Try Forward for five days. Free.
One bite-sized lesson a day, one taste of Musomesa, one real problem worth solving. Finish and you earn a shareable Forward Challenger badge, plus an application fee waiver.
Finish the five days and you don't just get a badge.
Every Forward Challenger earns a shareable digital badge and a full waiver of the application fee when they apply to Forward.
The five days
What each day asks of you.
Day 1: Your mission
Name the African problem you want your career to move, in your own words.
~15-minute activities
- Read a 4-minute brief on why Forward starts with mission, not major
- Answer one check-for-understanding question on the brief
- Chat with Musomesa to sharpen a rough mission statement into one clear sentence
What Musomesa does
Musomesa asks you three probing questions about who you want to help and why, then reflects your answers back as a single draft mission statement.
What gets evidenced
A one-sentence personal mission statement, saved to your Challenge profile.
Try it now
A real taste of Day 1.
No sign-up needed to try this much. The lesson and chat below are scripted so you can feel the shape of the Challenge before you start it for real.
Day 1 · Short read
Why Forward starts with mission, not major
Most universities ask "what do you want to study?" before you've decided what you want to change. Forward asks the second question first. A mission is a plain-language answer to: which real problem, for which real people, do you want your working life to move? It is not a career plan and it is not a slogan, it is a compass you can revisit when a module gets hard or a job offer gets tempting. Students who can name their mission in one sentence tend to make faster, steadier choices about what to study and why.
Check for understanding
What is a personal mission, as Forward uses the term?
Musomesa
Your Day 1 mission-building taste
Pick a starting line below, or work through them in order, to see how Musomesa helps you sharpen a mission statement.
Scripted taste only, not a live AI conversation.
Founding-cohort pilot participants
What the pilot felt like.
Forward has no graduates yet. These are impressions from founding-cohort applicants who piloted the Challenge itself, not claims about degree outcomes.
"Day 3 was the first time anything asked me to actually propose a fix for something in my own city, not just answer questions about it."
Amara O.
Founding-cohort pilot participant, Lagos
"Explaining my idea to Musomesa on Day 4 made me realise I didn't understand my own proposal as well as I thought I did."
Kwame T.
Founding-cohort pilot participant, Accra
"The five-day pace meant I could try it around school without it turning into a whole course. The badge felt earned, not handed out."
Naledi M.
Founding-cohort pilot participant, Johannesburg
Start today
Start the Challenge.
Give us your name and email and we'll set up your five-day Challenge. This is a mock sign-up for now, no email is sent, but you'll see exactly what completing it earns you.
Forward Challenger
Preview of the shareable Forward Challenger badge you'll earn on completion.
Ready for more than five days?
The Challenge is a taste. When you're ready, apply to Forward directly, or keep exploring with Musomesa.