Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about uLesson - the African EdTech platform. We'll start with some context about education in Africa & Nigeria, talk about uLesson's early history, fundraising, product strategy & end with our views on its future outlook. This episode was recorded on Jan 24, 2021.
Companies discussed: uLesson, Byju’s, School Visual, WhiteHat Jr, Yuanfudao & Owl Ventures
Business concepts discussed: Education technology, monetization strategy, African expansion, product localization, new product development, growth/profitability trade-offs & equity fund raising
Conversation highlights:
- (01:30) - Why we are talking about uLesson
- (04:15) - Nigerian / African educational context
- (22:08) - Sim Shagaya background, work experience
- (24:20) - Entrepreneurial ventures: e-Motion, DealDey, Konga
- (32:16) - uLesson founding and seed round
- (40:02) - $7.5M Series A overview
- (45:30) - Expansion to other African countries
- (50:45) - uLesson product & pricing strategy
- (1:02:45) - uLesson user growth and engagement
- (1:03:26) - uLesson competition across Africa
- (1:18:14) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
- (1:28:45) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
- (1:36:55) - Recommendations, small wins & open questions
Olumide’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:
- Recommendation: The Chicken or the Exit (by Osarumen Osamuyi), Africa tech summit & How to make friends as an adult
- Small win: Spent Birthday singing (Airbnb experience) with Broadway star (Stephen Carlile). Beyond Amazing!
- Other content: Techpoint tweet summarizing Sim's exits & Sim's uLesson announcement
- Other content: Blitzscaling: How not to go off the rails (David Sacks)
- Open question: What are the biggest challenges uLesson could face in 1-3 years?
Bankole’s recommendations, small wins & open questions:
- Recommendation: Ask Your Developer & Gravity visualized - YouTube
- Other content: Sequoia funded companies tweets
- Small win: More walks, and been trying this new thing where I only play video games one day a week
- Open question: Question for Sim - What did you know at the start of Konga, that by the end of it, you realized you were wrong about?
We’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback, topics you’d like to hear, or just want to say hello, please email info@afrobility.com Find more episodes at Afrobility.com