South African ed-tech startup Halo Sim Labs has developed a simulation-based emotional intelligence and preventative mental health education platform that places learners inside realistic social situations they may face in their own lives.
Founded in January of this year by Thembelihle Zwane, Halo Sim Labs builds interactive simulations covering scenarios such as peer pressure, bullying and substance use, allowing learners to make their own decisions and experience the consequences.
“Instead of simply telling learners what they should do, we allow them to make their own decisions, experience the consequences of those choices and practise skills like empathy, emotional regulation and decision-making,” Zwane told Disrupt Africa.
Cultural relevance is central to the platform, she said.
“Mental health and the way we experience emotions do not exist outside of culture. The situations young people face, how they communicate, family and community dynamics, and even how they understand mental health can be shaped by the environment around them. I wanted our learners to see themselves and their realities reflected in the technology they are using,” said Zwane.
“I’ve always said that emotional intelligence is the prerequisite literacy for mental health awareness. We want to help young people develop these skills before they reach a point of crisis, not only teach them about mental health once something has already gone wrong.”
Zwane comes from a healthcare and psychology background rather than a traditional tech one, and says that experience made her question how much of the focus in mental health falls on intervention after someone is already struggling.
“Another big part of why I built Halo is my belief that more Africans need to build the technologies that will shape Africa’s future. We understand our communities, our cultures and many of the challenges we are trying to solve,” she says.
The gap Halo Sim Labs is targeting, Zwane said, is not a lack of mental health education, social-emotional learning or educational simulations, but the absence of a platform that brings them all together in a way that feels familiar to African learners.
“There’s an important difference between knowing something and being able to apply it. A learner can understand what peer pressure means in a classroom lesson and still struggle when they are actually standing in front of their friends and being pressured to make a decision. That gap between knowing and doing is where I believe simulation can be incredibly powerful,” she says.
“When I look at competition, I see different platforms addressing fragments of what we do. What I haven’t found in Africa is another platform bringing cultural relevance, emotional intelligence, preventative mental health education and interactive simulation together specifically for school learners in the way we are.”
Bootstrapped to date, Halo Sim Labs is now moving from product development into structured school testing. It is preparing to pilot with four rural South African primary schools, initially working with approximately 320 learners in Grades 6 and 7, though the platform is being developed for Grades 3 to 12.
“Interest has already extended beyond those first four schools. We’ve had conversations that could potentially open the platform to a much wider school network,” said Zwane.
“For me, though, the first pilots are about much more than being able to say we reached a certain number of learners. I want us to understand how learners actually engage with the simulations, how educators experience the platform, what choices learners make and what we need to improve before we scale.”
Zwane has already received recognition for her work, being named a FFIG 50 Under 50 awardee and a 40 Under 40 South Africa finalist, as well as receiving two African Excellence Awards.
Halo Sim Labs is pre-revenue, but plans to operate a B2B model whereby schools and education partners license access to the platform, with annual pricing expected to sit between ZAR15,000 (US$900) and ZAR25,000 (US$1,500) per school. The startup also intends to combine direct licensing with institutional partnerships and subsidised access for schools that cannot afford it.
“A child’s socioeconomic background should not determine whether they have access to technology that could meaningfully support their development. Building something innovative means very little to me if the children who could benefit from it most are automatically excluded because of where they go to school,” said Zwane.
That commitment has shaped the startup’s biggest challenge to date, which has been building ambitious technology for schools that may lack devices, connectivity and resources.
“It’s much easier to build ed-tech when you assume every learner has their own device, reliable internet and access to well-resourced schools. That isn’t the reality for every learner in South Africa,” she said.
“Halo also sits across several disciplines. We’re bringing together technology, education, psychology, emotional intelligence and culture. That means we have to be very intentional about what we build, how we measure its impact and what we claim the technology can and cannot do. I think that responsibility is especially important when building anything related to mental health.”
The startup is focused on South Africa for now, but Zwane has ambitions to expand across the continent and beyond, with localisation for language, culture and educational context in each new market.
“The skills we are teaching, such as empathy, emotional regulation and decision-making, are universal. The context in which people experience those skills is not. I think that distinction is what gives Halo the potential to scale while still remaining culturally relevant,” she said.
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