages testimonials from satisfied learners to build credibility.
It also runs digital literacy workshops that help users navigate the platform more efficiently.
On the operational front, the team is adopting a lean startup approach, reinvesting revenue into product improvement, and gradually scaling its infrastructure to ensure long-term sustainability.
Vision and The Road Ahead
IBN Network’s vision is clear, to become the leading digital hub for Islamic and Arabic education across Africa and the diaspora.
In the next 6 to 12 months, the startup aims to launch a fully functional mobile app, introduce AI-assisted translation tools, and expand its instructor network to cover more specializations within Arabic and Islamic studies.
In the long term, IBN Network plans to integrate certification pathways, enabling learners to gain formal recognition that can open doors to teaching, research, and professional advancement.
The goal is to blend knowledge, skill, and purpose, equipping graduates with both spiritual and employable capital.
“We’re building more than a platform, we’re nurturing a digital ummah of learners who will go on to impact their communities,” Zulqarnain says.
IBN Network on Africa’s Ecosystem and Policy View
IBN Network’s model aligns with Africa’s growing push for digital inclusion and educational innovation. Its impact transcends religion, representing a template for how tech can elevate traditional education systems.
The platform also addresses United Nations SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) by merging skill development with moral and cultural education.
From a policy perspective, the startup demonstrates how faith-based learning can be modernized without losing its authenticity.
Governments and educational bodies could study its model to enhance public religious education systems through technology partnerships and content localization.
“Our work isn’t just about tech or theology, it’s about rethinking how Africans learn and lead,” says Zulqarnain.
Talking Points
IBN Network’s model reflects a bold and thoughtful redefinition of faith-based education in the digital era, one that mirrors the ambitions of global players like Zad Academy, yet diverges in its grassroots focus and contextual relevance.
While Zad Academy has excelled in creating a globally structured and Arabic-first e-learning system rooted in traditional scholarship, IBN Network distinguishes itself through its Afrocentric lens, democratizing access for learners often excluded from formal Islamic education systems due to geography, resources, or digital barriers.
Its hybrid approach, combining teaching, teacher training, and institutional partnerships, suggests a more ecosystem-driven mission, one that nurtures not only students but also the educators and schools themselves.
However, unlike Zad Academy’s strong institutional funding and global reach, IBN Network still battles the infrastructural and perceptional limits of Africa’s edtech terrain.
Nonetheless, its commitment to balancing authenticity with innovation and its vision to professionalize Arabic and Islamic learning for the modern African learner say that it’s not merely replicating global models, it’s localizing excellence and redefining what sustainable Islamic education can look like in the 21st century.
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