I am legitimately irritated by all the hot takes about Edukoya and its situation. Especially coming from armchair critics who think it’s about “failing to crack the market.” They forget that there are fundamental economic challenges that make edtech almost impossible to scale. Even the most funded edtech company still had to pivot because the industry is brutal as hell. At a time when inflation is at an all-time high, with shrinking disposable incomes all around, why someone thinks that we can innovate around bad policies is beyond me.
“They should have partnered with a mobile device company.” LOL. As if that is new. It has been tried before, and it failed. Even uLesson initially experimented with preloaded tabs. How did that workout in the face of low demand? Now, they combine it with app downloads. Do you know why? Because even the cheapest learning tablets cost more than what Nigerians are willing to pay. So, tell me exactly what makes you think the company would have succeeded in doing the same thing.
“They should have partnered with the government.” Yeah, this was all the proof I needed that the writer knows absolutely nothing about anything. Government partnerships sound nice until you see how bureaucracy works in real time. Imagine partnering with the government when the next administration can come in and implement a new system. No questions asked. Case in point: the FG and its plan to stop using Remita. The writer seems to think that government integration is a plug-and-play solution that is everlasting.
Honestly, what we need to address is the fact that edtech in Nigeria is not exactly VC-friendly because it is incredibly hard to monetize sustainably. Even the “biggest” edtech companies in Nigeria are struggling to make the numbers work. Most of the edtech in Africa relies on grants. Edukoya’s failure is not about “not thinking differently.” It is about the fact that Nigeria’s economy makes edtech an incredibly hard business to sustain.
Also read: https://brandspurng.com/2025/03/08/how-talent-fuels-growth/
If the SAVA CEO really wants to contribute to this discussion, he should first study the financial realities of the sector before making broad, dismissive statements about founders who actually took the risk to build something. The ecosystem does not need more judgments about businesses they do not understand.
Edukoya founders took a calculated risk in one of the hardest markets to build in. They raised money, built a product, and tried to make it work. That is more than most people ever do.
Next time you want to critique a startup, ask yourself this: Do I really understand the problem? Or am I just repeating growth marketing buzzwords with no real business knowledge?
