Acceede

We are using financial technologies to lower the barrier to access to quality education.

Our product is built to solve the problem of access to quality education. On our mobile application, parents can apply for credit to pay their kids school fee at already selected schools using metrics such as the serenity and conduciveness of environment, student to computer ratio of 1, and qualified teachers amongst others. 

 For a start and for the purpose of risk mitigation, we offer our service to salary earners/anyone with a consistent income, and we ensure that the total amount they'll be paying us back across a total of 3months (per month) is not in excess of 60% of their monthly income —all other debt included.  

We do an assessment of parent's credit risk by using a financial data API provider to pull on and, using machine learning, analyze their financial records, with their consent.

At the end of the month, the deduction is made automatically.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF, 2017), Nigeria ranks 124th out of 137 countries on the global quality of education index. Clearly, the quality of a nation depends on the quality of her people which largely is a function of the quality of education they receive. Unfortunately, an average Nigerian cannot afford a quality education for their kids because the schools offering quality education mandate parents pay a minimum of 50% of the total fee at the beginning of the term. 

 Our target market, for now, as a market entry strategy are middle income salary earners. They earn between  N75,000  and N100,000 per month, and have an average of 1.6 kids. This means they cannot comfortably afford quality education for their kids, as it cost, according to our research, a lump sum of N50,000 per term (3 months). They make up 23% of the nation’s population, hence we have a potential user pool equal to 46million. We do this as we develop a solution for low income earners/bottom of the pyramid.

Yes, we have had conversations with potential customers, and every single one we spoke with on a one-on-one basis showed enthusiasm and eagerly asked to use the product. In fact, we thought and planned to raise before the end of January to finance the first set of customers we spoke with;10.

We are currently testing among 10 parents in Akure, Ondo state, and Lagos state, Nigeria.

 All customers we spoke with agreed to the 10% interest rate.

In very simple terms, our solution relies on mobile and machine learning technologies. The primary point of communication with the customers' will be via our mobile application, where the customer will provide the necessary information for us to access their financial data and also put in the request for a loan.

We use a third-party financial data API provider to draw the user data (such as transactions over a number of month, monthly income) and then analyze with our machine learning model to evaluate the customer's credit risk.

We also recommend academic institution to user based on some factors (such as location, financial capability, etc)

For us, number of people that your solution will directly and meaningfully affect is dependent on the amount of money we raise. We potentially can impact 46milllion people; 23% of Nigerians are middle-income earners. 

Reasonably, we can reach 0.00005% of that figure; 2300 this year.

We are looking to get at least 100 students who were not receiving quality education at their previous school into a quality school. We plan to do this by taking a radical approach; we will physically commit to finding and transferring such student.

Quality education is the bedrock of the advancement of society. We directly contribute to the SDGs by directly working on Quality Education, SDG 4. This is directly connected to every other goal; literates are more likely to get well paying jobs than illiterate thus leading to economic growth(SDG 8; Good Jobs and Economic Growth), literates will not pollute the environment (SDG 13-15; Climate Action, Life Below Water & Life Above Land), they will consume in a responsible manner (SDG 12; Responsible Consumption), they most likely won’t be poor because they have a well paying jobs (SDG 1; No Poverty), they would have learnt to be able to afford to eat & live healthy (SDG 2 & 3; Zero Hunger and Good Health), and they also will lead innovative efforts (SDG 9; Innovation and Infrastructure) among many others.

 Summarily, our business directly and indirectly contributes to every of the Sustainable development Goals.

Financial barriers: We are limited in impact by the amount of money we raise, and it has not been easy attempting to do so. This is a major headwind.

Unknown: We believe there are barriers that are currently unknown to us, we expect them.

Background

 I grew up in a lower-middle class family of 5. Growing up, my parents, although they did their best, couldn't afford the best available quality education, hence I attended a public secondary school; one that one of our own teachers said was not fit for a pig house. In retrospect, aside from the infrastructural limitations, I can clearly see the incredibly low standard of education we received. While interning in a venture builder, run by a Swiss-Ghanaian, who had lived in Switzerland for most of his early years I clearly saw the stark difference in the quality of education received in Nigeria, and elsewhere. I feel empowered by technological tools to solve this pressing problem. I believe every child on the continent of Africa and elsewhere has a right to quality education.

 Fortunately, my cofounder shares the same story, except that he did not intern at the venture builder.

Skills

Although, we do not have an abundance of skills, we do have the ambition and hunger to lead a revolution in the African education finance space.

A team member is skilled in the use of mobile application development tools like Flutter, React Native, and has worked on numerous software development project building both mobile and web software projects spanning across e-commerce, investment platforms and management systems for the last 2years. He has managed a technical team of 3 to 5 member.

Mobile development: React Native

Web development: javascript/react/nodejs/php

 A team member has served as Secretary General at a non profit, where he developed essential skills in project management. Also, he has led the team that won 3 different business pitch competitions.

• Quality education providers: We define as primary, junior and senior secondary schools that meet the following criteria: 
  • Serene & conducive environment
  • Qualified teachers: HND (minimum)
  • Student to computer ratio: 1
  • Standard laboratories and libraries

• API financial data provider: Okra