A Tuterial on Education
Season’s greetings everyone. Recently, I had the rare privilege of interviewing the recipient of the 2017 Innovation award of the UK Royal academy of Engineering – Godwin Benson. At 27 years of age, he is the CEO of Tuteria – one of the foremost EduTech start-ups in Africa.
A first class graduate of Systems Engineering from the University of Lagos, Godwin is passionate about education, technology, business and ministry and is keen on leveraging his experience as a Systems Engineer in education to bring about sustainable development.
In this brief interview, he talks about starting Tuteria and how indispensable innovation in technology is to the development of Nigeria. It was encouraging and inspiring.
Kindly read, comment, share but most important – resolve to bring that idea to life and solve that problem in your space.
You have what it takes!
~~~~~~
TNIS: What inspired the birth of Tuteria?
Godwin: Tuteria connects people who are willing to learn and people who are willing to teach. The idea came about when I had to teach someone for a period of time who did not pay the agreed amount at the end of the month – I also found out that this same person who lived ten minutes from my house had spent three months looking for a tutor! This experience left me with two questions to answer- How do I ensure that people that teach get paid? How do I make it faster for people to find amazing tutors for whatever they wish to learn? I had this idea about 10 years ago and it has evolved into what it is today.
TNIS: What challenge did you face starting up Tuteria? How did you overcome them?
Godwin:
Challenge 1: Leaving a very good paid job to follow my passion full time
Challenge 2: The usual – lack of power, slow internet etc. we combatted these by MINIMIZING EXPENSES. For example, we used my house as an office space instead of renting one. We had to learn skills rather than outsource them for example building a website (especially after the person we hired did a shabby job for us)
Challenge 3: People using our platform after the launch i.e. paying online before service. We had to convince our customers by building trust among them.
TNIS: Can you share with us the importance of technology and innovation in national development (with an emphasis on education)?
Godwin: We cannot afford not to ‘go tech”. Technologic innovation eliminates barriers to learning. It makes things faster and creates access to quality education e.g. open courses which allow students from Nigeria learn courses from outstanding foreign universities like Harvard.
TNIS: Are there plans to provide specialized packages for formal educational institutions?
Godwin: Yes. Tuteria is currently working on products that meet the needs of primary and secondary schools - the major need at the moment is sourcing for teachers for special subjects like music, foreign languages and other vocational skills which may not be in the typical academic curriculum. Tuteria offers the opportunity for anyone to learn anything but still aims to provide structured knowledge through individuals. With this in place, individual tutors function like institutions and can train a person from novice to expert level
TNIS: How do you think we can harness the potential of young Nigerians to push for technology development?
Godwin: First of all, I want to commend the efforts of the governments of Lagos and Akwa Ibom to get people to be more technology inclined.
I strongly believe that if internet access is made cheaper and more stable – it would greatly revolutionize learning! More people would naturally gravitate towards technology. We need policies that would make this a reality. It also important that our children interface with technology from primary school level.
TNIS:
Talking about technology and children, coding has been incorporated into the academic curriculum of several schools around the world. How important is this?
Godwin:Coding trains a child to solve problems. It forces you to preempt problems and proffer sustainable solutions. This is the future of the world.
TNIS: What would you tell a young Nigerian who says "I can't start yet; I have no money! "? What mindset should they develop?
Godwin: It is important for young Nigerians to realise that the CHALLENGES they face are COMMON to ALL. It is not a valid reason for not launching out. It’s also important to be passionate about your idea, have a vision and find out as much as you can about that field. You don’t need that much money. If you don’t have a laptop, they are many ways to raise money to buy one. I remember a guy in school who learned to code with another person’s laptop – he would use the laptop all through the night to code and return it by morning. I remember taking up jobs like editing articles online in order to raise money. There are many freelance jobs that one can take up. Businesses our time do not require extensive capital to start up.
TNIS: Where do you see Tuteria in next 5 years?
Godwin: Next year, we are launching in two African countries and One country in Europe. Our vision is to be the largest and most trusted tutoring platform in Africa and the world. In five years, we want to cover Africa. In 10-15 years, we see ourselves being global.
TNIS: Is there any book you would recommend for someone working on a start-up?
Godwin: I have two recommendations in order of importance: THINK and GROW RICH by NAPOLEON HILL – for me it was the beginning of a mental transformation. It jolts you to take charge of your life. The second is BUILT TO LAST by JIM COLLINS.
TNIS: Thank you Godwin for your time. Godspeed in all your endeavours.
To our readers: thank you for reading. I trust that it was worthwhile. 2018 starts tomorrow. Make it count!
In this brief interview, he talks about starting Tuteria and how indispensable innovation in technology is to the development of Nigeria. It was encouraging and inspiring.
Kindly read, comment, share but most important – resolve to bring that idea to life and solve that problem in your space.
You have what it takes!
~~~~~~
TNIS: What inspired the birth of Tuteria?
Godwin: Tuteria connects people who are willing to learn and people who are willing to teach. The idea came about when I had to teach someone for a period of time who did not pay the agreed amount at the end of the month – I also found out that this same person who lived ten minutes from my house had spent three months looking for a tutor! This experience left me with two questions to answer- How do I ensure that people that teach get paid? How do I make it faster for people to find amazing tutors for whatever they wish to learn? I had this idea about 10 years ago and it has evolved into what it is today.
TNIS: What challenge did you face starting up Tuteria? How did you overcome them?
Godwin:
Challenge 1: Leaving a very good paid job to follow my passion full time
Challenge 2: The usual – lack of power, slow internet etc. we combatted these by MINIMIZING EXPENSES. For example, we used my house as an office space instead of renting one. We had to learn skills rather than outsource them for example building a website (especially after the person we hired did a shabby job for us)
Challenge 3: People using our platform after the launch i.e. paying online before service. We had to convince our customers by building trust among them.
TNIS: Can you share with us the importance of technology and innovation in national development (with an emphasis on education)?
Godwin: We cannot afford not to ‘go tech”. Technologic innovation eliminates barriers to learning. It makes things faster and creates access to quality education e.g. open courses which allow students from Nigeria learn courses from outstanding foreign universities like Harvard.
TNIS: Are there plans to provide specialized packages for formal educational institutions?
Godwin: Yes. Tuteria is currently working on products that meet the needs of primary and secondary schools - the major need at the moment is sourcing for teachers for special subjects like music, foreign languages and other vocational skills which may not be in the typical academic curriculum. Tuteria offers the opportunity for anyone to learn anything but still aims to provide structured knowledge through individuals. With this in place, individual tutors function like institutions and can train a person from novice to expert level
TNIS: How do you think we can harness the potential of young Nigerians to push for technology development?
Godwin: First of all, I want to commend the efforts of the governments of Lagos and Akwa Ibom to get people to be more technology inclined.
I strongly believe that if internet access is made cheaper and more stable – it would greatly revolutionize learning! More people would naturally gravitate towards technology. We need policies that would make this a reality. It also important that our children interface with technology from primary school level.
TNIS:
Talking about technology and children, coding has been incorporated into the academic curriculum of several schools around the world. How important is this?
Godwin:Coding trains a child to solve problems. It forces you to preempt problems and proffer sustainable solutions. This is the future of the world.
TNIS: What would you tell a young Nigerian who says "I can't start yet; I have no money! "? What mindset should they develop?
Godwin: It is important for young Nigerians to realise that the CHALLENGES they face are COMMON to ALL. It is not a valid reason for not launching out. It’s also important to be passionate about your idea, have a vision and find out as much as you can about that field. You don’t need that much money. If you don’t have a laptop, they are many ways to raise money to buy one. I remember a guy in school who learned to code with another person’s laptop – he would use the laptop all through the night to code and return it by morning. I remember taking up jobs like editing articles online in order to raise money. There are many freelance jobs that one can take up. Businesses our time do not require extensive capital to start up.
TNIS: Where do you see Tuteria in next 5 years?
Godwin: Next year, we are launching in two African countries and One country in Europe. Our vision is to be the largest and most trusted tutoring platform in Africa and the world. In five years, we want to cover Africa. In 10-15 years, we see ourselves being global.
TNIS: Is there any book you would recommend for someone working on a start-up?
Godwin: I have two recommendations in order of importance: THINK and GROW RICH by NAPOLEON HILL – for me it was the beginning of a mental transformation. It jolts you to take charge of your life. The second is BUILT TO LAST by JIM COLLINS.
TNIS: Thank you Godwin for your time. Godspeed in all your endeavours.
To our readers: thank you for reading. I trust that it was worthwhile. 2018 starts tomorrow. Make it count!
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