At just 25 years old, Lalla Baba Hnini is determined to change how students in Mauritania experience education. As the founder of Learniverse, she is using Virtual Reality (VR) to bring science labs and interactive learning tools into schools that have never had them. What began as an idea born from frustration at the lack of resources has now become a working prototype tested in classrooms, with plans to scale across the country.
Inspiration: A Gap in the Classroom
“I grew up witnessing how many schools in Mauritania lacked science labs and opportunities for hands-on experiments,” says Lalla. For her, this wasn’t an abstract problem — it was something she saw every day. Many young people in Mauritania never set foot in a functioning science lab, leaving them to study theory without the chance to experiment, observe, or engage practically with the material.
“This gap inspired me to find a solution that would allow every student to experience interactive and engaging learning, regardless of their background or school resources. I found VR to be the perfect tool to bridge this gap.”
VR offered a way to break through barriers. It could give students in under-resourced schools access to the same kind of experiences that students in well-equipped schools elsewhere take for granted. The technology could bring chemistry experiments, biology dissections, or physics simulations directly into classrooms, without the need for expensive infrastructure.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Like most entrepreneurs, Lalla’s journey wasn’t easy. She faced one major barrier above all: resources. “The biggest challenge I faced was limited funding and weak technical infrastructure. At times, it felt impossible to move forward.”
Rather than stopping her, these challenges became part of the learning process. She turned to incubators and mentorship programmes for support and her time with the Kosmos Innovation Center became a turning point.
“Through my journey with Kosmos, I learned the importance of testing ideas and continuous improvement. Listening to mentors and users early on helped us refine our product to meet real needs. This taught me that entrepreneurship is not just about technology, it is, above all, about solving real problems in meaningful ways.”
Instead of building a polished product right away, Lalla focused on prototypes. These small, testable versions of her VR labs allowed her to demonstrate the concept to teachers and students, build trust, and gather feedback. “Starting small gave us credibility. People could see the idea in action, not just on paper.”
This approach also helped attract early partners. By showing impact before scaling, Lalla built confidence in Learniverse’s potential to make a difference.
Growth, Impact, and Future Plans
The most powerful validation came from the students themselves. “One of my proudest moments was watching students try our educational VR game for the first time their excitement and amazement reminded me why I started this journey.”
Those reactions confirmed what Lalla had believed from the beginning: learning by doing leaves a deeper impression than theory alone. With VR, students who had never had access to science labs suddenly found themselves experimenting, exploring, and discovering in new ways.
“Since completing the program, Learniverse has evolved from just an idea into a working prototype tested in schools,” Lalla explains. “We also expanded our scope to include virtual science experiments aligned with the national curriculum and began engaging schools for broader adoption.”
The roadmap ahead is ambitious. “Our next step is to launch a full virtual science lab for the first-year secondary curriculum in Mauritania, then gradually expand to other schools. We are also building a digital platform that integrates VR educational applications, with the goal of reaching hundreds of schools in the next three years.”
That vision is not just about technology. For Lalla, it’s about equity. “This is about giving every student, no matter where they are, the chance to engage with science in a meaningful way. Education should not depend on where you were born or the resources your school happens to have.”
Her advice to other young entrepreneurs is both practical and encouraging: “Start small, but start now—don’t wait for perfection; test your idea with what you have and improve as you go. Listen more than you speak—feedback from users, mentors, and even critics can save you years of trial and error.”
Although Learniverse is still in its early stages, but its impact is already visible. From the spark of an idea, tested with small prototypes, it is growing into a platform that could transform education in Mauritania and potentially across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The excitement on students’ faces as they put on VR headsets for the first time is more than just curiosity — it’s a glimpse of what education can become when innovation meets determination.
As Lalla puts it: “One of my proudest moments was watching students try our educational VR game for the first time—their excitement and amazement reminded me why I started this journey.”
Learniverse reminds us that real change often begins with one person who refuses to accept the status quo, someone willing to take a risk, start small, and build something new.