SMART SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL

TECHNOLOGY

Business Plan

Prepared by

Ajala Elijah O.
CONTACT Information

Ajala Elijah o.
07032842458
ajalaelijah89@gmail.com

Temitope Rotimi
08134711527
Table of Contents

Executive Summary..........................................................................1

Opportinity.................................................................................1

Expectation................................................................................1

Opportunity.......................................................................................2

Problem & Solution...................................................................2

 Target Market...........................................................................2

Competition.............................................................................2

Execution.........................................................................................3

Marketing & Sales..................................................................3

Operations..............................................................................4

Milestones & Metrics.............................................................4

Company...........................................................................................5

Overview...............................................................................5

Team....................................................................................6

Financial Plan....................................................................................8

Forecast.............................................................................9

Financing.........................................................................11

Statements......................................................................12

Appendix..........................................................................................14

Profit & Loss Statement..................................................15

 Balance Sheet.................................................................17

Cash Flow Statement......................................................19

Executive Summary
Opportunity

Problem Summary

Many senior secondary schools in Nigeria most especially the public ones are subject to
perenial shortage of teachers in core subjects like Physics, Chemistry and
Mathematics in the Sciences; Government and Literature In-English in the Arts;
Financial Accounting and Commerce in the Commercial department. Many of the ones
with teachers lack appropriate monitoring system to ensure teachers discharge their
teaching duties as at when due and in a manner that puts students' academic progress
into consideration. These have often led to students graduating from secondary school
without learning up to a third of a subject's curriculum. Also, the fact that Practical Work
constitute 50% of the grading system for both WASSCE and NECO exams for the
certificate students in SS3 and secondary schools' habit of failing to expose their
students to practical work until some weeks to the commencement of these exams
have often put the students at a disadvantage. These two challenges with others have
resulted in what can be termed average and declining performance of students in these
exams. For example, the avarage of 54.06% students had five credits including
Mathematics and English in WASSCE exams between 2016 and 2018.

Solution Summary
We propose to solve the challenges itemised above by creating an online platform
( website and App) with rich collection of video tutorials covering all the core subjects of
Senior Secondary School education with video practical sessions also uploaded on the
platform for students to watch and learn. The tutorials will be anchored by proficient
and experienced tutors with the tutorials delivered in a way that captures and retains
students' interest and attention. With this students everywhere irrespective of their
location, the prevailing condition in their school and whether or not they have teachers
can always log on to the website ( www.smartschool.com) with their mobile phones and
or laptops to access the rich collection of video tutorials that will be uploaded on the
platform on a monthly basis for a monthly subscription token.
Market
We are targeting the senior secondary school students in both public and private
secondary schools in Nigeria with a potential to expand to other West African countries
offering WASSCE. The market size is over 4million students in Nigeria with age range
of 12-18 years. Students in our target market fall within the dependent population but
we expect a very positive response from them because of our pricing model. However,
we intend to launch our services in Ekiti State first by January 2020 to test our
business model and to make the necessary changes before launching to the other
states in the southern part of Nigeria. Ekiti State has a total of 45,000 students from
SS1- SS3.

Competition
Our competition is broadly divided into online and offline ones. Offline competition
comprise of the numerous tutorial centres scattered across the country and secondary
schools' extra lesson sessions after the closing time which compete with us for
students time and finances. Major national online competitions are the educational
technology (edtech) startups springing up in the country the biggest of which is
www.pass.ng and uLesson which is yet to start operation being developed by Sim
Shagaya (Co-founder and former executive at www.konga.com) and international
competition like the Khan Academy. There are other edtech startups focusing on
provision of softwares to schools. However, our novel inclusion of practical work in the
collection of our video offering and the interesting and engeging way the tutorials are
delivered coupled with our pricing model (affordable price of between #200- #500)
place us in a position of advantage over the competition.

Why Us
We are a team of passionate education professionals with a cumulative of 8 years
experience in teaching and relating in particular with senior secondary school students.
We also have a cumulative of more than 5 years in small scale retail startups.

Expectation
Forecast
We project a total student subscription of 92,000 for the first 6 months of our operation
which will be based within Ekiti State and it will increase to a total of 900,000 by the
end of the last quarter of the year 2020 when we will have expanded to other south
west states. This will give a total revenue of #18,400,000 for the first half of the year
and #180 million for the last quarter of the year making a total of #198.4 million for the
first year of operation ( Note: Revenue is calculated with a base price of #200). Our
goal is to capture at least 25% of our nationwide market within the first 3 years of
operation.

Financial Highlights By Year

Financing Needed
We are seeking to raise an investment sum of #1,000,000( One Million Naira) for 20%
ownership right of the business. The sum will be used for the design and construction of
the online platform(website), the incorporation of the company, and payment of tutors
and advertisement for the first three months after the launch of the business by January
2020.

Opportunity
Problem & Solution
Problem Worth Solving
Many senior secondary schools in Nigeria most especially the public ones are subject to
perenial shortage of teachers in core subjects like Physics, Chemistry and
Mathematics in the Sciences; Government and Literature In-English in the Arts;
Financial Accounting and Commerce in the Commercial department. Many of the ones
with teachers lack appropriate monitoring system to ensure teachers discharge their
teaching duties as at when due and in a manner that puts students' academic progress
into consideration. These have often led to students graduating from secondary school
without learning up to a third of a subject's curriculum. Also, the fact that Practical Work
constitute 50% of the grading system for both WASSCE and NECO exams for the
certificate students in SS3 and secondary schools' habit of failing to expose their
students to practical work until some weeks to the commencement of these exams
have often put the students at a disadvantage. These two challenges with others have
resulted in what can be termed average and declining performance of students in these
exams. For example, the avarage of 54.06% students had five credits including
Mathematics and English in WASSCE exams between 2016 and 2018.

Solution Summary
We propose to solve the challenges itemised above by creating an online platform
( website and App) with rich collection of video tutorials covering all the core subjects of
Senior Secondary School education with video practical sessions also uploaded on the
platform for students to watch and learn. The tutorials will be anchored by proficient and
experienced tutors with the tutorials delivered in a way that captures and retains
students' interest and attention. With this students everywhere irrespective of their
location, the prevailing condition in their school and whether or not they have teachers
can always log on to the website ( www.smartschool.com) with their mobile phones and
or laptops to access the rich collection of video tutorials that will be uploaded on the
platform on a monthly basis for a monthly subscription token.

Statetment of Problems We Want To Solve

(i) grossly inadequate and sometimes outrightly lacking qualified and motivated
teachers in senior secondary schools in Nigeria
(ii) lack of and inadequate attention paid to practical classes (for science subjects) by
teachers despite the fact that practicals claim 50% of the total mark for both WASSCE
and NECO
(iii) students' short attention soan and general disinterest in reading/ education

How We Plan To Solve The Problems

(i) provision of elaborate, fun-tempered topic-by-topic video tutorials and explainer
videos for each subject uploaded online (Website and App) monthly for students'
dpwnload and use
(ii) presentation of the tutorial content in an interest-stimulating way to arouse
students interest in what is being taught
(iii) use of entertainment to hold students interest and get them engaged with the
platform
(iv) provision of elaborate video recordings of practical classes

Target Market
Market Size & Segments
Our target market is the Senior Secondary School section of the current Nigerian education
system. Students in this segment fall within the age range of 12-18 years with some older out-of
school students who fail to pass their certificate exams when they were in secondary school
shooting the age range to 19-20years. Accroding to the data given by the Federal Ministry of
Education, there were a total of 4.47 million students enrolled in senior secondary schools
(SSS1-3) in Nigeria for 2016 with the highest of 5.15 recorded for the year 2013. This disparity in
part is due to the crisis in the north-eartern part of the country where schools have had to be
shut for sometimes a whole academic year. However, considering the fact that only about 50%
of candidates enrolled annually for certificate exams in WASSCE and NECO have five credits and
above, our potential market size increases considerably because our platform provides such
people with the opportunity of preparing for these exams when they re-enroll for them. Since
other West African countries of Ghana, Guinea, The Gambia, Siera Leone and Liberia writing
WASSCE have only little differences in their syllabus, we could also expand our operations to
these countries with a little adjustments of the offering we provide to them. This will drive our
total market size to more than twice the size of Nigerian market.

Although, the students in our target market fall within the dependent population, however our
pricing model will ensure that they have no challenge in subsribing for our services as we found
out through our survey that the fee can be conveniently paid for by the students out of their
pocket money. Also, our target market is technology savvy with a large percentage of them
already possessing a smartphone and or a laptop and have no difficulty in using online, web-
based resources.

Competition
Our competition is broadly divided into online and offline ones. Offline competition
comprise of the numerous tutorial centres scattered across the country and secondary
schools' extra lesson sessions after the closing time which compete with us for
students time and finances. Major national online competitions are the educational
technology (edtech) startups springing up in the country. The biggest of these edtech
startups is www.pass.ng which started in 2016 and focuses on the provision of past
questions and answers for both academic and professional examinations offered in the
country. www.tutorial.com leverages its online platform to link students with tutors in
their neighourhood. uLesson which is being developed (yet to commence operation) by
Sim Shagaya (Co-founder and former executive at www.konga.com) seeks to provide
curated tutorial materials to students utilizing advanced algorithms like machine
learning and artificial intelligence to achieve its business aim. International competition
include the famous Khan Academy. There are other edtech startups focusing on
provision of educational softwares to schools.

Our Advantages
We aim to be the first edtech startup in Nigeria to offer video tutorial classes(we want to
beat uLesson to the market) to senior secondary school students. This will give us the
reputation of being the first to enter the market as well as give us the opportunity of
strategically positioning ourselves in the mind of our customers. Our novel inclusion of
practical work in the collection of our video offering is the first in any edtech startup
worldwide and the interesting and engeging way the tutorials are delivered coupled
with our pricing model (affordable price of between #200- #500) place us in a position
of advantage over the competition.

Execution
Marketing & Sales
Marketing Plan
We are going to drive an aggressive, Ekiti State targeted, online(Facebook and Twitter)
campaign a month to launching to create awareness and anticipation for the platform in
the mind of students and parents alike. This will comprise of both paid and free adverts
on highlighted social media platforms. Once the platform is ready for launching we are
going to leverage the state-wide reach of the State Government-owned Radio and TV
station to drive awareness about the platform to parents and students, schools and
teachers.

To achieve viral spread of the platform among students, monetary incentives will be
given to students for answering correctly questions(both academics and general) that
will be inserted in the monthly video tutorials uploaded on the platform and the monthly
winners made known to the public through Radio Talk shows and our online social
media handles. Also, we will explore the possible use and incorporation of
''entertainment'' into the video tutorials to get students attracted to and engaged with
the platform. These are deemed necessary because students in our target market have
been observed to be motivated to act in a certain way for financial reasons and they
spend the larger part of their off-school time consuming entertainment content both
offline and online.

The stragetic timing of our launching also has a marketing function. Certificate exams for SSS3
students will be starting just 3 months after the launch of our platform (WASSCE) and for NECO
5 months after. The launch of our platform in January will therefore serve to encourage SSS3
students to subscribe to and use the platform in preparation for their exams. Also, students in
SSS1 and 2 will also benefit as it will be the beginning of the second term of the 2019/2020
academic session.

Subscribers(Students) will be made to register on the platform on their first visit and their
profile activated once they pay their first monthly subscription fee either through their bank's
ATM card or through Airtime Credits. Alongside their parents, Students will be followed up
through SMS and Emails to remind and persuade them to subscribe for the subsequent months.

Operations
Locations & Facilities
We are going to be operating a decentralized office system for the first 6months of
operation till the business can afford to rent an office space. We will be making use
of ......... Nursery and Primary School for the video recording of the tutorials and a
public school with relatively well equipped Science laboratories(yet to be determined)
for the practical classes. Permission to use the Primary school is already obtained and
we are in the process of getting a public school for the practical sessions. The other
activities of editing and upload of the videos as well as the maintenance of the platform
will be done from home. This is necessary to reduce the amount of startup cost.
However, for the sake of the registration and incorporation of the company, an address
that is relatively accessible will be agreed upon and used as the office address of the
business.

Facilities and Equipments

The facilities needed for the take off of the business are good quality cameras (at least
2) but considering the high cost of acquisition of quality cameras, Smartphones with
excellent camera features will be used instead; the website and App on which work will
start immediately name availability and registration is comfirmed with the Corporate
Affairs Commission (CAC). Our personal laptops will be

Milestones and Merics

Milestones
We project to have a subscriber of 5000 students for the first month of operation and
see an increase of subscribers to 7000 for the month of February. We project the
highest subscription rate of 20,000 for the months of April and May when WASSCE
would have fully started and students will have extra reasons to use the platform .
Key Metrics
Our key metrics will be the rate at which students re-subscribe on the platform after their
first subscription and the rate at which we sign up new subscribers on a monthly basis.
The first metric serves to tell us the measure of usefulness and value students judge us
to provide for them and the second metric informs us of our rate of growth. High rate of
re-subscription ( above 50%) tells us that students sees the platform( the general design
and set up of the platform including the subscription fee and the payment methods) as
providing some sort of value to them for which they are willing to exchange the
subscription fee while low rate of re-subscription indicates we have to interact more with
the students to know the features they will appreciate more on the platform.

High rate of new subscriber sign up points to the readiness of the market for video
based, online-provided tutorial classes as well as points to the growth pattern we can
expect to have in the future. However, a major challenge to using this metric is lack of a
similar business against which to benchmark our result.
Company
Overview