Nigerian ed-tech startup Tespire is helping private and public schools to optimise their revenue collection via its data-driven, automated platform.
Founded in Northern Nigeria in 2022 by Abdulkadir Suleiman Lapai and Umar Madugu, Tespire is building infrastructure that empowers school owners with digital tools like tablets and internet access to simplify administrative processes.
The premise for the venture was based on research that revealed that many schools are losing about 20 per cent of their revenue due to the manual processes involved in school fee collections.
“We saw a unique opportunity to reach out to semi-urban schools to help them streamline their processes. The market in these areas is currently large and we are working on breaking through,” Suleiman told Disrupt Africa.
By helping schools streamline their revenue collection and administrative tasks, Tespire is also laying the groundwork for harnessing valuable data that will eventually drive personalised learning through artificial intelligence (AI).
“We have features scheduled for a later release, aimed at providing school administrators with a one-stop platform to manage student results and performance,” said Suleiman.
The company plans to launch an analytics platform that will leverage data to offer a personalised learning experience, ultimately increasing the quality of education students receive at these schools.
“Uptake has been promising, especially considering the initial challenges we faced in creating an aggregate solution for our target audience in the education sector. We’ve started to see strong interest from private school administrators who are eager to solve their problems. Since we began working with them, the feedback has been positive, with many schools already seeing improvement in the efficiency of their fee collection systems,” Suleiman said.
“Getting to this level has been a bit of a travail journey, considering the fact that we are building something with a strong foundation from Northern Nigeria, where network capital and talent deficits pose unique challenges. However, we’re proud to be on track and gaining traction despite these obstacles.”
Further growth has been aided by a recent undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding, which Tespire will use to further expand usage of its data-driven educational solutions. The startup has been steadily growing its presence from its base in Northern Nigeria to the emerging tech ecosystem in Abuja, and has secured strategic partnerships with the likes of MTN Nigeria, Flutterwave, and Remita.
The pre-seed funding will help it scale its services, starting with the acquisition of more schools and focusing on improving young learners’ access to quality education.
“Tespire’s vision goes beyond just fixing administrative issues. We are committed to using the power of data to increase access to quality education across Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries, starting with local schools and scaling toward a broader national and international market,” Suleiman said.
“While we’re still in the early stages, the traction we’re gaining with public schools gives us confidence that Tespire is meeting a critical need in the education space, and we expect continued growth as we expand to more schools and markets.”
