FAQ
Questions, answered.
Everything we get asked — from a first-year applying to a brief to a Pro-Vice-Chancellor deciding on a rollout. If yours isn’t here, drop us a line.
[/] About Afrixolve
The basics — who we serve and how we're different.
What is Afrixolve?
Afrixolve is a three-sided marketplace where African students get paid to work on real projects posted by employers, while educators co-grade and award credit. Every completed project becomes a verified credential the student can share anywhere.
Which countries does Afrixolve operate in?
Our MVP focuses on Africa — local currency payouts via MoMo and Paystack, hosting in AWS Cape Town.
Is Afrixolve legitimate? Who's behind it?
Afrixolve Africa is a registered African company building education infrastructure. We publish our team, brand, and contact details on the About page and operate under strict data protection regulations.
Is Afrixolve free to use?
Yes — Afrixolve is free for everyone: students, employers, educators, and institutions. There are no subscriptions and no platform fees. Employers fund only the project budget itself, which goes directly to the students who do the work.
[/] For students
Applications, payouts, and what counts toward a credential.
How do I apply to a project?
Create a profile, browse the Marketplace, and submit a cover note + relevant work samples. Some briefs accept teams; you can form a team in advance and apply together. We rank applicants for the employer using a deterministic skills-match algorithm — your application reaches a human.
How do I get paid?
Payouts arrive on the mobile money number on your profile, in local currency, after each milestone is approved. We use Paystack rails. There's no withdrawal fee on your side — the employer's funds release directly to your wallet.
Is the credential I earn verifiable?
Yes. Every credential is signed with our Ed25519 key over a canonical payload describing what you delivered, who endorsed it, and when. Anyone can verify a credential's signature at a public URL — no Afrixolve login required.
What if I'm not selected for a project?
Apply to others — employers usually shortlist 3–5 candidates and accept one. Your profile keeps every application on file so you can reuse cover notes. Withdrawn applications can be re-submitted after the project's cooldown window expires.
[/] For employers
Posting briefs, escrow, vetting, and IP.
How do I post a project?
Create an employer account, draft a brief (scope, deliverables, budget, milestones), fund the escrow, and publish. Vetted applicants reach you within 48 hours. You approve milestones and the funds release.
How does escrow work?
When you publish a project we collect the full project budget into a Paystack-backed escrow. As you approve each milestone, that milestone's slice releases to the student. You can cancel an unfunded milestone any time; cancelled projects refund the unreleased balance.
How are students vetted?
Every student profile carries verified institution + programme, a portfolio, and (where applicable) past Afrixolve credentials. Educators can endorse profiles. The marketplace surfaces match scores so you see top fits first.
Who owns the work?
By default, deliverables are work-for-hire owned by the employer once a milestone is paid. Confidentiality + IP terms are spelled out in the brief and the student agrees on application.
[/] For educators
Embedding projects into courses, grading, and reporting.
Do I need to rewrite my syllabus?
No. Curated briefs slot in as either a capstone or a project track inside an existing course. You assign students, set due dates aligned to your weeks, and co-grade alongside the employer's milestone review.
How does co-grading work?
Each milestone has a shared rubric. The employer scores delivery quality, you score academic rigour, and the combined score lands in your gradebook. You can override the employer's score with a written note when academic standards diverge from commercial ones.
Do you integrate with Moodle or Canvas?
Yes — LTI 1.3 grade sync is supported for institutions, so grades flow back automatically. Everyone can also export a CSV of grades at the end of each milestone window.
[/] For institutions
Rolling out across a department or whole university.
Does Afrixolve support SSO?
Yes. SAML 2.0 and OIDC are available for institutions, with role-based scoping so departments stay in their own data slice.
What analytics do we get?
A cohort dashboard with completion rates, average earnings, credential counts, and employer ratings — exportable for accreditation and donor reporting. You define which programmes roll up into which view.
How do pilots work?
We typically run a single-department pilot over one semester (10–14 weeks) to validate fit before institution-wide rollout. Contact us and we'll scope it together — the first pilot is usually heavily subsidised.
[/] Payments & trust
How money moves, MoMo, refunds, and dispute resolution.
Why MoMo first?
Most African students don't have a bank account — they have a mobile-money wallet. We pay there directly so there's no detour through a bank or a third-party payout app.
What happens if a project is cancelled?
Approved-milestone payments stay with the student (the work is done). Unreleased funds refund to the employer's card within 5–10 business days. We publish a written cancellation reason on the project record for transparency.
What if there's a dispute?
Either side can flag a milestone. We pause the release, gather evidence from both parties + the rubric, and an Afrixolve trust officer makes a binding decision within 5 business days. The educator (if assigned) provides an advisory opinion.
Where is my data stored?
Personal data lives in AWS Cape Town (af-south-1) per our data-residency policy. Paystack handles card data — we never see it. Read the Privacy and Data Protection pages for the full picture.