Osayi Izedonmwen took a break from his firm Imose Technologies after seven years to pursue an idea he had been toying with for a long time: an ed-tech startup called Teesas, which currently delivers video lessons and other digital instructional material to learners in Nigeria. Teesas, which just debuted a few months ago, has had a quick start, resulting in a $1.6 million pre-seed fundraising round. Izedonmwen intends to utilize the funds to expand into new regions, develop a marketplace that connects students with teachers for individual courses, and broaden its product offering.
“We began beta testing in August of this year, and the Android version was released in November.” Teesas has already had over 150,000 downloads on Google Play, and we’re increasing at least 20% every week,” Izedonmwen told TechCrunch. Teesas’ programming is connected with Nigeria’s national curriculum and is available to learners in both live and recorded versions, with a monthly subscription starting at $6; the business also provides local language lessons in addition to traditional schoolwork.
“Live classes deal with ideas that are difficult for students to grasp.”The learners meet with teachers in small distant classrooms of 10 or 15 to get additional rigor into the educational process,” said Izedonmwen. Teesas will provide full-curriculum modules for learners aged 12 and up in the near future.
“We imagine a future when students don’t need to go to in-person classrooms since they can study full curriculums via an app and be prepared for secondary school admission examinations,” he added. Teesas is also planning to launch life-skills workshops in the first half of next year to help students prepare for self-discovery. This is on top of anti-bullying training, which was prompted by reports of an uptick in bullying in Nigeria, with some incidences resulting in death.
Teesas started in March of last year, with the platform’s design and development significantly influenced by its Indian edtech rivals, who served as standards for content organization and lesson delivery. “I was considering India since they are technologically advanced and have several large firms spearheading the edtech revolution, such as Byju.” “I went out there to spend some time getting to know the model and looking for ways to improve on what they were doing…then we applied indigenous adaptation,” he explained.
The utilization of local art, cuisine, animals, cultural customs, and languages to supplement the learning process is what he alludes to. While Izedonmwen is now totally focused on Teesas, where he serves as CEO, he also continues to serve as chairperson of Imose Technologies, a Lagos-based tech firm that manufactures and assembles electronic equipment like smartphones, tablets, internet routers, and laptops.
“Teesas will have the greatest influence on Africa’s educational future. And I want to make sure I’m giving it my all in driving that transition, which is why I’m putting my whole attention on it,” he added, adding that a part of their next strategy would be to expand into new markets in Francophone, East, and Southern Africa. Izedonmwen, a professional engineer, worked with ExxonMobil for 15 years before founding Imose, rising through the ranks to become the company’s operations manager in Nigeria.
Teesas now joins a growing number of African edtech businesses that have recently secured money from investors betting on the continent’s budding edtech industry, which has lately experienced a boom fueled by the covid pandemic’s tailwinds. Kenya’s Kidato and Craydel, as well as Nigeria’s Edukoya and ULesson, are among the newcomers in the market.
Haresh Aswani, Tolaram Group’s Africa managing director led the Teesas round, which included Olivegreen Advisory Partners, an Africa-focused venture studio, as well as other angel investors. “We believe in Izedonmwen and the Teesas team’s goal, and we are certain that they are best placed to tackle the problem of leveraging technology to improve access to excellent education across Africa,” Aswani added.
