The 411 on edupreneurship: How we’re making our money
The 411 on edupreneurship: How we’re making our
money
By Agnes Aineah | Published Wed, June 6th 2018
at 13:36, Updated June 6th 2018 at 13:44 GMT +3 SHARE THIS
Those who’ve mastered the art of edupreneurship
have identified gaps in the education sector, created solutions for them and
are making money while at it.
It helps that there are countless opportunities
to mine if you’re looking to mint money from education. They range from
freelance teacher training and running off-school tuition premises, to more
advanced options like starting publishing firms and developing learner apps.
We sample some of the experiences edupreneurs have
had in the sector.
Readers
make the best publishers
Dan Nyongesa, a biochemistry graduate from
Kenyatta University, started his publishing firm in 2016. All he had were
skills in visual design, financing raised from his family and a love for
reading and writing.
He started out in a tiny corner in his
bedsitter in Ruiru where he installed a desktop computer, printer and laptop.
With the relevant business licences and registration documents, Visual
Designers and Publishers opened for business.
A year later, Dan had put together his first
textbook, Visual Biology. He printed 1,000 copies and had sold 800 of them as
at the close of last year.
This first publication took up a significant
chunk of the Sh350,000 capital investment he raised.
“Visual Biology found a market in schools in
Nairobi and Kiambu, including State House Girls, Kenya High School and Maryhill
Girls High School,” Dan says. His profit from the book he sells at Sh800 was a
modest Sh24,000. He ploughed this back into the business.
Visual Designers and Publishers largely focuses
on writing and printing learning materials, and since that first biology book,
Dan’s found his niche with primary and secondary schools, NGOs and churches.
He has also authored Visual Chemistry for high
school learners, as well as ‘Learn at a Glance’ charts for mathematics, chemistry,
biology, physics, agriculture, geography, science and social studies.
But how did he find his space in a market
dominated by publishers who have the advantage of a legacy spanning decades, or
foreign or Government backing?
“I give my content a graphic touch by producing
three-dimensional coloured images where required. This gives all my books an
appealing look. I’m also always looking out for the latest developments in the
digital world that I can incorporate in my business.”
His biggest single order so far has been to
supply teaching aids at Eastleigh High School in Nairobi.
“I get my content from a lot of research and by
working closely with other teachers who proofread my work and verify it before
publication,” Dan, who’s been a teacher himself, says.
“And the beauty of being in the publishing
business is that it attracts customers, mostly institutions, who buy in bulk.” But
investing in publishing has its share of challenges, key among them being
piracy.
“I’ve seen my books being sold on the streets
without my consent,” Dan says, adding that having the Government as a
competitor also complicates things.
“With the Government proposal to directly
supply books to schools, publishers find it difficult to sell their books since
just a chosen few are selected as suppliers nationally.”
Employers have been blaming institutions of
higher learning for producing graduates who walk into interviews without
market-ready skills.
This gap has provided a treasure trove of
opportunities for smart edupreneurs. Joshua Njuguna, a geospatial engineering
student at Technical University of Kenya, is among them.
With just Sh10,000, he set up Tutorgram, a
project-based online learning platform that enables students to gain skills by
tackling complex and real-life challenges.
This amount, Joshua says, went into business
registration, patent acquisition and some marketing. It cost him nothing to
start his mobile app.
And now, what started as a passion to tackle
the challenges facing graduates in the job market has turned into a full-time
business venture.
“This lack of skills that the market is looking
for starts in secondary school, not in university. Most of our secondary school
education is theory based, so students go into university with very little
interest in pursuing project-based learning or acquiring industry-driven
skills,” says Joshua.
In partnership with three other students from
different universities, he came up with the mobile app that brings together
students and teachers who post challenging questions and projects that attract
various thoughts and suggestions from subscribers.
The industry-driven skills he hopes his app
will impart include critical thinking, leadership, problem solving, and an
eagerness to learn; basically, skills that can’t be delivered through
textbooks.
For Joshua, project-based learning is the most
effective tool in imparting skills. “I believe that education should be
skills-based, all the way from secondary school, and that’s why we focus on projects
on our app,” Joshua says.
Though the app hasn’t drawn any investment
since its launch in 2016, Joshua and his team have kept it running using
earnings from various side hustles, including graphic design, and also found
mentorship support through Chase Bank.
Artificial intelligence has become all the
rage, and it is being used to personalise learning through mobile apps.
However, AI tends to leave out those who don’t own smartphones or can’t afford
to have an online presence.
This is what kept troubling Julie Otieno and
Claire Mongeau. As a result, in 2016, the two launched a mobile learning SMS
platform that can be used by those with the simplest of phones.
Julie, 26, graduated from Strathmore University
with a degree in computer science, while Claire describes herself as a
passionate educationist who’s had a seven-year teaching stint in India, the US
and Kenya.
Since its launch, M-Shule has worked with more
than 400 users who pay Sh90 a month to access thousands of SMS lessons in
English and math.
For this amount, pupils from Standard 4 to 8,
drawn from 15 schools in Nairobi, receive one-and-a-half hours of lessons per
week. They also get free reports that map their learning progress.
“We spent first term building partnerships with
more than 70 schools across three counties, and plan to spread M-Shule across
more schools this year. We’re looking to reach 10,000 students in at least 400
schools across five counties in the next 12 months,” says Julie.
“To start a venture like M-Shule, one needs a
deep passion and dedication to improving children’s lives through education,
along with a strong understanding of what parents and students actually need,” he
adds.
The duo also had to engage with different
audiences to become fully aware of what the learning needs were – a process
that’s continuous.
“As students use the platform, M-Shule tracks
and analyses their performance to understand what skills they’ve learned and
what they have yet to learn,” says Julie, who’s the M-Shule CEO.
These progress reports are also sent to the
pupils’ parents, teachers and schools. “This lets them know how the student is
doing, what subjects they’re improving in and what they still need help with.”
The app, which makes use of personalised and
adaptive tech, also engages with users every day to analyse what a pupil knows
to know what to deliver next.
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