Skooqs

67% of jobs have been changed by the age of technology that we live in, but one thing that has not changed is our education system here in Africa.

Hence over 160 million kids might not fit into the job ecosystem in the next 10 years thereby tripling the unemployment rate.

Skooqs is an e-learning platform that provides African children with access to technology and creative courses at a young age. So when you think about your kids learning 21st century skills, Skooqs is your go-to platform.

Skooqs provides access to learning opportunities outside of children’s traditional classroom while leveraging videos, online classes, and one-on-one tutors.

- African kids between the ages 3-18 years

- Local communities with little or no exposure to technology

- Primary and secondary schools with an interest in incorporating STEM skills into their curriculum

-  Working parents who want their children to be engaged in learning

- Teachers and creators who have a skill that they can teach skills and they get to earn an income while doing so

- NGOs

This product is for kids age 5-18 years looking to learn creative skills.  And we would be reaching them through their schools(B2B) and parents(B2C). Our immediate target market are 49 million Nigerians who are middle and upper class  income earners, as well as  80,000 private schools with an average total of 5 million students.

Our goal is to improve quality education, we provide courses and programs on 21st-Century Skills.

Skooqs creates value by helping parents and schools by providing resources to their teachers and students. We simplify the school's search for these creative activities and consolidate them in one place which is our online platform

Other users include:

- Local communities with little or no exposure to technology

- Primary and secondary schools with an interest in incorporating STEM skills into their curriculum

- Working parents who want their children to be engaged in learning

- Teachers and creators who have a skill that they can teach skills and they get to earn an income while doing so

- NGOs

The Skooqs team is made up of 9 individuals. Myself the founder is a 25under25 award-winning professional UI/UX Designer who has built numerous digital products for companies, coupled with my experience as the founder of TCKZone. Our team has individuals with experience in Education, Software Development, Marketing,  Content Creation, and Finance. 

We also have an advisory team with experience in education and startup growth helping us with user acquisition and strategic partnerships. 

While we create content in-house we open up the platform for vetted instructors who have content tailored to our needs thereby providing extra income to thousands of individuals. We plan to employ young post NYSC individuals as interns, train them in tech and possibly make the exceptional ones full-time staff, we also plan on reaching and empowering other women and girls in tech.

• Gain access to advisory/coaching/mentorship sessions, having mentors and advisors are what have brought us so far in such a short period, that time we spend discussing and learning from the experiences of an expert is everything.
• I also look forward to the community, getting access to a peer network of impact-minded leaders for learning, support, and hopefully potential users and partners.
• Skooqs is looking into opportunities to scale our business further in the Nigerian/African market, the MIT Solve program has extensive media expertise helping us achieve that.
• As a leader I want to improve my strategic thinking skills which would help my problem-solving and decision making that involves objective analysis, thinking ahead and planning.
• Our biggest challenge would be cyber-attacks on the platform and data storage, access to software license from Solve partner organization would help with this.
• One of the greatest challenges in the Edtech industry would be the lack of proper infrastructures like laptops, smartphones, and internet facilities. The majority of Nigerian schools, do not have any ICT (Information and Communication Technology) infrastructure, which makes the implementation of most EdTech solutions nearly impossible. With help from Solve Partnering Organizations and funding, we can solve this one child at a time.

While there are many offerings by several market players to solve online education for individuals in Nigeria and globally, having contents tailored just for kids learning 21st century skills,  the subscription-based approach of Skooqs learning platform as well as being the first to market with this unique value proposition in Africa gives us a huge competitive advantage.

In one year

- Enable 300 schools to incorporate technology and skill-based learning into their curriculum.

- Train at 90,000 kids in technology skills and ensure their continuous learning

- Working with local communities to create a conducive environment that encourages meaningful learning i.e tech innovation centers in schools for kids to learn technology skills

In five years
- Reach 3000 schools and provide resources to enable teachers and student get equipped with relevant 21st century skills

• The number of kids registered and actively learning
• The Number of kids who completed their courses and submitted projects
• The number of kids who became entrepreneurs through the skills they have learned.
• The number of new technology and creative skills learnt.
• Number of registered schools with more extracurricular activities
• Number of technology enthusiastic kids
• Increased school completion rate
• Number of schools with proper ICT infrastructures 

Users in our target demographics have a growing need to learn 21st-century skills – and prepare for future skills

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We work with schools and parents to preserve, create, and disseminate knowledge. through our online courses

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When the contents and lessons are adapted to their needs and when the community structure for creative children that were otherwise not available is accessible

--> They become equipped with necessary skills needed to take up jobs opportunities available in the market

The core technology behind the Skooqs platform is a Cloud-powered Learning Management System (LMS) that leverages Video streaming technology, online classes, one-on-one tutors,  offline access, and scaling personalization with self-serve AI.

Our technology utilizes Micro-credentials, Big data, Virtual and empowered reality, Blended learning, Cloud e-learning, Gamification, Mobile learning (m-learning), Internet of things and Online videos to ensure the courses are super interactive for the children.

It also contains a dashboard for schools and parents to monitor the progress of their ward as they take up these new skills.

We have a Non-discrimination Policy we follow.

Skooqs is committed to promoting equality and conducting its business according to principles of social justice, respect and freedom of expression when dealing with diversity in the workplace.

Discrimination in the workplace is any kind of direct or indirect negative action or attitude towards an employee that is founded in one or more characteristics of said employee which are subject to protection by law and that might create an intimidating, threatening or uncomfortable environment of employment.

Discrimination can refer to different forms of diversity including but not limited to:

Gender

Sexual orientation

Ethnicity or nationality

Religion or beliefs

Age

Disability

Value proposition

• Democratized access to learning opportunities outside of children’s traditional classroom.
• Provide courses and programs on 21st-Century Skills
• Skooqs creates value by helping parents and schools by providing resources to their teachers and students. We simplify the school's search for these creative activities and consolidate them in one place which is our online platform
• Personalized learning experiences on creative skills for kids

Skooqs works as a subscription-based educational ecosystem and our revenues are made from monthly/annual subscriptions, one-off course purchases. Skooqs charges a monthly subscription using Silver plan ($5/month), Gold plan($8/month), and Enterprise plan($12/student/term).

Bootstrapping while increasing traction and revenue

Winning grants and competitions prizes from different events

Raising investment capital.

Getting partnering organizations and individual sponsors eg MIT, USAID, UK British Council, MindCET, 

We have raised $14,300 in grant and competition funding so far which has helped us build the platform and create content. Funders include Standard Chartered Bank, Softcom, and Injini Africa.

With this we have gained media publications which reduced our marketing spend while gaining us access to paying users hence, growing revenue.

We have been able to partner with schools (De-keepers Schools Ikorodu), churches (Ressurection Parish Lekki), and also individuals who have sponsored some students to use the Skooqs platform.